Vancouver's Water Street to go car-free on Sundays this summer
Water Street in Vancouver's Gastown will be closed to vehicles on Sundays until the end of August, in the city's latest attempt to pedestrianize the popular tourist area.
Last year, the heart of the Gastown neighbourhood at Maple Tree Square was closed to cars from July until mid-August, and Water Street was partially closed — with the city aiming to boost foot traffic in the area and improve the pedestrian experience.
This year, Water Street will be closed to cars on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., from Richards Street to Columbia Street, until the end of August.
Meanwhile, nearby Cordova Street will open to two-way traffic between Gore and Richards streets, and multiple events will be held in the area all summer by the local business improvement society.
City planners say the plan is part of a pilot project and the ongoing Gastown Public Spaces Plan, and businesses say they're cautiously optimistic for the summer ahead.
"This isn't just about one street or one season," Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim told a Sunday news conference.
"It's about shaping the future of Gastown and public spaces across our entire city."A city staff report last year found that foot traffic had increased by 35 per cent in Gastown, compared to the period before the summer pilot project began.
Gastown is a popular tourist area with cobblestone streets and a steam clock.
CBC News spoke to people walking in Gastown on Sunday. Vancouver resident Michelle Arthur said the idea of pedestrianizing the area was great for her, saying she wouldn't have to worry about traffic and parking.
"I never come to Gastown. So [the pedestrian zone] brought me down here today, and I've been living in Vancouver since COVID," she told CBC News. "So, you know, I think it's fantastic."
Businesses cautiously support idea
The plans to pedestrianize Water Street have been ongoing for decades, and the 2024 pilot project came after months of construction and roadwork in the area.
This year, however, the car-free pilot is only running on Sundays, as opposed to last summer's seven days a week.Walley Wargolet, the executive director of the Gastown Business Improvement Society, said that businesses suffered due to the construction work last year and some lost business from locals during the largely car-free summer.
"Certainly the tourism traffic was here, visitor traffic was ... actually pretty solid," he said. "So I think if you came down here, things looked good.
"But from a revenue perspective, a lot of those businesses were negatively impacted, and we saw revenues that did go down."
Emiliano Orozco, the supervisor at the Kit and Ace clothing store on Water Street, said that car-free days would be great for the store in terms of tourist foot traffic.
"But on the other hand, I might be worried because many of our regular customers come here by car, right?" he said. "So I think that can affect us a bit. We'll just have to see how it goes."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wall Street Journal
33 minutes ago
- Wall Street Journal
Health Insurers to Promise Changes to Preapproval Process That Drew Backlash
Following the backlash that hit health insurers after the killing of a top executive last year, the industry will pledge steps meant to smooth the controversial preapproval process that can deny or delay access to care. The initiative is set to be unveiled early next week, according to people familiar with the matter.
CNET
an hour ago
- CNET
Amazon Deals of the Day: Take Advantage of a Record Low on the Fire Tab 8 Ahead of Prime Day
Amazon sells a wide array of products, with new ones arriving across categories like home essentials, tech gear and wellness items daily. As much as the retail giant loves adding new products, Amazon also loves cutting prices. But deciding which deals are worth grabbing (and which aren't) is a full-time job -- our job, specifically. That's why we scope out the top deals for you. Today, we spotted the affordable Fire Tab 8 Pro down to it's record low price. We also spotted the Chefman air fryer now over 40% off. And finally, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT desktop processor down to a new low. If you're looking for an affordable, simple tablet without all the bells and whistles, Amazon's line of Fire tabs is a good idea. The Fire 8 Plus tablet is a great option, one we love too. It has a faster processor than the previous gen and even upgraded USB-C charging which helps speed up charging. It also comes with 3 GB of RAM, giving you a performance boost. Of course, it also features hands-free Alexa voice-assistant. Our expert reviewer David Carnoy loves the charging feature claiming, "The HD 8 Plus seems to wirelessly charge on any Qi-enabled charging pad -- at least the ones I tried with 7.5 watts or greater charging power." This tablet normally runs for $120, not bad for this entry level tablet. But right now you can save over 50% bringing the price back down to it's record low of $55. If you have an air fryer you know how handy it can be in the kitchen. From reheating leftovers to making things like chicken, it can help simplify your kitchen tasks by tons. This Chefman six-quart air fryer is perfect for a family of between three to five people. It can go up to 450 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure you get the crispiest food. It even has a few presets fries, chicken and more so all you have to do is plug it in and press one button. The air fryer beeps halfway through the cooking time to remind you it's time to give your food a shake. It also has auto-shut off incase you forget after taking your food out. Cleaning up is pretty easy too as the basket and rack are both non-stick and dishwasher safe. With a sticker price of $110, this 42% discount helps bring the price down to $70, a record low. A processor can be a huge boost to a PC. It can help you seamlessly multitask and perform high powered tasks pretty quick, which can be great for gamers. The AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT desktop processor is top of the line and can help taking your desktop experience to a new level. It has 16 cores and 32 processing threads. This processor can deliver a performance of 100-plus frame-per-second, something all gamers could benefit from. It also has 4.8 GHz Max Boost, which is unlocked for overclocking. This powerful processor definetly doesn't run cheap. It's usually priced at $349 but this rare 34% discount drops it to a record low of $230. With so many deals on Amazon, deciding which ones are worth your money can be difficult. But CNET's combed through what the world's largest online retailer has to offer and gathered the best deals for you to peruse.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Accenture (ACN) Q3 Earnings and Revenues Beat Estimates
Accenture (ACN) came out with quarterly earnings of $3.49 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.30 per share. This compares to earnings of $3.13 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 5.76%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this consulting company would post earnings of $2.84 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.82, delivering a surprise of -0.70%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Accenture , which belongs to the Zacks Computers - IT Services industry, posted revenues of $17.73 billion for the quarter ended May 2025, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.56%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $16.47 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Accenture shares have lost about 12.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 1.7%. While Accenture has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Accenture: mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $3 on $17.12 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $12.72 on $68.75 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Computers - IT Services is currently in the top 36% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector, Anterix (ATEX), has yet to report results for the quarter ended March 2025. The results are expected to be released on June 24. This wireless communications company is expected to post quarterly loss of $0.43 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +15.7%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Anterix's revenues are expected to be $1.58 million, up 25% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Accenture PLC (ACN) : Free Stock Analysis Report Anterix Inc. (ATEX) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research
