Victoria B.C. businesses looking at funding to help beautify downtown

Victoria’s city council is considering offering $50,000 in grant funding to help beautify downtown storefronts.

The funding is not only meant to help businesses but also help people feel safer downtown.

The City of Victoria would partner with the Downtown Victoria Business Association which would provide the funding to businesses.

“Fresh coat of paint, you know, cleaning awnings, maybe nice planters down the whole block,” Jeff Bray with the downtown association suggested. “Really, whatever would make (the) block pop and look great.”

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The Business Facade Beautification Reimbursement Program has earmarked $50,000 from the city’s recently extended pay parking hours.

The Downtown Victoria Business Association will match that, totalling $100,000, which will be available on a 50-50 cost-sharing basis with participating businesses and property owners.

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This comes as Victoria, like many cities across the province, has seen a massive spike in theft and vandalism, much of it rooted in the ongoing mental health and homelessness crisis.

But the city has made it clear, tackling those challenges is the responsibility of the province. All it can do is continue to push higher levels of government to act.

“We absolutely support what the Province is doing in building housing and supporting housing and across the affordability sector,” Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto said. “But that’s ultimately the answer.”

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B.C.’s Minister of Public Safety, Mike Farnworth, told Global News the province’s Safer Communities Action Plan strengthens enforcement and leverages mental health and addictions services.

That said, the results are not always quick to materialize but the city expects this program to be different.

“It’s not just important for us to have the reality, it’s important for us to see the reality,” Alto said.