Central Government Street for pedestrians only?

These pictures are from Malmo Sweden taken last summer on a mid week evening. Almost every town and city in Denmark has a pedestrian only street. Parking lots for cars are located near by.

Note the mixed-use of the street. Storefronts with residential/office above.

So no one else thinks it odd that we actually do close Government Street for peds only now but we do it between Pandora and Fisgard not close to the inner harbour??

Seems very suspicious to me...

Methinks the two blocks between Fort and Yates would work very well as a pedestrian-only zone.

If you extend the hypothetical closure across Yates, don't you create problems re: access to the Yates Street parkade?

Did I already ask that?

I think the Moss St. Paint-in could be replicated 4 or five times thru the summer on a closed-off Government St., and merchants would pay a bit for it, and art-sellers would see a much more affluent crowd to buy their wares. Remember, Moss St. PI is on my list of things that cheap Victorians will attend only if free. The MSPI does a little bit for the Art Gallery, but has no other economic spinoff where they do it now.

Here's an idea. One of the most successful recent events on Government Street was the street-hockey tournament. Why not build a couple of street-hockey/lacrosse rinks – sponsored by the Salmon Kings, Shamrocks, and Grizzlies, with the rights to sell advertising on the boards – in the middle of the street? Make the rinks free or inexpensive for groups to use, and create a website where they can book time online.

American tourists stepping off cruise ships would be most impressed, and locals would come down to watch their friends play. Although I can foresee plenty of complaints about the noise, and the advertising.

I really love this idea, but I don't know how family-friendly this would be with me swearing like a sailor every time I miss the net with a shot. Sadly, that would be a frequent occurrence.

NYC closes of 5 blocks of Times Square to vehicles:
http://pricetags.wor...25/they-did-it/

I am at a lost here. This is from an article that was posted a month ago.

lack of exposure to vehicular traffic is one of the reasons for their failure

. How does lack of vehicle traffic make pedestrian streets a failure? Is the DVBA expecting drivers to watch the storefronts instead of the road ahead of them. If lack of traffic access is a problem, why not do what they should have done 15 years ago, put in the streetcar line from Ogden Pt to China Town along Government St. Besides you still have vehicle access (bikes and transit) just not cars.

Its funny this was suggested in the mid 70s, and we are still having this debate.

I am at a lost here. This is from an article that was posted a month ago.
. How does lack of vehicle traffic make pedestrian streets a failure? Is the DVBA expecting drivers to watch the storefronts instead of the road ahead of them. If lack of traffic access is a problem, why not do what they should have done 15 years ago, put in the streetcar line from Ogden Pt to China Town along Government St. Besides you still have vehicle access (bikes and transit) just not cars.

Right, it could be just like Granville Mall in Vancouver.

At the last DVBA "Late Night Great Night" meeting we discussed the upcoming Navy Day celebration.

In light of the fact that there will be upwards of 10,000 sailors in town the topic of closing Government St. came up. I strongly felt we should pursue this for a couple of nights during the celebration. I made the case that when you have that many people downtown (like when three cruise ships are in port) the sidewalks overflow anyway, especially if there are buskers on the sidewalk (which is a good thing, right?)

Ideally it would be from Humboldt up to Fort or possibly Yates, just in the evening till about 10 pm or so.

A City rep was at the meeting and we all thought it would serve as a good experiment for future consideration.

At the last DVBA "Late Night Great Night" meeting we discussed the upcoming Navy Day celebration.

In light of the fact that there will be upwards of 10,000 sailors in town the topic of closing Government St. came up. I strongly felt we should pursue this for a couple of nights during the celebration. I made the case that when you have that many people downtown (like when three cruise ships are in port) the sidewalks overflow anyway, especially if there are buskers on the sidewalk (which is a good thing, right?)

Ideally it would be from Humboldt up to Fort or possibly Yates, just in the evening till about 10 pm or so.

A City rep was at the meeting and we all thought it would serve as a good experiment for future consideration.

Yes, no reason not to give it a shot.

Pedestrian mall pitched for international buskers' festival in Victoria

By Bill Cleverley, Times Colonist
February 19, 2010

Plans are underway for a 10-day Victoria International Buskers Festival next summer.

John Vickers of Citizens for the Government Street Pedestrian Mall is organizing the July 15-25, 2011, event in part to convince merchants and City Hall that turning a section of Government Street over to pedestrians for at least part of the day or night can be a good thing.

[...]

http://www.timescolo...5639/story.html

Johnson St. will be closed from 8am to 6m tomorrow, from Wharf to Broad, but Govt. will still carry thru traffic.

Funny how it takes years of study to decide if they can do it with Government, and the Johnson St. merchants just go ahead and organize a closure on their own.

Don't those merchants know a closure would kill their business? Casual drive-by shoppers are their lifeblood.

They managed to invite 6000 people via Facebook too, that's not too bad. Not as good as an event I worked with to get to 14,000 invites (2200 YESs), but not bad all the same.

L-d6n0WtAYI

^Oops!

Very little opposition here on my Facebook page:

http://www.facebook....type=1

Ten-hour daily closures of Government Street to motor vehicle traffic, between Humboldt and View streets, is a key element in the City of Victoria’s pandemic recovery assistance program for 2021.

 

As part of the support of downtown businesses, in the wake of the indoor dining ban and beyond, Victoria council approved a plan to extend the Business Recovery from Pandemic Bylaw – branded as Build Back Victoria – past its planned end date of Oct. 31 and continue to monitor the results.

 

The use of public space for private uses, including relaxing rules around using sidewalks for seating space for restaurants, pubs and other food primary businesses, has been central to the program. Most councillors agreed the move has added vibrancy to downtown streetscapes, with more than one saying the patios give the area a more European flavour.

 

 

 

 

https://www.vicnews....reet-come-june/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 22 April 2021 - 04:12 PM.

https://www.vicnews....t-street-north/



Victoria gets $750K to fix up Government Street North

The project will include the installation of protected bike lanes, public seating, art and more



This project has transformed Government Street, delivered significant road safety, asset renewal and placemaking improvements all of which strengthen our economy and increase our resiliency as a capital city,” Mayor Lisa Helps said in a statement.




Pandora to Gorge.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 May 2022 - 02:34 PM.

I can hardly wait to have a nice sit down in the 2200 block of Government Street - 

- after I've finished my daily swim in one of the potholes of Oaklands.