It would appear that the council has decided to base all of its arguments for the move of the tourist booth on facts that are misleading to the general public.
One claim is that the Internet has led to the downturn in the number of visitors to the centre since 2005. In reality, a worldwide recession has lowered the numbers. The Europeans and Americans haven’t been coming because they are broke and can’t afford to travel, so visitor numbers are down. That wasn’t divulged as to the reason for the move. They claimed it was purely the use of the Internet.
A central location is easier is another claim. How bad is the traffic in Vernon in summer? It’s awful. Yet city council has decided that every visitor with a car or RV or motorhome has to travel into the centre and make a silly turn on to 39th Avenue and basically into the general melee. Surely an out-of-town centre stops that? Once a visitor has been helped, he can then choose to avoid the centre and the traffic issues. It seems like common sense to me.
The claim that the traffic issues are acceptable is also misleading the public. The traffic census was done during a quite period, i.e. during the recession when visitors had stopped coming. They fail to point this out. So of course it seems like there isn’t an issue, but that’s very misleading. What happens if the numbers get back up to the 2005 levels? Hundreds of RVs turning on to 39th Avenue? It’s going to be chaos.
A $7 million running track: If we are investing that kind of money, why not have a visitor centre next to the new track? Oh, we do already. But regrettably the council wants people drawn to that facility to drive downtown for their information, a full three kilometres away.
It is regrettable that council has decided to steamroller this issue on statistics and misleading facts.
Mike Mattinson
BX
