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What does downtown Victoria need to flourish?
By gabesemenza in Crowdsourcing
May 18, 2010

I visited with two business owners yesterday, each of whom recently opened their doors in downtown Victoria.

One owner runs a gift shop and plans to open a wine bar soon; the other runs a jazz club and events venue.

I talked to local business leaders and most agree: Stars might be aligning for a revitalization of downtown.

Area leaders support that hope with three factors:

1) These new businesses remain open at night and on weekends (until now, downtown resembled a ghost town most nights).

2) Downtown street and sidewalk projects will prime the area for ease of travel.

3) A tourism bureau ad campaign draws attention to the city.

Not since the 1980s has Victoria's downtown flourished with retail shopping.

Could this be the start of a change? What do you think the downtown needs to flourish?

Thanks for your input,

Gabe Semenza / Advocate public service editor