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Should Government Street become a pedestrian boulevard?

Government st Poll Pedestrian new urbanism Government street pedestrian mall

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Poll: Should Government street become a pedestrian boulevard (132 member(s) have cast votes)

Should Government street become a pedestrian boulevard from Yates street to Humbolt street (Allowing restricted single lane traffic)?

  1. Yes (86 votes [65.15%])

    Percentage of vote: 65.15%

  2. No (33 votes [25.00%])

    Percentage of vote: 25.00%

  3. Depends (13 votes [9.85%])

    Percentage of vote: 9.85%

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#881 aastra

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Posted 08 December 2020 - 08:45 AM

 

While it’s no surprise the retail environment has been ­devastated by the ­COVID-19 pandemic....

 

Journalism 101, yet again. Did the pandemic really devastate the retail environment? Customers are all dead, store owners are all dead, store employees are all dead? Or did something else devastate the retail environment?


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#882 Barrrister

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Posted 08 December 2020 - 08:55 AM

Aastra   It is the horde of zombies that keep my wife and I from shopping downtown.


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#883 TwilightZoneVictoria

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Posted 08 December 2020 - 09:45 AM

Wonder how many have just moved. This business was on lower Yates for years.

 

The move to Oak Bay has been great business-wise.

“Busier than we’ve been in years,” Anderson said. “Our feet are tired.

Burrows is confident that the hustle and bustle of Oak Bay Village equals that of downtown Victoria, where foot traffic has been slowing the past decade, she said.

“We’ve had clients come back that we haven’t seen in a long time who were reluctant to go downtown,” Burrows said.

https://www.vicnews....ome-to-oak-bay/

 

 

Journalism 101, yet again. Did the pandemic really devastate the retail environment? Customers are all dead, store owners are all dead, store employees are all dead? Or did something else devastate the retail environment?



#884 Rex Waverly

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Posted 08 December 2020 - 02:45 PM

Journalism 101, yet again. Did the pandemic really devastate the retail environment? Customers are all dead, store owners are all dead, store employees are all dead? Or did something else devastate the retail environment?

 

The DVBA has pedestrian counters that are easily viewable online - https://downtownvict...estrian-counts/

 

Pedestrian volumes seem to have been pretty consistent for at least the last 6-7 years or so, at least until 2020 started. Obviously it's the pandemic, what the hell else could it be?  Or do you honestly think losing all cruise ship traffic, having a large percentage of downtown workers working from home, social distancing measures, etc. won't have any impact on the foot traffic downtown?  



#885 aastra

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Posted 08 December 2020 - 02:51 PM

Am I really supposed to believe you don't understand my comment?



#886 Brantastic

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Posted 08 December 2020 - 03:09 PM

I haven't looked at the pedestrian counters in awhile. Interesting to see the changes. The one that I find completely puzzling is the Inner Harbour Lower Causeway counter. What explains the couple of record-setting days with upwards of 16,000 pedestrians walking northbound on days like May 6, 2020 or May 22, 2020?

http://eco-public.co...2/?id=100027012



#887 Rex Waverly

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 11:02 AM

Am I really supposed to believe you don't understand my comment?

 

I suppose it's possible i misunderstood your comment; this is the internet after all, and sometimes subtleties are lost in translation.  

 

To clarify, I understood your comment to imply that there were reasons other than the pandemic that was hurting the downtown retail environment. As for what other reasons you may have been referring to, i'm assuming they're some mix of homelessness, parking, bike lanes, etc. that often get thrown around on this forum. All of these non-pandemic reasons have been around for a number of years. Yet, foot traffic has remained consistent in the downtown core, implying that the number of potential customers has not declined.

 

....until this year, when foot traffic dropped for some unknown reason i guess.   



#888 A Girl is No one

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 11:16 AM

Are all pedestrians of equal value to businesses?

#889 Nparker

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 11:36 AM

Are all pedestrians of equal value to businesses?

I suspect the ones that spend money are considered more valuable.



#890 Rex Waverly

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 11:58 AM

Are all pedestrians of equal value to businesses?

 

Yeah, i suppose that's a possibility, that people have now just decided to wander aimlessly around downtown for no reason. 

 

I guess some of those peds being counted could be homeless, although realistically how many could that be? Didn't the last census have what, 1500 homeless? And based on some of the comments in these forums, we're led to believe most of those are either camped out in Beacon Hill Park or passed out in a doorway high on meth, so how can they also be walking around setting off all of the ped counters?  



#891 Mike K.

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 07:24 PM

Government Street may have gained its vehicle access for the season, but it has lost its Christmas lights. The street has historically been a boulevard of bright lights and Christmas cheer, but this evening the street was absent of the festive decorations. My take away is municipal crews are not decorating the street this year.


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#892 On the Level

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 08:01 PM

Government Street may have gained its vehicle access for the season, but it has lost its Christmas lights. The street has historically been a boulevard of bright lights and Christmas cheer, but this evening the street was absent of the festive decorations. My take away is municipal crews are not decorating the street this year.

 

Is anywhere downtown decorated?.....Not.

 

Great way to promote local business?.....Not.

 

Who's idea and who supports making Victoria void of holiday cheer?.....ding ding ding! 



#893 Barrrister

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 08:17 PM

Oak Bay is lite light and very festive. No wonder the pub is busy.

 

City Council's new plan to get affordable housing is to turn the city into an undesirable dump.


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#894 Dexter

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Posted 09 December 2020 - 09:28 PM

Working perfectly...

City Council's new plan to get affordable housing is to turn the city into an undesirable dump.


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#895 mbjj

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 07:55 AM

Oh that's a shame about the downtown lights. Are there none anywhere? We don't drive downtown at night but usually during Christmas we have a drive around. Oak Bay here we come! 



#896 Mike K.

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 07:59 AM

Nothing. At the very least light standards have banners but even those haven’t gone up this year. I don’t even understand why the trees along Government aren’t lit up. It’s like the City forgot about Christmas altogether.

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#897 lanforod

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 08:10 AM

Oh that's a shame about the downtown lights. Are there none anywhere? We don't drive downtown at night but usually during Christmas we have a drive around. Oak Bay here we come! 

 

A lot more houses with lights up this year from what I can tell, and a LOT of people doing drive arounds looking. Not much else to do with young kids unfortunately. Butchart canceled, Wonderland canceled, friend visits and parties canceled... I need more ideas for evenings and (wet) weekends...



#898 Brantastic

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 10:37 AM

Pretty sure I watched City employees putting Christmas lights up in the Government Street trees the other day. Perhaps they'll turn on any day now. It's odd that it's so late though.



#899 Victoria Watcher

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 10:44 AM

last year the centennial square display was scheduled to start december 13th (it was subsequently delayed).  so maybe this weekend is the normal light-up time downtown.  maybe they just don't like to be criticized for being early - which seems to be a thing.



#900 Belleprincess

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Posted 10 December 2020 - 11:54 AM

Imagine being an out of towner and trying to navigate our downtown streets? Lol

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