1156 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

Indeed. Shoppers runs a methadone dispensary out of a side door. Or did before they moved. Lucrative.

Forbes pharmacy on Pandora opens at 5:30am most days for the methadone trade.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 February 2023 - 11:42 AM.

[mbjj]

There's like 6 other pharmacies within 2 blocks of London Drugs... 

 

There's like 6 other pharmacies within 2 blocks of London Drugs... 

But London Drugs has a lot more than many pharmacies - a good food section, kitchen ware, socks, electronics, gardening items, Christmas stuff, etc. Good sales on jams, cookies, coffee, etc. 

[Nparker]

But London Drugs has a lot more than many pharmacies - a good food section, kitchen ware, socks, electronics, gardening items, Christmas stuff, etc. Good sales on jams, cookies, coffee, etc. 

Agreed. London Drugs is much more of small department store than it is strictly a pharmacy. I'd love to see them expand in a larger, newer space in Harris Green.

[Barrrister]

I rather see them at Mayfair Mall which according to one rumor that they are already looking at this.

[Nparker]

Unless the Hudson's Bay store is closing at Mayfair, where would there be enough room for London Drugs?

It would also be an odd location due to its proximity to the LD at Tillicum (about 2.4 kilometers/5 minutes by car)

[Victoria Watcher]

There are several good letters about downtown/government workers today:

 

https://www.timescol...lanning-6628292

 

I tend to agree that letter was a bit odd, it's too late, downtown needs to be agile here.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 March 2023 - 06:57 AM.

[Mike K.]

For years, business interests have wanted governments to cut costs to keep taxes low. Now that this province is implementing policies that will go some way to assist in just that, they cry foul.

I don’t think shutting down offices in Victoria was what they were asking for.

[Mike K.]

Still, it's quite the thing, right?

For years the idea of West Shore offices was mocked, and we were told how strong the downtown office market is and how workers won’t work anywhere else.

Now the same people who said the above, are championing how we don’t even need downtown offices, and how great not having downtown offices is going to be.

[Victoria Watcher]

Still, it's quite the thing, right?

For years the idea of West Shore offices was mocked, and we were told how strong the downtown office market is and how workers won’t work anywhere else.

Now the same people who said the above, are championing how we don’t even need downtown offices, and how great not having downtown offices is going to be.

 

I think someone even told us once that offices were mandated to be in CoV.  Maybe the main ministry offices are?  Dunno.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 01 March 2023 - 07:09 AM.

[Mike K.]

Just roll with the times, businesses! You should have always known investing in downtown was a fool’s errand. How could you have not known? We were telling you for years how unimportant* downtown offices are to the downtown community, and you wouldn’t listen!

- Housing Twitter







*please hang around for 35 years so we can replace the loss of 15,000 office workers with downtown residents, please? We’re confident placemaking will solve this crisis**.







**but we’re not actually allowed to call this a crisis. This is not a crisis, because in 35 years it’ll possibly be like it didn’t even happen and everything will be great. We promise.

[Victoria Watcher]

I think someone even told us once that offices were mandated to be in CoV.  Maybe the main ministry offices are?  Dunno.

 

Wasn't the idea that if you take on the burden of being the capital, you also get the benefit of the offices?

 

Like the odd deal with Douglas Street, Victoria has to take care of their part, but the Saanich part belongs to the province.

[Mike K.]

I think someone even told us once that offices were mandated to be in CoV. Maybe the main ministry offices are? Dunno.

It was nonsense then, like we can see it is nonsense now.

For years, Watcher, the idea of shifting some of the commuter load out of downtown was outright mocked as the dumbest idea ever.

Then minutes into the province saying hey, forget downtown Victoria offices, you can work from anywhere!!, Housing Twitter flipped the script and are now rural and suburban office experts.

Give it a week, and they’ll be telling us how it was their idea all along, to not have such a high concentration of commuters moving into the downtown core every day.

[Mike K.]

Wasn't the idea that if you take on the burden of being the capital, you also get the benefit of the offices?

Like the odd deal with Douglas Street, Victoria has to take care of their part, but the Saanich part belongs to the province.

Yes, just another one of those platitudes that was thrown out.

And maybe there’s truth to it, or was decades ago. But by 2010 the idea of a downtown office was antiquated. It wasn’t necessary in the same way it was in 1990.

We saw it. So what stopped the experts from seeing it? And just watch, Housing Twitter in the span of a few days will become experts on how downtown offices are an antiquated concept.

[dasmo]

Not for people with disruptive home lives, or families living in one bedroom apartments. Hardly productive working off a laptop in the kitchen with the kids screaming all day and your house husband nagging you to help out with the laundry….

[Barrrister]

Does anyone actually know how many jobs we are talking about. Is it two hundred or two thousand or fifteen thousand? Serious question in terms of is this really a big deal.

[dasmo]

Some shift will happen as remote work is way more possible now. But it’s not that simple. Team dynamics and comradeship is a factor. Physical separation from home life is another as is offloading capital costs on to the employee. Etc.
As a contractor I work remote for many companies. When I employed a team we worked together in a studio downtown.
The only reason I can work from home now is because I have an isolated studio to separate myself with. Otherwise I would not be able to. Not many can do that.

Now Government workers don’t really do much so of course they are going to fight to keep this situation going. Grace lore still gets paid over $80K a year for running an office that has been closed with no one answering the phone for three years. Who would want to give that up?

[Nparker]

What I discovered from my year-long (forced) WFH experience, was the part of my job that was most fulfilling was the daily interaction with my colleagues. With that taken away the rest was just drudgery. This change in the working environment was a significant factor in why I chose to retire.

[Awaiting Juno]

I suspect the impacts are likely to be very mixed. Worked from home, like working at the office, is a mixed bag. Sometimes on the whole it is better, other times not so much. In terms of our downtown core - we're going to have to redouble our efforts to make downtown a worthwhile place to be, regardless if the reason for being downtown is as a tourist, for work, or because you live there. It was already struggling, and it is entirely reasonable to think that struggle is going to increase at least in the short term.

 

A good start to helping downtown for the City would be to give VicPD the funding they need, supplemented with concerted efforts to improve public safety. 

[Nparker]

...A good start to helping downtown for the City would be to give VicPD the funding they need, supplemented with concerted efforts to improve public safety. 

As long as it doesn't further increase property taxes I am fine with this. There are plenty of non-essential/vanity projects that can/should be cut to properly fund public safety, I just don't see the current council doing this.

[Awaiting Juno]

As long as it doesn't further increase property taxes I am fine with this. There are plenty of non-essential/vanity projects that can/should be cut to properly fund public safety, I just don't see the current council doing this.

 

I'm incredibly envious of Port Coquitlam and their council at the moment - their tax increase: less than 4%. They respect their community and understand their roles. We can only hope for the same here, and likely won't get it until 2026 (or later if we don't learn).