To the editor:
Re: Tourism Staff Don’t Need Fancy Offices, April 1 Kelowna Capital News.
A tip of the Tilley to Ian MacLean for his insightful and intelligent letter regarding the downtown Tourism Centre. I agree wholeheartedly with his comments. In particular, his suggestion that the site for building the centre should be beside the $800,000 white elephant in City Park known as “public washrooms” is a grand idea. There is plenty of parking nearby and RV’s should have no problem maneuvering for a parking space.
However, I do think that if the city is willing to spend $4 million plus, why not put the money toward the Rutland Centennial Hall and take the $800,000 they [have received from the city] to put toward the Hall [renovations] into the Tourist Centre instead. We definitely do not need a $4 million Tourist Centre for the benefit of summer visitors and then shortchange the taxpaying citizens of Kelowna by trying to raise additional funds to renovate the Rutland Centennial Hall.
It is called Centennial Hall because it was built during Canada’s centennial year. Next year will be our sesquicentennial. What better time to build a brand new hall for the good people of the Rutland area. I’m sure it would be something to make all tax-paying citizens of Kelowna proud and the opportunity to put the big bucks to a better use than squandering it on summer tourists.
John H Broughton, Kelowna
