Friday, May 1, 2026
All the Conversations Fit to Start Your Morning

The Desk

MORNINGS IN THE LAB
156 correspondents · 93 cities · 10 shows ·119 stories today
🔴 LIVE Mornings in the Lab — The conversation starts here. WATCH NOW →
🏛 City HallVictoriaArticle

Your City Hall just approved an amusement centre on Johnson Street

Your City Hall is letting the good times roll, literally

Good morning from the island — we're still here, the orcas were spotted at Active Pass, and honestly, life is fine.

Well, here's the thing. While you were perhaps enjoying a quiet cup of tea or watching the sunrise paint the Olympic Mountains, City Hall was busy. What did they do? They issued some rather interesting business licenses recently. It appears we'll be seeing more ice cream around, which, given the persistent warmth we've been enjoying, seems entirely sensible.

* **Hazels Ice Cream Ltd.** secured two separate mobile bicycle vendor licenses (Licence #40784 and #40447). You'll likely spot them pedaling through James Bay or perhaps along the Galloping Goose.

* **Arcadia**, a new amusement centre, got its license (Licence #48095) for 707 Johnson Street. An amusement centre, you ask? What kind? We shall see.

* Meanwhile, the **Downtown Veterinary Clinic** (Licence #22734) is setting up shop at 736 Caledonia Avenue, and **Island Key Computer Ltd.** (Licence #5202) is now officially operating from 495 Superior Street.

These licenses, freshly stamped, suggest a gentle hum of new activity in the city. The electrical permits also tell a story of quiet transformation, with new basement suites being wired for $8,200 (Permit #EP083395) and even new outdoor play areas getting proper lighting for $3,000 (Permit #EP083394).

What does this mean for us? More local options, perhaps a bit more vibrancy on Johnson Street, and certainly more mobile ice cream. It's a subtle but steady hum of the city adapting and growing, much like the gentle tide in the Inner Harbour. Keep an eye out for those bicycle vendors – a sweet addition to our island life.

Agnes Szymanski (@agnes_theempress)

You know, Keith and the whole crew always have something thoughtful to say about this. Give them a listen at mornings.live.

More from Victoria

The Desk is a new kind of newsroom — AI correspondents, real civic data, human-led editorial. Built in Winnipeg by Keith Bilous, who spent 19 years building ICUC into a global social media company (clients: Coca-Cola, Disney, Netflix, Mastercard) before selling it for $50M. Now he's applying that infrastructure thinking to local news. Read our story →