Why hate Kelowna?

[Glacier]

So that's why they lost the election!

Atomoa, I know what you mean. I was on Slocan Lake recently, and in my view the West Kootenays are more beautiful than the Okanagan. Lots of places in BC are. That is not to say the Okanagan doesn't have beauty. It does, but compared to a beautiful province, it's hard to compete in that category.

A community is best when the people who live there want to be there, and for the most part people do want to be here. When I was in high school in 100 Mile House, everyone wanted to get out of "the hole." Most did, only to discover that they didn't have it that bad growing up.

I think there are two kinds of people who can't stand where they end up living. 1) Those who come expecting a fairy tale, and 2) Those who are only there for the money.

[brounal]

Moved here about three and half years ago from Regina. I basically just goggled places in Canada that sounded nice and then came out on scout trip in June, was impressed and decided wouldn't spend one more winter in Saskatchewan.
I invested in a multifamily property here and sold my investment property back there. Got house here at what I thought was a very good price and sold house back there for a good price. Moved my 95 year old father out here as well.
He passed away couple years ago unfortunately and ironically couldn't see how beautiful this place is as he had macular degeneration and was pretty much blind.

I lived in Sask for 53 years of my life.
I am fortunate that don't have to overly worry about employment as have income from my investment property here, some inherited farmland back in Sask and father left me a sizable inheritance as well. So basically achieved freedom 55.
Wife is hard working farm girl though and she works as house cleaner both for a known company and also has her own company I helped her setup. She gets close to minimum wage at the known company and 20 an hour at her company.
She could quit the known company and just do hers but she chooses to work for the old one few times a week.
I have two kids here in OKM ,daughter in grade 11 and son 18 in grade 12.

Things I like about living here. I do like the scenery. I think its a beautiful place like many have stated.
Its the combination of things that really like . The huge lake is awesome . Beaches are awesome as well. I also like the Marina
. I plan to likely get some kind of nice boat in next year or two. There are quite a few nice parks here where you can walk or hike or just hang out in. I never tire of looking at the mountains thought might get bored with them but hasn't happened.
And don't think it ever will. Love the orchards, farms especially the in city acreages not many cities have in city acreages.
Love that there are lots of great places nearby as well to go camp, fish , sightsee. And this place is a photographer's dream. Which is another of my hobbies. You can take pictures of scenery, wildlife, never boring .

I can drive my sports cars on nice video game type of roads and drive them for a lot longer every year then back in Saskatchewan. We have lots of nice sunny days to drive top down here. And for the most part our roads are in pretty good shape especially if you compare them to the horrible roads back in Regina.

I am also into target shooting and there is a nice gun range close to my house. And into drag racing there is Thunder Mountain close by. For circle track racing there are tracks in Vernon and Peachland and for sports car guys they are building some road race type track by Osoyoos it sounds like. There are also fair bit of auto type events to go to. Weekly show and shine by the Brick in spring/summer/fall and some other major car shows. There is a big corvette club here but currently don't own a corvette but likely will in the future.

Weather of course is much better than Saskatchewan fact think Kelowna got ranked number one for best weather in Canada.
Much milder winters and shorter winters. Summers are hot and dry but not a big deal if you have air-conditioning in your house and car. Lack of rain can be a negative in terms of forest fire risk pretty much the only big thing you have to worry about in terms of natural disasters here.

I find also that there are not that many mosquitos especially in my area of the city. I live in Upper Mission beside Kettle Valley. The lack of mosquitos really is important to me as back in Sask they were so bad they pretty much ruined my summers. Freeze all winter then get eaten to death all summer. Here I do way more outdoor activities without those damn bloodsuckers driving me insane.

House taxes are also about a third of the taxes in Regina. It costs less to heat the house as the winters are much milder and shorter. House prices are about same or lower then Regina for similar house
Pretty happy with kids high school OKM . Had some bad bullying problems back in Regina schools . Don't have them here.
Also was kind of neat kids could go to high school at same time when came here as the school was 8 to 12 and now is 7 to 12?

Kelowna has most of the big city type of pros. It has quite a bit of shopping, including pretty much all the big box stores.
Upper mission could really use a big box grocery store which thought was coming at the Ponds but so far not seen one being built there. Also there is lots of variety in restaurants and bistro type places . We have lots of movie theatres but wish we had an Imax here. Maybe get one someday. We don't get the super groups here they come to Vancouver but we gets some pretty decent groups sometimes and have lots of bars that have live entertainment. We also of course have no CFL team but went to a few local games and the stadium here was pretty good. I am not into hockey but of course you have local hockey here as well. You also do have things like H20, the Field house complex beside it.

Traffic can be pretty bad in tourist season. Not as bad rest of the year and if you are a local you know ways to get around a lot of it. Mostly by staying off 97 as much as possible. They could use another bridge to Westside and maybe also a bypass.
Bypass is double edged sword as most businesses don't want one but citizens usually do. Tourism though brings big money to the Kelowna economy.

There is lots of things as said to do here. The lake and all the water sports, golf if you are into golf. I am not but some friends are and might try it a bit . You can ride your bike its a very bike friendly city. You can hike and just walking around in the parks or by Marina and all the nice scenic places is awesome. And if was into winter sports then have lots of options to downhill ski at Big White or if was into skidooing can find lots of places to do that.
Can ride a motorcycle here and again great roads and long season to ride it . Had one in past might get another one .

Crime we here a lot about it but its not much different from any other big city. I have had no real personal problems from crime in the three and half years have lived here. No break ins on house or cars. No personal problems with crime but at same time am pretty smart about things not going to go walking around bad parts of town late at night . I feel Kelowna could stand to impove its street lighting. I find the lighting not very good at all especially in winter months when it gets dark early.
I also think they could use more police actively patrolling downtown area and should try to find some solutions to homeless and drug users that like to hang out and can be scary and annoying. But again these are problems with pretty much any decent sized city.

Job situation here is not great and not sure how good a job my kids will have here. Neither of my two at home kids are going to be going to University. I may wind up creating some type of job for them maybe buying a franchise or helping them start up their own business. There is usually always something a person can do if they are not lazy. Its easily possible to make 15 , 20 bucks an hour by simply starting up a business. And there are lots of businesses that will work anywhere . I do find a lot of people here are plain lazy and lots seem to be on disability or welfare. Shameful really and I believe they should have work for welfare.

I don't find people here that clicky or snobby. I think people are people . And if you are friendly and outgoing you will meet nice people anywhere.

Wife unlike me is not happy to be living here. Mostly because her mother and rest of her family lives back in Sask. She frequently nags me to move back and I quickly tell her will only move back in a box or urn. I would seriously go thru the big D before I would move back to cold hell Saskatchewan. I don't care how good the economy is there . Its not all golden back there as have mentioned bit in this post. The economy might even go into a big tailspin soon as oil prices are really really low now and prices for wheat and other farm crops are also not very good right now and weather was really bad last year and many farmers are in trouble now with many crops totally wiped out last year and insurance dont' cover flooding at least in sask at least that's why brother said who runs the farm for me.
And house prices are very high now in Sask and in Regina house taxes are triple what they are here for same house.

And Regina has lots of crime, huge core areas full of welfare and criminal types. Serious traffic problems, terrible roads, super cold long winters, tons of mosquitos in summer last few years. Flat and boring place. Artificial lake. Cant' believe everyone wants to move to that place. Job or no job would live in a cardboard box here before would move back there.

Seriously the people that are constantly whining about this place should move out. There is not really any better place to live in Canada than Kelowna. I wake up every morning here and thank the gods that live here as sometimes feel like am on vacation and will have to go back to Regina when its over and then realize no. I live here and its a great feeling.

[Grandan]

Job situation here is not great and not sure how good a job my kids will have here. Neither of my two at home kids are going to be going to University. I may wind up creating some type of job for them maybe buying a franchise or helping them start up their own business. There is usually always something a person can do if they are not lazy. Its easily possible to make 15 , 20 bucks an hour by simply starting up a business. And there are lots of businesses that will work anywhere . I do find a lot of people here are plain lazy and lots seem to be on disability or welfare. Shameful really and I believe they should have work for welfare.

What better place to be than Kelowna if you are diabled by some fluke of nature, on the job, in a car accident or other disabling causes?
If you had (have) disability insurance and you cannot work, you should not have to grovel at a menial job to get all your paycheck. If you were unlucky enough to have not been working (WCB) when you were disabled, then you have no choice but to fall back on Canada pension or in other cases welfare. If you are diabled you don't want to be far away from amenities, you are more visible because you either walk or take transit and cycle if you can. While I agree that there seems to be a lot of people on some sort of assistance in Kelowna, the need to then put some of these people to "work" to earn their meagre income escapes me. If you qualify for a disability pension, you are permitted to work and earn something like $5000 a year. Some people do that and report the income, others do not. It is hard to tell who is working at all or part time from looking at them, but if they are homeless pushing a buggy then it is pretty obvious. People give back in different ways, it is not all about work and money.
How would it be if we forced people with an inheritance to work for a portion of it instead of getting a free ride. Good on you for the success of your family and yourself, there are so many who are just clinging on, sleeping in their refigerator box, happy to have others around them to commiserate with and happy for the donated food they recieve, they really don't leave a big carbon footprint.

[Atomoa]

I may wind up creating some type of job for them maybe buying a franchise or helping them start up their own business.

...and in 10 years they will be posting on Castanet about "hard work" and "did it myself".

[MatteoHV]

Hi everybody,

well, is a mix of feelings, i have to say.
But did anyone lived in London in UK?
I am living there at the moment but i am planing to move there, and if you think that Kelowna is expensive, well i think you have to try London then.
Can anyone really give me a real prospective of the life there?

Thank you

Matteo

[dcipher]

People come here on vacation and then decide they want to move here. Once here, the vacation is over, the bloom is off the rose, and the complaining starts.

Remember, Kelowna has very few born and raised folks, and in all honesty, we tend to complain about what's happened to the place because of the vaycay transplants who wind up disillusioned.

LOL. When reading the obnoxious first post, I couldn't help but think: one other bad thing about Kelowna is that it seems to attract more than it's share of arrogant, presumptuous people....

I lived in Kelowna for over 40 years - until relocating in the last year. I was born in Kelowna, my father was born in Kelowna....I see some very good things AND some very bad things about the city. It isn't black and white...but I'm certainly not going to debate it with somebody who's overbearing enough to write posts making declarative statements about every aspect he can think of.....all because he drove through a few times. lol. Ridiculous.

[dcipher]

The one thing in this thread that sticks out to me is people saying that "the view" is awesome.

Am I wrong to say that pretty much everywhere in BC has a good view? Having lived all over BC myself, to me Kelowna has low hills and is dusty brown - not without it's own desert beauty though.

It's not difficult to find awesome(er) views with water all over the interior of BC. I love reading flatlanders sentiments and I hope that they tour the entire province - because lots of interior cities need professionals moving into their towns.

No....you aren't wrong at all. I think Kelowna is.....unspectacular....now one might think that could be because I lived there over 40 years, but let's face it....do you see a lot of postcard of the low rolling hills, or the semi-arid dessert grass and shrubbery? lol....in other words, the natural environment? I don't.

I'm an outdoorsy person, so I would take long hikes through the Mountain Park, or on the Westside, or Black Mountain...I..."appreciate" the natural beauty....but it's not jaw-dropping, and I don't see many others appreciating it.

I think when people talk about scenery....they are either parroting what they've heard, or referring to orchards/wineries along with the lake backdrop.....yes, that's stuff is pretty nice...but of course....artificial. Even then, I'd classify it as "nice"...and of course, my "home" (I moved away very recently, but may come back), but....not exactly jaw-dropping. The city itself is not very.....aesthetically pleasing. All the smaller towns in the area....from Peachland to Osoyoos, have more "charm" I should think. Perhaps Vernon is equivalent.

[Fallguy007]

Lots of people say why not move to some other town in the okanagan. The thing to me is i dont think i could step down from a bigger city to a place that has a population of 30,000. I also like some of the conveniences Kelowna has (costco, Princes auto, other big box stores, the airport)

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

Have you hear about a place called Knox Mtn?

[miss_sterious]

I am a wife and mother of two young children and couldn't be happier raising my family here.
There are tonnes of indoor and outdoor things to do with my kids and as a family, many of them free! We love City Park, Mission Creek Park, hiking on the Greenway, visiting petting zoos, going to H2O and Parkinson's, playing at the 'Y'. Money-wise, you need 80k or more to live in a regular house and lead a middle class lifestyle. For most families, this means both partners working. I think it's like that anywhere, the wage/cost of living ratio is high anywhere. Calgary? Um, no thanks that place is a frozen, desolate place.

[36Drew]

I think Kelowna is.....unspectacular....

You sound like you need a spectacular view. Here's the view from the patio at work last Friday (November 28):

[Leader]

Im one of the lucky few and proud people to say I was born here. I LOVE my city. But if you (negative nit pickers) do not like it here, then leave. Thank you to the poster for the positive feedback.

[Lady tehMa]

Hi everybody,

well, is a mix of feelings, i have to say.
But did anyone lived in London in UK?
I am living there at the moment but i am planing to move there, and if you think that Kelowna is expensive, well i think you have to try London then.
Can anyone really give me a real prospective of the life there?

Thank you

Matteo

Sis married a Brit. We have family there, 2nd cousins. Things are very expensive, especially housing. Kitchens are tiny and often contain the washing machine. Fridges are often the size of bar fridges. Five years of marriage, 2 children, and she is still working on her citizenship. Blessed expensive to get, plus all the forms! Living in London got to be far to expensive so they relocated to the suburbs - Reading.

[36Drew]

Im one of the lucky few and proud people to say I was born here. I LOVE my city. But if you (negative nit pickers) do not like it here, then leave. Thank you to the poster for the positive feedback.

How many years have you lived in Kelowna, and have you ever lived anywhere else?

[Donald G]

The choice of the "Why hate Kelowna" caption is very misleading.

It conveys the ridiculous concept that people hate Kelowna and is merely enquiring as to why they have taken that position.

Some people like wherever they live at the moment. Others hate every place they have ever lived or are living.

Human nature ... that reflects each persons satisfaction with themselves and their own lot in life rather than the desirability of the area or town in which they live.