525 replies to this topic

[aastra]

There are always new trends.

[Victoria Watcher]

Nobody was actually forced, as in held down and stuck against their will. There was always the choice, there always is the choice. But there was some serious coercion.

Some children were.

[Victoria Watcher]

Free parking this Saturday and next at downtown Victoria parkades

 

The parking promotion is an initiative of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, the Bay Centre and Robbins Parking

https://www.timescol...arkades-7832227

[Victoria Watcher]

https://twitter.com/...528410794279409

 

[Nparker]

Those 7% must spend most of their time elsewhere.

[Mike K.]

On Twitter, telling people who have been victimized by crime and disorder, that their voices don’t matter.

[Tony]

People WERE forced to get vaccinated to work from home.

This can be argued all day and to what end other than continually playing the same tune over and over again no matter which is your perspective.

Say your piece and move on. The message has been received.

[Nparker]

...Say your piece and move on...

VV is not an appropriate place in which discuss my or anyone else's piece.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Victoria Watcher]

Downtown Victoria businesses can now get up to $10,000 to improve their storefronts through a partnership between the city and the Downtown Victoria Business Association.

The program was introduced last summer to help businesses with the cost of improving and cleaning their building exteriors, upgrading exterior lighting, cleaning or replacing exterior awnings and landscaping.

There was a lot of interest, but the program requirements were too limiting, and no grants have been given out so far, said Jeff Bray, chief executive of the DVBA.

The original agreement required at least 50 per cent of a street block to participate and it was difficult for business owners to get others on board.

Council voted Thursday to allow individual businesses to apply for a grant of up to $5,000 from the city, up from $2,500 previously. Property owners are eligible to apply for up to $5,000 per commercial tenant with a street-facing storefront, up to a maximum of six tenants.

https://www.timescol...efronts-8316625

Esquimalt launched a similar program early last year that allows businesses to apply for grants for permanent improvements to storefronts, such as signs, awnings, lighting, windows and exterior surfaces. Businesses can receive up to $10,000 per street-facing side of the building, so a corner business could receive up to $20,000, said Holly Courtright, president of the Esquimalt Chamber of Commerce, which is administering the program.

Four applications were accepted last year and one was completed, while two projects have carried into 2024, Courtright said. One applicant decided not to continue with the project.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 February 2024 - 01:43 AM.

[aastra]

 

Downtown Victoria businesses can now get up to $10,000 to improve their storefronts

 

Does that include removing the coverings over street-facing windows?

[LJ]

The only thing I would be investing in is a security roll shutter.

[Victoria Watcher]

Greater Victoria office-leasing market likely to remain stagnant: report

 

The capital region’s office market is experiencing higher vacancy rates and is seeing more subleases as tenants look at downsizing

 

 

https://www.timescol...-report-8366958

 

 

 

 

 

Landlords are doing their best to work with the tenants they have, Marshall said. “They have to do everything they can to keep existing tenants happy and to try and entice new tenants to come to their buildings.”

 

When it comes to downtown, some clients don’t want to go there because of social disorder or complaints about parking, he said.

[Victoria Watcher]

A security guard monitors Broad Street in downtown Victoria Wednesday afternoon, and while it’s quiet now, a stabbing took place just 24 hours ago.

 

The incident happened around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on Douglas Street near View Street, in front of panicked pedestrians during the busy lunch hour.

Karen Mills was on Douglas when the attack happened inside the McDonald’s.

 

“I saw the tail of it, it was a bunch of commotion,” Mills told CHEK News. “A guy came out of McDonald’s. Didn’t know what was happening. I found out later he had been stabbed.”

 

The search for the suspect is still underway.

 

For Michael Redpath, it’s another violent incident in the downtown core. He opened his Coastline Surf Shop in 1991.

 

“The violence we’re seeing, the recent stabbing. The punching and the fights are becoming, unfortunately, more commonplace,” Redpath said.

 

“In my retail business here, we see more and more shoplifting attempts. You know, we have to be very vigilant. Myself and my staff watching people closely.”

 

A few doors down from where Tuesday’s stabbing took place, The Natural Hair Salon co-owner Natalie Grunberg-Ferreria was unaware of it.

 

“I didn’t even hear about that until you told me,” Grunberg-Ferreria told CHEK News.

 

But she and her husband, Phillipe Ferreira, are realistic about what happens outside their business.

 

“For me, the violence, of course, is real. I don’t want to discount that,” Grunberg-Ferreira said.

 

 

 

https://www.cheknews...safety-1196038/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 March 2024 - 05:18 AM.

[Mike K.]

Coastline, of course, is across the street from city hall.

[Victoria Watcher]

I apprciate the hair salon owner's appraoch.  But the nature of her business means she likely does not have potential shoplifters entering daily.  Coastline likely does.

[Mike K.]

One thing I’ve noticed recently is when you enter a retail environment, staff will really zero in on you, or try to clandestinely follow you around. I don’t blame them, but this has changed the retail experience. In some cases it is a little overwhelming and you want to leave. The most eyes-on-me ratio I had was at The Bay downtown. More staff than customers, and the staff were hawk-eyed.

I suppose what it also means is thieves now come in all shapes and sizes. Everyone is a suspect, even the guy in business attire.

[Victoria Watcher]

Area around Goolden Hall has become a slum

Re: “Alix Goolden Hall has become a ­fortress,” letter, March 22.

 

You might say the letter regarding the effective siege of the Alix Goolden Performance Hall next to Our Place on Pandora Avenue has struck a chord with me.

 

I used to attend many enjoyable concerts at the hall; now it has been made impossible.

 

Many artists were genuinely impressed with the venue. Emmylou Harris referred to it as “a jewel box of a building.”

 

Through the benighted negligence and unwillingness of our politicians, particularly our municipal politicians, to take firm and effective action, this area has become a slum, one that is visibly metastasizing throughout the downtown area and beyond.

 

The “OUR DTWN” banners are sadly laughable. Someone else has been stabbed in the centre of town at midday and many are afraid to go downtown.

 

And “Tiny Town” is set to reopen after many broken promises that it was only temporary and that there would be increased and effective security.

 

Residents must now brace for the resumption of elevated levels of crime in the North Park neighbourhood. It has been reported that it will be run by Our Place.

 

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

 

 

Ian MacDonell

Victoria

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...y-raise-8509262

[Matt R.]

I’d love it if A&W was allowed to keep the Birks door pulls.

Rip into town today for shopping and dinner with my newly minted 22 year old kid (!)… busy busy downtown! Parking was quick and easy though, no issues aside from the mailboxes on Gordon st being a bit too close to the curb!

I know the first one will be sideways. This blog software can’t display images taken in portrait mode for some reason.

[Nparker]

Does A&W offer a Bacon Burger?