ITU/City Road Closures

[WalterWhite]

Took in the final day of competition today. The closures today were certainly more significant than in previous two I attended as this was the long course. One conversation I did have was with a somewhat older gent that simply asked - "how the hell am I supposed to get to my condo?!" He apparently lived in a beige tower complex on block south of Lakeshore Dr. Now, while I fully commend organizers for the information I certainly was aware of regarding closures and detours, I did have to agree with this gent, as all roads leading to his specific area were closed at least one or two blocks away. That's an issue I can certainly see others having a problem with. Otherwise, it was a fantastic day of competition in near perfect conditions. Hats off to Penticton and event organizers for a great week long event.

Since the City (and hopefully the population) knew of this race well in advance, the easy answer is "why did you leave your condo this morning?" The race didn't just happen. We went to a birthday party yesterday in Penticton, but it was well planned to start after 2:30, when the bulk of the race was over. It wasn't inconvenient at all, and some of the people live on South Main. They were able to get right to it. Plan your day accordingly, and you will have a much easier time.

I don't know when he left, but he was driving. Really not entirely practical to simply say "why did you leave your condo this morning?". Elderly or not - I'd be a bit choked too if I was expected to be holed up in my condo on a beautiful sunny Sunday with the realization if I left I couldn't get back in - as I'm sure many others would. Again, I think overall the event was very well organized and information was readily available on pending closures.

[Tony]

[quote="WalterWhite"
I don't know when he left, but he was driving. Really not entirely practical to simply say "why did you leave your condo this morning?". Elderly or not - I'd be a bit choked too if I was expected to be holed up in my condo on a beautiful sunny Sunday with the realization if I left I couldn't get back in - as I'm sure many others would. Again, I think overall the event was very well organized and information was readily available on pending closures.[/quote]

It wasn't for the full day. Also, there were alternatives to which ever way he was trying to get to. There's a back alley that runs down behind the apartments on Lakeshore (I know this because I lived in one of those). He could have gotten there using one of the unblocked streets. I agree with you Walter, that the event was well organized, but people, young or old, must have been living under a rock if they didn't know the race was happening, with the major day on Sunday. They started putting up barriers at 6:00 am so he either ignored that, or drove by them and didn't notice them, or left a different way. Just saying, there are alternatives.

The people trying to get up Haven Hill could have gone over to Vancouver Ave and around through Cambie and back. Inconvenient, maybe, but short term pain, and I'd rather be traveling than sitting in my car waiting for an hour. I mean, it's Penticton. It only takes 5 minutes to get anywhere!

[Tony]

I don't know when he left, but he was driving. Really not entirely practical to simply say "why did you leave your condo this morning?". Elderly or not - I'd be a bit choked too if I was expected to be holed up in my condo on a beautiful sunny Sunday with the realization if I left I couldn't get back in - as I'm sure many others would. Again, I think overall the event was very well organized and information was readily available on pending closures.

It wasn't for the full day. Also, there were alternatives to which ever way he was trying to get to. There's a back alley that runs down behind the apartments on Lakeshore (I know this because I lived in one of those). He could have gotten there using one of the unblocked streets. I agree with you Walter, that the event was well organized, but people, young or old, must have been living under a rock if they didn't know the race was happening, with the major day on Sunday. They started putting up barriers at 6:00 am so he either ignored that, or drove by them and didn't notice them, or left a different way. Just saying, there are alternatives.

The people trying to get up Haven Hill could have gone over to Vancouver Ave and around through Cambie and back. Inconvenient, maybe, but short term pain, and I'd rather be traveling than sitting in my car waiting for an hour. I mean, it's Penticton. It only takes 5 minutes to get anywhere!

[southy]

I thought I was finished with this thread, however, I can't let the arrogance of Tony's response just be. I call bull crap Tony. I was heading south on Upper Bench yesterday morning - then found out they had Haven Hill closed. So made my way back over towards Vancouver - sure you could access Vancouver hill east of the round about but that is it. Ended up snaking my way back down to Ellis only to be told in no uncertain terms that there was no way I was going to cross Ellis or Main Street. I needed to get on the west side of Main for business reasons. So the response from the volunteer was ..."park your vehicle over there and walk". I'll be damned if I was going to drive around and waste gas trying to find an access point across Ellis, Government and Main. Oh sorry Tony - forgot you say it's only 5 minutes across town. Yup you should know. Your living under a rock comment is really unnecessary. I was told and this hasn't been verified, that some of the closures were not finalized until Sunday. If true - the blows your theory Tony. People live their lives - they are busy - they have other priorities more pressing than trying to remember what the hell street is closed and on what day. I still stand by my comments that better communication from both parties could have simplified a lot of the confusion. Unfortunately I did witness a lot of frustration from drivers yesterday and guess what Tony - quite a few of them were tourists not from Penticton! Oh by the way I went home at 4:20pm - Main was still closed. Barriers were up. So where is the half day coming from??

[WalterWhite]

Sunday's events had a completion time of 7PM, so it was entirely possible there were a number of athletes still on the course until then that may not have finished. Regardless, the road closures for most of the run course would still have been up until sometime after. I can see residents having an issue with that.

[Tony]

I crossed Main St no problem at 3:00 at Duncan, just like the map said I could. Had no delays or anything. Went to an address close to Government. Met some people who live on South Main. They had come in earlier and said they had to bob and weave a little, but no big deal, and then they came back at 3:00 and had NO issues or delays whatsoever. There's lots of side roads to take if you really needed to.

[seewood]

At 2:30 I drove down upper bench left towards Redlands, down the hill to the bottom turned left onto the right hand up the hill lane, left onto Ontario, along to Duncan, crossed without an issue really.

[fluffy]

I think the point here is that all the information one would have required to plan ahead was readily available. The problem seems to rest with people who figured things would be "business as usual" when there was every reason to think otherwise.

[ToddT]

I managed to make it to Dairy Queen without incident. Kids enjoyed Blizzards and I wasn't affected by the race one bit because I too used Duncan as instructed.

[Tony]

I thought I was finished with this thread, however, I can't let the arrogance of Tony's response just be. I call bull crap Tony. I was heading south on Upper Bench yesterday morning - then found out they had Haven Hill closed. So made my way back over towards Vancouver - sure you could access Vancouver hill east of the round about but that is it. Ended up snaking my way back down to Ellis only to be told in no uncertain terms that there was no way I was going to cross Ellis or Main Street. I needed to get on the west side of Main for business reasons. So the response from the volunteer was ..."park your vehicle over there and walk". I'll be damned if I was going to drive around and waste gas trying to find an access point across Ellis, Government and Main. Oh sorry Tony - forgot you say it's only 5 minutes across town. Yup you should know. Your living under a rock comment is really unnecessary. I was told and this hasn't been verified, that some of the closures were not finalized until Sunday. If true - the blows your theory Tony. People live their lives - they are busy - they have other priorities more pressing than trying to remember what the hell street is closed and on what day. I still stand by my comments that better communication from both parties could have simplified a lot of the confusion. Unfortunately I did witness a lot of frustration from drivers yesterday and guess what Tony - quite a few of them were tourists not from Penticton! Oh by the way I went home at 4:20pm - Main was still closed. Barriers were up. So where is the half day coming from??

And now I'm compelled to answer.
Did you go online and download or look at the map that had the routes and closures? It had been online for quite a few days, so there really isn't an excuse not to Southy. You wouldn't have had "drive around wasting gas" if you had done that, as you would have known where to go, so this falls squarely on you. I will agree the response from the volunteer wasn't stellar, but bear in mind they were a volunteer. The map would have given you a pretty good idea on where and where not to go, so my theory stands sound.

What would you like to see as better communications? I'm really curious about this. It was well advertised via signs, radio and paper. The website has been up for a long time. What else could they do other than drop a leaflet at every household, and trust me, that wouldn't work either.

Tourists in town I can understand, but their hosts, or their hotel/motel probably had access to the closures, and maybe their the communication could have been better. If I ran a hospitality outlet as such, I know I certainly would have had a supply of maps and dropped them off with all my guests as to help them get around. That would be good business.

Maybe 5 minutes is a slight exaggeration, but seriously, I can drive from one of Penticton to the other in about 15 minutes pretty easily, and probably closer to 10. It doesn't matter much if I take Government, Main or the Channel Parkway, it's all about the same.

I have no idea what your starting point was from the East side of town to get to the west side. If you care to share your starting point, I will gladly tell you how I would have done it.

We left our destination at 5:00 and Goverment was wide open, as was Main as far as I could tell when I crossed it. Where were you heading on Main - would Ellis or Martin not have worked for you?

[southy]

Here's at you Tony - once again you miss the entire point. Glad the event promoted Penticton at it's best. There should be a huge economic spin off from the ITU I'm sure. Restaurants, hotels, motels, B&B;s, gas stations, retail throughout the city and area, and let us not forget how well all the wineries must have done. Great for all concerned.

[Tony]

:130: Here's at you Tony - once again you miss the entire point. Glad the event promoted Penticton at it's best. There should be a huge economic spin off from the ITU I'm sure. Restaurants, hotels, motels, B&B;s, gas stations, retail throughout the city and area, and let us not forget how well all the wineries must have done. Great for all concerned.

Agreed... cheers

[southy]

Today in the Penticton Herald a letter written by Dr. Brian L. Horejsi says exactly what I was trying to get across about the ITU and City Hall. It is clear, concise and makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, those that should get what he is saying won't!
And I do believe what he says is what many of us have been banging our drums over since the last election. Enjoy the read:
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/opinion/a ... 84ab3.html

[Darkre]

Today in the Penticton Herald a letter written by Dr. Brian L. Horejsi says exactly what I was trying to get across about the ITU and City Hall. It is clear, concise and makes perfect sense. Unfortunately, those that should get what he is saying won't!
And I do believe what he says is what many of us have been banging our drums over since the last election. Enjoy the read:
http://www.pentictonherald.ca/opinion/a ... 84ab3.html

You are really tying your horse to the wrong cart here Southy. Dr. Horejsi is a retired environmental consultant and failed local political candidate whose letters to the editor have proven to be elitist and have bordered on bigotry and racism. Worse seems to be his understanding of basic economics. Dr. Horejsi has no economic footing to stand on with this argument that he has spouted off time and time again.

Between Challenge and ITU the city of Penticton donated $225,000 of services in kind to have the city host these events and the citizens of the city were faced with some minor inconveniences. In return the local economy received somewhere around $10,000,000 from these 2 events alone.. This is an incredible return. To argue there is no benefit to the citizens of Penticton is ludicrous. Events like these put Penticton on the map. Do you really think we would be getting 2 brand new hotels if it was not for events like this showcasing our city to the world? How many people are employed in the hospitality industry in Penticton? How many businesses are supported by the tourists events like this bring to town, not just for the event itself but from the international exposure these events provide? Do those businesses not pay taxes to the city?

Due to events like Ironman before and Challenge and the ITU now the tourism industry in Penticton is thriving. It may not be the highest paying industry but without it Penticton would be in real trouble.

The one argument that Horejsi makes that is legitimate is the need for a lobbying registry. However to be fair, as of Jan.1 2016 there were 4 cities in all of Canada that had such a registry. Not sure what the number is now, that was the latest number I could find but these 4 cities are some of the largest in Canada.