4570 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

On the down side, well over half of downtown businesses saw a reduction in staff and profits between 2019 and 2020 as a result of the pandemic economy. After COVID, however, most businesses saw the downtown’s cleanliness and safety as the greatest negative impact on their vitality and called for an increased police presence.

”Crime stats paint a picture,” Bray said, regarding recent stats putting Victoria’s crime severity index as highest in the province. “It’s still very safe downtown, people feel very safe downtown. But our businesses need to see that support.”


https://www.vicnews....uring-pandemic/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 July 2021 - 12:48 PM.

[A Girl is No one]

Bray should have been speaking up years ago. In my opinion, this guy failed miserably at his job.

[spanky123]

Bray should have been speaking up years ago. In my opinion, this guy failed miserably at his job.

He is trying to thread the needle, tell everyone downtown is safe so they will shop but let folks know we need to fund the police.

[A Girl is No one]

Why did he wait for it to get so bad? We - and the downtown business folks - have seen the decline for years now. He chose to take the knee and suck up to the authorities rather than do his job and address the issue before it got to the abismal state it’s in now.
IMO he should get fired from that job ASAP.

[Barrrister]

I actively avoid shopping downtown anymore. I feel bad for the merchants but they dont exactly seem to be leading the charge to clean things up,

[Ismo07]

Why did he wait for it to get so bad? We - and the downtown business folks - have seen the decline for years now. He chose to take the knee and suck up to the authorities rather than do his job and address the issue before it got to the abismal state it’s in now.
IMO he should get fired from that job ASAP.

 

A decline for years?  What?  What year did things decline?  When was the peak you think?

[A Girl is No one]

I can tell you that I live and work in very close proximity to downtown. It was my destination of choice for all my shopping, dining and entertainment for years. That stopped well before COVID when it got overrun by randomly screaming and sometimes violent folks, the place got dirty, we lost cool festivals such as the buskers, lots of shops closed and got boarded up due to random window smashing campaigns (before COVID). Etc….

I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but I have moved on. I no longer shop or dine there and most entertainment is gone anyway.

I really hope it comes back though, and last weekend, I rode my bike through downtown and it almost felt normal. I can’t tell you how happy I was.

[Ismo07]

I can tell you that I live and work in very close proximity to downtown. It was my destination of choice for all my shopping, dining and entertainment for years. That stopped well before COVID when it got overrun by randomly screaming and sometimes violent folks, the place got dirty, we lost cool festivals such as the buskers, lots of shops closed and got boarded up due to random window smashing campaigns (before COVID). Etc….

I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but I have moved on. I no longer shop or dine there and most entertainment is gone anyway.

I really hope it comes back though, and last weekend, I rode my bike through downtown and it almost felt normal. I can’t tell you how happy I was.

 

Ah I see, well yes things are coming back but not close to what it was like in the summer of 2019.  I agree more yelling has increased but not business downtown.  Shops were not closing at any alarming rate, good businesses have always been good.  To me more businesses opened from 2015 to 2019.  We will have to agree to disagree on the level of business downtown through that stretch.  The only time downtown took a huge step back (before last year) was back in the late 90s when Eaton's closed.  That was a weird downtown.

 

I don't believe a business closed due to a window smashed, likely they weren't a very good business or development was occurring.  The Buskerfest had nothing to do with downtown getting worse, more political I think than anything.  I'm gald you took a ride through town but if you no longer shop or dine here it would be hard to speak to the returning vibrancy that is still less than 2 years ago, still have a ways to go.

[A Girl is No one]

Thanks Ismo07!
Believe me, I root for our beautiful and pleasant downtown back! But I won’t go as long as almost every visit exposes me to screams, public drug use and profanities and often even makes me fear for my safety or my dog’s safety (and I don’t scare easy).

I do often ride through it still - on my way out of town- and still occasionally walk my dog there as I have for more than 10 years, so my impressions are sound, but they are just that: my impressions. I realize some (and hope many) feel like you about the current state of affairs.
😁

I meant that there were a lot of closed businesses, many had windows boarded up while still for lease/empty. The rash of window smashing started before COVID.

Exactly: I think the politics are extremely crucial to the decline of our beloved downtown.

[Ismo07]

Thanks Ismo07!
Believe me, I root for our beautiful and pleasant downtown back! But I won’t go as long as almost every visit exposes me to screams, public drug use and profanities and often even makes me fear for my safety or my dog’s safety (and I don’t scare easy).

I do often ride through it still - on my way out of town- and still occasionally walk my dog there as I have for more than 10 years, so my impressions are sound, but they are just that: my impressions. I realize some (and hope many) feel like you about the current state of affairs.


I meant that there were a lot of closed businesses, many had windows boarded up while still for lease/empty. The rash of window smashing started before COVID.

Exactly: I think the politics are extremely crucial to the decline of our beloved downtown.

 

Don't mind me I'm just glass 3/4 full and wearing rose coloured glasses .

Edited by Ismo07, 29 July 2021 - 03:19 PM.

[spanky123]

Election must be delayed a month, Liberals announce that the CEWS and CRB will be extended at least another month until October.

 

Sorry employers, just when you though you might be able to hire people for "back to school" you will be out of luck.

[Matt R.]

I’m hoping they cancel payback of the CEBA loans. That would lock up some more votes for sure!

Matt.

[A Girl is No one]

Election must be delayed a month, Liberals announce that the CEWS and CRB will be extended at least another month until October.

Sorry employers, just when you though you might be able to hire people for "back to school" you will be out of luck.

Pension? 😛

[Victoria Watcher]

here is an article that says almost no employees will return to the office full-time:


https://www.cbc.ca/n...video-1.6122783

[Mike K.]

We also have to plan for major and damaging data leaks, privacy violations and breaches of trust. Having a million people tapping into secure networks from home is going to be ridiculously exploited.

[Victoria Watcher]

We also have to plan for major and damaging data leaks, privacy violations and breaches of trust. Having a million people tapping into secure networks from home is going to be ridiculously exploited.

 

maybe.  and maybe lots of that is already happening.  it's just internal - company to company.  for example i might pay you - an employee of a cellphone company with this access - to give me your customer list for $200,000.

[Mike K.]

I'd be more concerned about the impact on small business that ends up having to pay a heavy ransomware fee.

[spanky123]

here is an article that says almost no employees will return to the office full-time:


https://www.cbc.ca/n...video-1.6122783

 

90% of employers think that their employees are fairly paid, 90% of employees think they should be paid more. 90% of employees think they are more productive at home when they are not at Costco. 90% of employers think otherwise.

 

Perception is always different. Google and big tech have the power to force everyone to get vaccinated and return to work. Other businesses will follow suit.

[Victoria Watcher]

90% of employers think that their employees are fairly paid, 90% of employees think they should be paid more. 90% of employees think they are more productive at home when they are not at Costco. 90% of employers think otherwise.

Perception is always different. Google and big tech have the power to force everyone to get vaccinated and return to work. Other businesses will follow suit.

the article only interviewed “business leaders”. they are the ones in this article that are saying they only want 60% of the workforce back. this article did not cover the employees thoughts or wishes.

and some of the leaders interviewed here have workforces of 50,000+.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 31 July 2021 - 11:10 AM.

[UDeMan]

Of course most employees would like to stay home, they are saving so much money and also avoiding lots of office politics. It says so much about how people really hate their coworkers and managers.