VICTORIA -- The City of Victoria is set to a discuss a motion that proposes making all downtown parkades free amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The motion, submitted by councillors Charlayne Thornton-Joe and Marianne Alto, calls for parkades to be free to help support essential service workers who are commuting into the downtown core in their own vehicles.
The councillors say that some essential service workers are using their personal vehicles instead of other modes of transportation for a variety of reasons, including physical distancing concerns.
Councillors Thorton-Joe and Alto add that many of these residents may be working at reduced hours and reduced incomes due to COVID-19.
“We have received correspondence from many of these individuals expressing concern about this additional atypical hardship,” said Thorton-Joe and Alto.
The motion asks that parkades be made free for the month of April and will be discussed at a Victoria committee of the whole meeting Thursday.
Motion for new local delivery service
Meanwhile, the City of Victoria is also scheduled to discuss a motion calling for the creation of a local delivery service Thursday.
The motion, submitted by councillor Ben Isitt, suggests that the city create a local delivery app.
The proposed app, “Made-In-Victoria”, would help coordinate the delivery of food, medication and other goods and services within the municipality.
Isitt says that a city-sponsored app could help keep purchases within the community, as opposed to larger delivery services “which often extract revenues (and economic opportunities) from local communities to large national and transnational corporations.”
The motion asks city council to consider reaching out to the Victoria information technology industry to jointly create the delivery app.
