Castanet

60-YEARS-in-Ktown wrote:Cameron and Bibby, who spoke so enthusiastically for the Tourist Centre, will now both be gone. Bibby already was working down South.. They cram it down our throats and leave...nice..NOT..
Anyone else feel like we been had ?

Yes. And not even with the decency to use lube.

Today(3:30) rode my bike past a canopy, that was set up by the Ogopogo, that was promoting "Kelowna Downtown"with brochures etc.
Seems to me that's all that is needed--incidentally, she wasn't busy the two times I went by.

holdin wrote:Today(3:30) rode my bike past a canopy, that was set up by the Ogopogo, that was promoting "Kelowna Downtown"with brochures etc.
Seems to me that's all that is needed--incidentally, she wasn't busy the two times I went by.

Hmmm - where have I heard of that idea before.......

Looks like the City and Tourism Kelowna had it all planned out a long time ago ....and to think our pleas for an intervention from the Province were actually being considered?

Plan to break ground this fall - yet they felt the need to close the only deep water launch literally days after the city rubber-stamped them at the public hearing early this year.

Its not just some of the flooded beaches downtown that stink..

A $500,000 grant from us, BC taxpayers just to watch the White Elephant Tourist Center flail around.


https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#200642

But because even their nice artwork shows no room for GASP, real visitors with vehicles, RVs, trailers, and the like, they'll declare, "the number of visits no longer warrents having it here" and sell it for pennies on the dollar to the nearest bidder, West Corp. coinincidentaly right across the street.

Who wants to put a buck on it?

Queen K wrote:A $500,000 grant from us, BC taxpayers just to watch the White Elephant Tourist Center flail around.


https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#200642

But because even their nice artwork shows no room for GASP, real visitors with vehicles, RVs, trailers, and the like, they'll declare, "the number of visits no longer warrents having it here" and sell it for pennies on the dollar to the nearest bidder, West Corp. coinincidentaly right across the street.

Who wants to put a buck on it?

I'd put a LOT of money on it.

They sell themselves like cheap hookers and we pick up the mess afterwards. Filthy squalid business.

Still one of this current council's worst decisions ever imo.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/2 ... ing-closed

WalterWhite wrote:Still one of this current council's worst decisions ever imo.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/2 ... ing-closed

Let's see where the costs for this work come in. If I recall the city cost to provide the utilities was to be in the order of $40K; pretty hard to imagine that a month of construction work will only cost $40K.

Another spit in the face of the everyday taxpayer and the continual (blatant) perks for the special interest groups and individuals in this city.

Very disappointed in the decision to build the tourist centre at Queensway. The council said they need one, and it has to be downtown. Can't the find a vacant shop to rent out? Well, why not put it in the old McDonald's restaurant that has sat vacant at the corner of old Water St. for close to ten years now which the city helped run them out of business with the Province when they re-routed Pandosy.

The owners lost in court when they said they were driven out of business when the province and city put the concrete barricades at water street blocking access to their business. I don't agree with the court's ruling, but whatever. The barricades are still there and it looks embarrassing when you drive past it. Why not remove the barricades, and put the tourist center in there? It has a nice creek running through the back for with a patio there for ambiance that tourists can hang out, and is walking distance to the park. It's one of the first buildings a tourist sees when they drive in to town. The city can lease part of it out as a hybrid snack, coffee, wine, souvenir shop to help cover the overhead costs of running it as a tourist booth since it is a large building and large parking lot.

Alternatively, I think the city should expropriate the Century 21 Assurance building that used to be the gas station right there as well. The building doesn't suit the nature of their business with the big over hanging roof, so it should be re-purposed. Looks tacky driving by it Not the look we want for the city as the first thing you see when you drive in, and the last thing you see when you drive out.

Well, even the good folks of Merritt know when to call it a day. Further proof this entire building is completely unnecessary - and this is on one of the heaviest traveled corridors in the interior of the province.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/209969 ... op-closing

The B.C. Visitor Centre at the end of the Okanagan Connector in Merritt is closing for good.

The centre, operated by Destination BC through a third-party contractor, includes washroom facilities, tourist information, souvenir sales and a snack shack. It will close in January.

It will be replaced by a new rest stop being constructed on the Connector between Kelowna and Merritt at the Loon Lake interchange.

The $7-million rest area is expected to open later this fall.

In a statement posted on TripAdvisor, a Destination BC official said significant changes in consumer trip planning behaviour have occurred over the last decade.

"As such, we have seen a corresponding drop in usage of visitor centres, such as the one at Exit 286 near Merritt," the statement noted. "The site is primarily used as a rest area and washroom stop for travellers, rather than a source of travel/trip planning information."

Tourism Kelowna - it's not too late to do the right thing, and abandon this clearly unnecessary project and complete waste of funds. Wake up!!

Dianne Varga, even though a Penticton resident now, is very persistent / passionate about this.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#210073

just popping in wrote:Dianne Varga, even though a Penticton resident now, is very persistent / passionate about this.

https://www.castanet.net/edition/news-s ... htm#210073

She is right!