8289 replies to this topic

[D.L.]

Go to the inner city area of any city and it will look like this. Some of those sites are awaiting redevelopment, and some vacancy should be expected anyways

[VicHockeyFan]

Ya, it's not necessarily an indication of the economy.  Retail just ain't what it used to be.

 

 

Online retail sales, meanwhile, are expected to jump to $39.9-billion or 9.5 per cent of total sales by 2019 from $22.3-billion or 6.1 per cent this year, estimates Forrester Research.

 

 

 

http://business.fina...__lsa=9a59-b3a0

 

 

But the rate of businesses going online was stagnant: compared to 2012, the percentage that had a website was virtually unchanged at 46%.

 

 

 

Certain sectors were more likely to set up their own shop online: about 22% of wholesale trade businesses and 18% of retail trade enterprises sold their products and services online, Statistics Canada said.

For those that did sell online, e-commerce accounted for 24% of their total sales.

 

http://business.fina...__lsa=9a59-b3a0

 

 

 

 

Some kind of reclaimed materials furniture store has gone into the City Hall news space.

[Mr Cook Street]

Quite a few of the stores are up for lease across from the Hudson on Douglas. That building bordering the Mason's building is ripe for redevelopment!

[aastra]

Note that Government Street was booming in 1999, but by 2006 there were opinion pieces about the grim state of affairs and predictions that the worst was yet to come.

[dasmo]

And that worse has come....

[dasmo]

and this was on my walk to go get lunch... nothing to see folks, just the natural ebb and flow....

[Mike K.]

Again, I think this is good. We need this. We need politicians to awaken to the reality they have created. Bike lanes, social services, "affordable" housing pet projects, bridges, traffic calming, and a whole slew of nonsense expenditures have created an expensive City and made the retail environment so tight that many businesses are walking away and not looking back.

This image of decay, or whatever we want to call it, is the product of our local government, in all it's wonderdul "people are telling us speed limits are the #1 priority" splendor. You made your bed City Hall, now lay in it.

[aastra]

 

And that worse has come....

 

Indeed, but it's interesting that nobody back in 2006 was saying the looming troubles were due to the lack of a pedestrian-only section along Government or the lack of a new bridge or the lack of reduced speed limits, etc. No doubt they could still remember the good times of the late 1990s, when there was also no pedestrian-only section along Government and no new bridge and no reduced speed limits, etc.

 

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your enthusiasm for the concept and I agree that a beautiful (= $$$$) pedestrian strip with seating and fountains and planters and such could be very nice. But it just bugs me how Victorians tend to avert their eyes from obvious negative issues & obvious trends and search instead for unrelated quick fixes.

For decades we've heard the same old gripes about parking and street crime and panhandling/drugs/homelessness. For decades we've been assured that the same old gripes about parking and street crime and panhandling/drugs/homelessness are not relevant. Parking and street crime and panhandling/drugs/homelessness aren't hurting downtown. The gripers are just stupid jerks. (I've done my share of poking fun at the gripers.)

And yet for the past 15-20 years we've seen an undeniable shifting of commercial focus away from downtown to other areas -- to the west comms in particular, which had nothing but some crappy suburban strip malls as recently as the early 1990s -- and curiously enough those other areas don't have the parking issues or the street crime or the panhandling/drugs/homelessness. Coincidence? Those other areas also don't have pedestrian-only streets or new bridges or mid-block walkways or large public spaces or reduced speed limits or whatever else, and yet it hasn't seemed to hinder their success.

A long gone forumer would probably be talking about lipstick on pigs right about now. That's probably going too far. Government Street is definitely not a pig, and a nicely done pedestrian street is a bigger deal than a touch of lipstick. But I really think we're missing the big picture when we keep talking about solutions that don't dare to confront the actual problems or the changing realities.

Victorian #1: Hey, do you want to go downtown?

Victorian #2: No, I don't like downtown.

Victorian #1: You don't understand. We can walk right down the middle of Government Street.

Victorian #2: I'll get my coat!

You can walk right down the middle of Langley Street or Gordon Street or Cormorant at pretty much any time of the day. I'm 100% confident that it's not a big draw to be able to do so, at least not for most people.

I'd say downtown's future is all about becoming a self-sustaining neighbourhood. It needs to get itself into a position whereby it can depend upon itself year round, and make extra hay from tourists during the summer. Pedestrian-only streets can definitely be part of that (see Bastion Square for the proof), but they aren't a crucial piece by any means.

I know some people hate to admit it but downtown Victoria is quite large and it was built to be the downtown for the entire city, not just for the city proper. It's still the only real downtown in Victoria, but a lot of Victoria's office space isn't downtown anymore, and a lot of Victoria's commercial space isn't downtown anymore. Hence, abandoned department stores, abandoned storefronts, abandoned office space. Times are changing. Downtown's commercial troubles have coincided perfectly with the commercial boom in the west comms. There can be no doubt about it. A traditionally residential area like the west comms did well for itself by shifting gears and nabbing a big piece of the commercial pie. A traditionally commercial area like downtown needs to do the same thing. Shift gears and nab a big piece of the residential pie. Dare I say it, but downtown Victoria's future prosperity is all about this evolution from a purely commercial downtown into more of a mixed-use urban village. And it would only boost the tourism numbers in the long run.

 

The traditional powers are going to be staunchly opposed to this evolution, for sure. But they'll probably like the idea of closing Government Street.

[dasmo]

I would rather not have my downtown become Vancouver's east side out of political revenge. If it goes there it will take beyond my lifetime to get it back.... Action is needed. Bike lanes are not the problem, nor are social services. If this decay continues why would anyone want to redevelop? Or build condos? Of live downtown? buy buy vibrant....This is the obvious stages of a contagion. I'm surprised Mike.  You were more up in arms about Ebola. that was a planet away and only affected a few people... 

Edited by dasmo, 28 January 2015 - 02:08 PM.

[D.L.]

Three residential towers will be starting construction downtown this year

[Mike K.]

I would rather not have my downtown become Vancouver's east side out of political revenge. If it goes there it will take beyond my lifetime to get it back.... Action is needed. Bike lanes are not the problem, nor are social services. If this decay continues why would anyone want to redevelop? Or build condos? Of live downtown? buy buy vibrant....This is the obvious stages of a contagion. I'm surprised Mike.  You were more up in arms about Ebola. that was a planet away and only affected a few people... 

 

We need to get something straight though. Bike lanes, social services, and the rest of the agenda that's become so pervasive here, comes at a real cost. That cost is the burden of someone -- just not the folks who champion those expenditures.

 

I want politicians to stand there and say, "sorry folks, we don't have money for bike lanes." Instead they're running around reducing speed limits and trying their darnedest to find ways to expend money.

 

 

I'd say downtown's future is all about becoming a self-sustaining neighbourhood. It needs to get itself into a position whereby it can depend upon itself year round, and make extra hay from tourists during the summer. Pedestrian-only streets can definitely be part of that (see Bastion Square for the proof), but they aren't a crucial piece by any means.

 

I'd say you're right.

 

But why can't officialdom see it that way and green light projects that, dare I say, stand a little higher than our average stock of building with a higher volume of units? Victorians bash development, bash developers, and bash change, then they turn around and bemoan for lease signs. Or maybe they don't, maybe the folks who hate change are finally happy? I dunno.

[VicHockeyFan]

Three residential towers will be starting construction downtown this year

 

But we need 30 if we are to properly populate the downtown.  Come on somebody, buy the Victoria plaza and get it done.

[Nparker]

And some of us bemoan the lack of height AND the increase in empty store fronts - and some of us - meaning me - attempted to vote in a new city council that we thought might tackle these issues - instead we got the same old (and I mean old) faces back on council with nary a fresh idea among them.

[lanforod]

But we need 30 if we are to properly populate the downtown.  Come on somebody, buy the Victoria plaza and get it done.

 

Nah, just one. One really big one. Say, a Burj Khalifa.

[dasmo]

Three residential towers will be starting construction downtown this year

but they haven't sold the units yet....

[dasmo]

And some of us bemoan the lack of height AND the increase in empty store fronts - and some of us - meaning me - attempted to vote in a new city council that we thought might tackle these issues - instead we got the same old (and I mean old) faces back on council with nary a fresh idea among them.

My no mercy campaign went nowhere....

[aastra]

VHF made the point earlier about Government Street's location, by which I assume he meant to say that it isn't in the middle of things. I think this is an important re: the entire old town. You've got nothing but seals on the west side and you've got nothing at all on the north side. I'm starting to think it might not be so bad to allow taller buildings in the Capital Iron area, for example. You've got to surround the commercial district as much as possible.

Edited by aastra, 28 January 2015 - 02:33 PM.

[D.L.]

but they haven't sold the units yet....

 

and two of them never will, they're rentals

[dasmo]

And here is my stroll back to pick up my van....

[Nparker]

Note to Victoria City Council: approve no more additional ground level retail until at least triple the current downtown residential population is achieved. This can be accomplished at least in part by abandoning the ridiculous arbitrary height limits and allowing significantly greater density in the areas bound by Bay, Belleville/Fairfield, Cook and Wharf/Store.