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Humboldt Street ping-pong table moved for bollard repairs, but it's back

The concrete ping-pong table near Humboldt Street downtown was temporarily removed while city workers repaired a nearby bollard.
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The ping-pong table at Humboldt and Douglas streets was back in place on Tuesday. ADRIAN LAM, TIMES COLONIST

The concrete ping-pong table near Humboldt Street downtown was temporarily removed while city workers repaired a nearby bollard. But the table was back on Tuesday morning, and isn’t going anywhere any time soon, according to a City of Victoria spokesman.

On Twitter, former Green Party leader Andrew Weaver wrote: “Did you notice they took down the concrete Table Tennis table on Humboldt. It was an absurd place to put it … right at an intersection where sea breezes and westerlies make it a wind tunnel!”

The city spokesman said city crews moved the table while they repaired a bollard that had been struck by a vehicle.

The city unveiled the concrete table and other improvements to the corner of Douglas and Humboldt streets in August 2019 as part of a new public plaza that included trees, benches, bike parking and new bike lanes connecting Wharf and Humboldt streets.

The cost of the table from a French manufacturer was just over $5,100, including taxes and delivery, and drew some criticism, including from the Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria. Funding for the plaza largely came from the federal gas tax and Federation of Canadian Municipalities.