Victoria’s city manager has a rough road ahead, but a crucial one, as council embarks on implementing its community safety and well-being plan.
Immediate action took centre stage, as council approved the 79-page plan that saw nearly unanimous support at Thursday's (June 19) committee of the whole meeting.
Council considered implementation with a series of motions, with Coun. Marg Gardiner opposed to two.
“Our city is in crisis,” Gardiner said, noting that of the 99 recommendations, 47 are city actions and she supports 31 of those. She was the only council member who did not endorse the plan in principle.
“Decisions made by Victoria council over the past decade have anchored the drug subculture into our city,” she said, suggesting the plan itself can’t be realized with current provincial policies. Gardiner said positions taken by Island Health and the province over the last two years don’t instill confidence that the plan will see success. “They are worse than a hurdle – they could scuttle the whole thing. I won’t give false hope to the public that a solution will be found.”
Gardiner also opposed having staff look at policy changes, but supported several other implementation actions.
Those include: having the mayor engage city partners and other governments, assessing the budget implications, creating key performance indicators, and having staff present council with analyses ahead of the 2026 draft budget.
Calling it a “blueprint for action” and a starting place, Coun. Krista Loughton noted the state of the city is a complicated issue decades in the making by politicians of all levels.
“It’s going to take us time to get out of here,” she said, pointing ot the recent DVBA call for governments to act. “The business community is done… they want to see action in the next quarter.”
The Downtown Victoria Business Association launched its own call for action while releasing its annual report card on June 12.
Dubbing the 2025 report “A Wakeup Call,” the DVBA demanded action from all levels of government, specifically calling on Victoria to provide more policing and 24/7 bylaw patrols and enforcement to deal with street disorder.
Immediate downtown objectives in the plan include supporting businesses responding to the financial impacts of street disorder while encouraging economic activity, ensuring downtown is safe and welcoming, and encouraging people to visit and spend time there. It includes the short-term plan – this year – to develop a corporate block watch program and invest in amenities like trees, benches, lighting, art and historical markers.
While opposed to the first motion to support the plan in principle, Gardiner called the final motion – No. 4 – to find a way to implement some things immediately, “the most vital point.”
That motion, unanimously supported, directs the city manager to implement those preliminary actions, within the 2025 budget.
“It is directed to the short term; to making our streets safer again,” Gardiner said. “It will not solve all of the problems that our city is experiencing, but it has the best chance of making our city safe again.”
Support for motion No. 4 was a message echoed around the table earlier in the discussion.
“There is a confluence of challenges in downtown,” Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said, noting street disorder is one problem, paired with others such as the shift to remote and hybrid work, as well as online shopping and changes in consumer habits – creating a tidal wave of pressure to act.
“Local governments are not currently set up to comprehensively solve these issues,” he noted. “I hope the public will understand that we play a role, but we cannot do it all.”
While some recommendations for this year seem achievable in a finite budget, such as coordinating information about services provided by provincial ministries responsible for health, safety and social services, or publishing the CityVibe updates twice a year to promote events, providing social cohesion and combating isolation. Others may be harder to find funds and staffing resources for.
Coun. Chris Coleman noted it may mean rejigging things like bylaw and police funding for this year – where council made hard cuts to keep its portion of the property tax increase down.
“We may need to come back and rethink our priorities.”
Find the full report online at victoria.ca.
