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Wow, is it just me or is downtown looking dumpy..


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#41 Holden West

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 07:01 AM

^I think he means thou shalt have no porcelain gods before me.

The DVBA's clean team scrubs up facades and sidewalks on a continual basis. That alone makes us look better than ever. As for safety, I feel much safer downtown late at night than I would in any "urban village" where there's not a soul in sight after midnight. Safety in numbers, don't you know. As long as you're not a foolish drunk you'll be (and feel) safe. And things are only getting better as downtown's population grows and late night options increase.
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#42 SamCB

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 07:16 AM

I moved here 3 years ago from Edmonton, and Toronto before that. Compared to Edmonton, downtown Victoria is a fantasy land. Dasmo's right-- it's human scaled, filled with life (much of it normal), and beautiful. The homeless people don't stab you here. I can walk anywhere downtown at night and I feel safe. Edmonton didn't offer that.

Compared to Toronto our downtown is boring, and the proportion of crackies to normals is higher than I'd like. But it's still very good. We have an exceptional downtown for a city our size in my opinion.

#43 sdwright.vic

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 07:33 AM

I moved here 3 years ago from Edmonton, and Toronto before that. Compared to Edmonton, downtown Victoria is a fantasy land. Dasmo's right-- it's human scaled, filled with life (much of it normal), and beautiful. The homeless people don't stab you here. I can walk anywhere downtown at night and I feel safe. Edmonton didn't offer that.

Compared to Toronto our downtown is boring, and the proportion of crackies to normals is higher than I'd like. But it's still very good. We have an exceptional downtown for a city our size in my opinion.


This is exactly what I was saying up above. Its all about personal perception and personal perception can only be based upon what one has been exposed to. If downtown Victoria is all that someone has been exposed to in a urban context, then yes this place could seem as if its right next door to Hades.

Also have those that say our downtown is so unsafe (by appearance) gone up to Nanaimo. I regards to cleanliness it not much of a crown jewel, but have to admit, when I am up their it seems that I am asked for a lot less change.

One a side note, next time your asked for change and you annoyed by it, just ask the person if they accept debit cards as you do not carry cash anymore. That throws them off long enough for you to escape.
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#44 aastra

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 07:48 AM

The homeless people don't stab you here.

You can't walk down a street in Edmonton without getting stabbed. It's crazy there.

#45 SamCB

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:03 AM

They don't call it Stabmonton for nothing. Seriously, there is an alarming rate of stabbings in downtown Edmonton. It's weird.

#46 Ken Johnson

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:14 AM

I feel we have a very safe and clean downtown. Certainly during the day, the DVBA cleaning crews keep the levels of graffiti and debris to a very low level. The only improvement we could make to this system is to provide clean-up carts or trash bags to all of the Parking Enforcement Commissionaires - they cover a lot of ground.

As for the safety aspect - the biggest threat in the night scene are the drunks - they are a problem but I feel the problem has been lessening as the education and driving restrictions have taken hold. Even with my advanced years I have few safety concerns about Downtown.

#47 aastra

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:29 AM

Its all about personal perception and personal perception can only be based upon what one has been exposed to.

I agree with the first part but disagree with the second. Personal perceptions seem to come from all sorts of crazy places, often in defiance of direct experience. Someone I know from a larger city in eastern Canada once said to me that he didn't think he could live permanently in Victoria because the street scene downtown made him uncomfortable. We've seen many travel reviews in which people from very large US cities express their apprehensions about downtown Victoria (urban noise and street people being the most common issues).

Methinks much of the angst re: downtown Victoria stems from the clash of expectations versus reality. I'd bet a box of donuts that a lot of people (including many native Victorians) expect/desire something more along the lines of what you find up island. They're put off by the size of Victoria's downtown and the historic feel and the "old city" grittiness. When I review historic pictures and ruminate about how Victorians dismantled much of their old downtown from the 1940s through the 1970s, I can't help but wonder if it was all really just a broad effort to make downtown Victoria look and feel more like how people expected it to look and feel.

#48 Matt R.

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:32 AM

Like a downtown Qualicum Beach?

Matt.

#49 sdwright.vic

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:42 AM

When I review historic pictures and ruminate about how Victorians dismantled much of their old downtown from the 1940s through the 1970s, I can't help but wonder if it was all really just a broad effort to make downtown Victoria look and feel more like how people expected it to look and feel.


You mean like the nice character 10 story building that used to be on the corner of Johnson and Douglas across from 7-11 that was torn down to build a bland 6 story square box?
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#50 aastra

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:47 AM

Like a downtown Qualicum Beach?

That's the idea. Less like a real working city with all of the associated complexities and more like a seaside vacation area.

Is it any coincidence that Greater Victoria is a mess of (mostly) small municipalities all claiming to be distinct societies, and all wanting nothing to do with the downtown area and its issues? If downtown Victoria didn't exist or if it looked more like downtown Sidney or downtown Nanaimo or downtown Parksville then amalgamation probably would have happened fifty years ago.

#51 sdwright.vic

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 08:48 AM

From a text book of mine on Interpersonal Communication-

To begin to understand perception, it is important to realize that there will always be more going on in our world than we will be aware of. The process of perception involves selection of data, organization of the data in a meaningful fashion, and interpretation of the data. Even the most attentive of us could not possibly absorb everything that is happening around us. We select the information that we will attend to. The reasons why we select certain data and reject other data are varied. Stimuli that are intense attract our attention. Contrast or change in people or events attracts our attention. Our mood, or our motivation, determines what information we select. If we are hungry, we will notice every candy shop on the street, every television commercial about food, and every restaurant we see. Or, we could be on our way to fill a speaking engagement about which we feel nervous because of a lack of preparation. In this circumstance, we could be highly preoccupied and miss many things that would normally capture our attention.

From this theory, if we decide to be fearful, then all we will see is fear.
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#52 dasmo

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:10 AM

chuckle "deification"... I meant something much less Godly.
Our downtown is a place where one can eat world class food and drink some of the best coffee anywhere, from independent shops. See great live music, shop in independent stores, fill up a growler from an local micro brewery, even see a burger king fight after the bars close!... Anyway, I think quiet and quaint is not what Victoria has ever been about. I think it was marketed as such to try and shed it's history as a rough and tumble town full of drug dens, bars, gambling houses, prostitutes and odd characters...

#53 sdwright.vic

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:24 AM

chuckle "deification"... I meant something much less Godly.
Our downtown is a place where one can eat world class food and drink some of the best coffee anywhere, from independent shops. See great live music, shop in independent stores, fill up a growler from an local micro brewery, even see a burger king fight after the bars close!... Anyway, I think quiet and quaint is not what Victoria has ever been about. I think it was marketed as such to try and shed it's history as a rough and tumble town full of drug dens, bars, gambling houses, prostitutes and odd characters...


Agreed! After all Victoria was a gold rush town.
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#54 Mike K.

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:33 AM

chuckle "deification"... I meant something much less Godly.
Our downtown is a place where one can eat world class food and drink some of the best coffee anywhere, from independent shops. See great live music, shop in independent stores, fill up a growler from an local micro brewery, even see a burger king fight after the bars close!... Anyway, I think quiet and quaint is not what Victoria has ever been about. I think it was marketed as such to try and shed it's history as a rough and tumble town full of drug dens, bars, gambling houses, prostitutes and odd characters...


Word! :thumbsup:

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#55 sebberry

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 11:03 AM

fill up a growler


No no, that's Rock Bay..

Oh, wait.. wrong kind of growler. Never mind, carry on...

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#56 phx

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Posted 20 July 2012 - 09:03 PM

Now that I think about it, I would say that downtown seems a bit better than it was a few years ago.

#57 Mike K.

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 08:54 AM

5 major construction projects currently underway in downtown Victoria will add up to 800 new residents to the downtown core. That on its own will drive big change.

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#58 PulpVictor

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 01:38 PM

5 major construction projects currently underway in downtown Victoria will add up to 800 new residents to the downtown core. That on its own will drive big change.



Residences? Not residents until they are occupied, and there are a whole lot of unoccupied residences around the CRD these days.

#59 Szeven

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 06:09 PM

I find it comical that downtown Nanaimo has been metioned positively twice in this thread. Sure, its better now that the convention centre was built, there seems to be less drug/gang activity on that crescent with the Cambie, but its terrible overall. A&B Sound is an eyesore, the Pacifica is an empty joke, and the restaurants are all a big meh. Acme? That martini place? Modern Cafe?

They keep trying, and I guess that is the right thing to do, with harbour park mall getting re done and the harbourside walkway is getting to be pretty decent, but it has a LONG way to go...

#60 sdwright.vic

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Posted 21 July 2012 - 06:54 PM

I find it comical that downtown Nanaimo has been metioned positively twice in this thread. Sure, its better now that the convention centre was built, there seems to be less drug/gang activity on that crescent with the Cambie, but its terrible overall. A&B Sound is an eyesore, the Pacifica is an empty joke, and the restaurants are all a big meh. Acme? That martini place? Modern Cafe?

They keep trying, and I gess that is the right thing to do, with harbour park mall getting re done and the harbourside walkway is getting to be pretty decent, but it has a LONG way to go...


Well I never complimented Nanaimo. I think its worse then Victoria. I've got to agree with you, don't understand the Victoria hatred. So many other things to have a hate on about. Lets build a better Art Museum, let develop the arts. Those are things to critique.
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