To the editor:
Re: City officials considering building tourist info centre in Kelowna’s City Park.
Many citizens are asking why city officials are showing disrespect to the public and desecrating beautiful City Park with a tourist information centre.
A big reason is the narcissistic city officials have gone berserk with obsession for image and showing off and will say, do and deny anything to get their way.
The public have loudly said “no” to any tourist information building in City Park. More than 100 people wrote in to city hall and there have been 2,700 online visits.
Council acknowledged the overwhelming public displeasure and outrage. Coun. Maxine Dehart stated: “the public has spoken.”
Coun. Mohini Singh stated: “We do care about what the people think. They spoke, we heard.”
Mayor Gray stated: “We listened and learned.”
Instead of following the public, the insincere, conniving council followed Coun. Andre Blanleil’s fanaticism to have a revised 6,000 sq.-ft. tourist facility building in City Park.
Only Coun. Gerry Zimmermann showed leadership and respect by agreeing with the public. When the public says “no” they mean “no.”
By keeping the tourist information facility in the park plan, the council insulted every citizen with a slap to the face.
Obviously, citizens can’t believe or trust council. Trying to reason with the mayor and council is almost impossible, because they are lost in their self-admiring, narcissistic business bubble. They arrogantly think they know what is best. Already, they wasted $800,000 on a “peek-a-boo” loo without public input. Now they want to rip up the beautiful Veendam rose garden for a non-conforming tourist information centre to accommodate the chamber of commerce, the Downtown Business Association and predatory groups like Four Change, etc.
To rip up pristine parkland to serve this business establishment is inconsiderate, irresponsible and deplorable.
Being completely obsessed in digging up the sacred Veendam rose gardens beside the sacred cenotaph area for a tourist facility building, council and planners have lost sight of the spirit and intent of the public’s treasure—City Park. The spirit and intent of City Park is to preserve its beauty, serenity, solemnity, sacredness for the maximum enjoyment of all citizens and to uplift their souls. It was never intended to be sacrificed, desecrated and prostituted for a tourist centre to lure in tourists for the downtown business establishment.
The disrespect and contempt for the citizens and City Park by the arrogant, “business over everything” mayor and council are disgusting and shameful. Except for Coun. Zimmermann, they all deserve to be kicked off council.
Fellow citizens, don’t let the disrespectful, dictatorial mayor and council wreck our beautiful park. Give them a warning—either eliminate the entire tourist facility building proposed for City Park immediately or get booted off council at election time.
Robert Cichocki,
Kelowna
