pass on bypass
I read your article “Plan may get bypassed” in The Morning Star July 15 with interest.
Why would a small fortune be spent bypassing Vernon when all that has to be done is convert Hwy 97 and 27th Street into one-way streets with the two centre lanes for through traffic and the two outside lanes used by vehicles to access the businesses on each side? It would cost a small fortune to purchase the land required as a lot of it has development potential. Why spend a lot of money when there are adequate highways through the city already?
Back in the 70’s when I moved with my employer from North Vancouver to Penticton and started to travel throughout the Okanagan I observed that Penticton and Vernon were similar-sized towns but it is Vernon that has grown and still has a reasonably active downtown while Penticton’s downtown has, partly because of the Penticton bypass, slowly died in spite of the best efforts of the downtown association.
You do not get tourists to use a city’s facilities by bypassing the city.
Brian Sutch
Vernon
