No more ambos for Footscray?
I just wanted to bring to light the fact that Footscray has lost its ambulance branch.
This can be verified by visiting the old site on Droop Street where the signage has been removed from the fire station and the ambulance is no longer in its old spot, first from the left when looking from the street.
From my understanding, Ambulance Victoria was leasing a part of the station from Fire Rescue Victoria and they were unwilling to renew the lease. Ambulance Victoria had no plan in place for this and now the people of Footscray are without an ambulance resource nearby.
The closest branches are currently Altona North (397 Blackshaws Rd, Altona North), Sunshine (458 Ballarat Rd, Sunshine North) and Essendon (2 Willow Street, Essendon).
This leaves a large hole in the inner west and I have concerns an ambulance would not be able to make it in time to patients in a critical condition particularly given its quickly increasing population.
A concerned citizen.
Trucks constantly breaking curfews
Truck curfews are the only tangible measure implemented in the past 22 years that actually limits trucks on residential streets. They are designed to give relief to residents at night and weekends and keep trucks away from our kids travelling to and from school.
While not perfect, and not on Williamstown Rd or Buckley St, the curfews are all we have to limit truck impacts on our community.
However, authorities are not doing their job of monitoring and enforcing the curfews. Recently MTAG set up a camera on Francis St for two hours during the Sunday afternoon curfew and captured 95 curfew breakers. Clearly there is no enforcement when so many trucks can ignore the curfews without fear of fines.
The West Gate Tunnel Project promises to remove 9000 daily trucks from local roads. If the current curfews can’t be enforced now, how will the promised 24/7 truck bans on 6 major roads be enforced?
MTAG is calling on the State government to fully fund and implement electronic curfew monitoring. The current monitoring relies on humans in patrol cars to catch curfew breakers in the act. It’s a broken, ineffective system.
Don’t let this promise be broken, sign MTAG’s petition: http://tiny.cc/sqwsxz.
