Bloomberg (right) and Minister Edelstein in
Bloomberg (right) and Minister Edelstein insrael news photo: Information Ministry

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is in Jerusalem to dedicate the refurbished William H. Bloomberg Magen David Adom (MDA) Center named in memory of his father. The emergency health care facility will serve the area’s 1.2 million residents.

Mayor Bloomberg will brief the media and dedicated the new building Sunday evening, along with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Israel’s Chief Rabbis and MDA officials. A new mezuzah will be posted on the entrance.

The newly-renovated building features pedestrian walkways, access roads and separate parking levels for private automobiles and MDA emergency service vehicles, significantly improving Magen David Adom’s ability to get its ambulances on the road to answer urgent calls.

In addition to new quarters for crews, a training center and classrooms, offices and meeting rooms, there will be a new dispatch center, utilizing the latest GPS technology that can pinpoint every building in the city and its environs.

MDA’s groundbreaking “Motobridge” communications system enables its staff to receive emergency calls and alerts online from every type of communications device.

Mayor Bloomberg has been a long-time supporter of Israel but is facing problem back home. The New York Daily News reported last week that although a poll shows a plurality of 47percent approve his performance, 52 percent think he has “lost his way.”

"The job-approval bounce Mayor Michael Bloomberg got from his handling of Tropical Storm Irene has faded," Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute told the newspaper.

"He's back in the third-term blahs and slightly more than half of the neighbors think Hizzoner has lost focus," said Carroll. He attributed the decline due to a series of third-term disappointments, including “disastrous appointments” of two senior officials.