Re: Let’s change the conversation about parking. I disagree with the need to restrict downtown parking.
The downtown business community needs customers to survive. Some of these customers arrive in vehicles from other provinces, from the U.S. or from other parts of Vancouver Island.
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What attracts them is the vibrant City of Victoria, with its shops, restaurants and Inner Harbour attractions. Without this tourist traffic customer shops will close and Victoria will become a lot less of an attraction. We need a place to park these vehicles.
While bicycles are a great idea, it is difficult to transport some of the items that are purchased in a backpack. For example, how about a suit you just purchase for several hundred dollars, or some sheets and pillows purchased at a downtown shop or a painting purchased from one of the several galleries in Victoria. Sometimes a bicycle just isn’t enough.
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We will probably all be going to some type of electric vehicles in the future. There are new technologies just around the corner that will take electric-powered vehicles a huge step forward from what we see now. These vehicles will still need a place to park. People will still come to Victoria in some kind of vehicle.
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To put another negative impact on the business community by the reduced availability of parking is wrong.
Henry Fox
Victoria
