Facebook live address, Friday May 22nd. We’ll be back Friday May 29th at 1pm.

This week, the Province initiated Phase Two of their recovery plan and coffee shops, boutique retailers, and shopping centres around Victoria have started the process of reopening to the public. The City has been collaborating with the Downtown Victoria Business Association, Think Local Victoria, Community Micro-Lending and other business leaders to create a toolkit to support businesses reopen safely.

The toolkit helps highlight businesses that are practicing physical distancing, taking hygienic measures, and exercising the necessary precautions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. The toolkit includes:

• Occupancy signage to communicate the number of customers businesses are allowing inside at one time
• A checklist of COVID-related measures expected of customers and being followed by employees
• Design files – that can be taken to many local printers for easy production and use – for poster or floor stickers that businesses can use to mark out places for people to stand with appropriate social distancing

We know businesses have a lot to worry about without thinking about the little things. We’re taking care of the little things so businesses can stay focused on getting their operations up and running smoothly.

“The items in this new toolkit will help provide some certainty for customers visiting businesses that have reopened downtown,” said DVBA Executive Director Jeff Bray. “The occupancy signage, COVID checklist and floor stickers will give people confidence the businesses they’re visiting are committed to providing a safe shopping experience.”

To download the new business toolkit visit the City’s COVID-19 Business Resource page.

In another move to support local business owners, Council recently brought forward several creative motions aimed at reopening businesses safely, including the use of public spaces for restaurants and retailers. These proposed measures and interventions are being reviewed by staff and will be presented to Council as concrete actions on June 4 for consideration and adoption.

In addition to these initiatives, over the past four weeks, the City has been promoting campaigns focused on how local businesses can receive support from generous groups within our community, as well as encouraging residents to shop local whenever possible. The #yyjBizSupport campaign connects local business owners with resources to obtain a loan or get help building a website and the #ShopYYJ campaign encourages Victoria residents to support their favourite restaurants and retailers.

All of these initiatives – from the new toolkit, to laying the groundwork for businesses to use public spaces, to campaigns aimed at supporting our local businesses – are important steps the City is taking towards reopening and recovering in a way that gets us all back to work safely.

In other City news this week, Victoria is partnering with BC Hydro to install an electric vehicle (EV) DC fast charger station with two chargers at the south end of Store Street, between Johnson and Pandora, near the Johnson Street Bridge. DC fast chargers can rapidly charge most EVs to 80 per cent capacity within 30 minutes. The charger is expected to be ready for public use by the end of 2020 and will be the first DC fast charger in Victoria.

By making charging faster and easier, we hope more residents will choose EVs over combustion engines. This charger supports the City’s Climate Leadership Plan target of renewable energy powering 30 percent of passenger vehicles registered in Victoria by 2030 and 100 per cent of passenger vehicles are renewably powered by 2050.

News from the community

June 1 is Intergenerational Day – a celebration of the mutual benefits of building relationships across generations, and 2020 marks the 10th Anniversary of Intergenerational Day in Canada! Now more than ever, we need ways to connect. We need to celebrate. Just because we can’t be physically together in the same way doesn’t mean we can’t be connected.

The Intergenerational Society let us know that they are building a virtual national quilt! They want to know: “What do intergenerational friendships mean to you?” They would like you to send in an an email high resolution drawings, photos, and inspirational notes to igday2020@gmail.com by Sunday, May 24th. I’m late in posting this so hopefully they’ll let a few last photos slip in after the deadline!

The IG Day Quilt will be showcased and celebrated across Canada on Intergenerational Day, Monday, June 1st 2020. Find out more at here.

And much further afield, the Victoria Athletic Football Club, located in Belfast, wrote to me this week to let me know about a virtual journey they are undertaking from their Victoria to our Victoria. The journey might be virtual, but the hard work isn’t. Victoria FC members are collectively running, walking, and cycling 4444 miles – the distance from Belfast to Victoria – all to raise money for PIPS charity, which provides support to individuals who are considering, or who have at some point considered, ending their own lives. PIPS also provide support to those families and friends who have been touched by suicide.

Victoria FC, we are cheering you on all the way, and maybe one day you can visit – the first pint is on me.