What comes to mind when you hear the name Kelowna?

[LANDM]

Make sure you drink the right wine, overpriced golf, overrated skiing. Expensive market, no good paying jobs, a head in the sand mayor and council, extreme shortage of police and if you think its the best place on the planet to live, you need to get out more.

So where do *you* believe is the best place on the planet to live?
Note that I have not said Kelowna is the best place. However, I rationally view it as being able to live in the choice of many places and I choose to live here.
I have been out and about quite a bit and to many places......not everywhere, but an extremely good selection around the world, so I can feel confident I don’t need to get out more.

I’m just curious in a situation where people say, strongly, that this is a negative area.

If people judge the wine you drink, get new friends. They sound odd. I’ve never encountered that.
If you feel the golf is overpriced, you may not be aware of some of the deals out there for locals. It really isn’t overpriced compared to other popular areas unless you do a drop in at peak season.
The overrated skiing is a subjective comment. I have encountered loads of non-residents from around the world who have stated, as we ride the lift up, that they absolutely love the skiing here. I don’t believe I have encountered any that disliked it.
Expensive market. Yup, can’t argue there. All desirable places are.
No good paying jobs is not accurate. Virtually everyone I know has a job that pays well or they don’t need to work.
Mayor and council comments are political and subject to opinion.
I’m not sure how you get that there is an *extreme* shortage of police......they are always there when I have seen them needed and are even there when I don’t need them (speed traps).

So, most of your comments are personal viewpoints that I don’t share. I don’t argue that you have reasons to believe these things, but they are not absolute.

Where are the great places that you would choose to live? And why don’t you live there?

[adionline]

I've been living here 2 years now and have mixed feelings about it. Grew up in North Van and lived downtown Vancouver prior to moving here.

Lets start with the positives.
- Very little rain
- Big city amenities without feeling too crowded
- Easy access to beaches, trails, parks and mountains
- Cheaper real estate than Vancouver
- Lots of great places to eat
- Good movie theatres, especially orchard plaza with the nice seats
- Relatively short driving distance to Vancouver and Calgary
- Good airport
- Massive parking lots
- 24 hour gyms and fast food spots
- Nice wineries
- More of a community feel compared to Van

Things I'm less than fond of:
- Some of the worst drivers I've ever encountered
- Lots of unsafe vehicles on the road (twice I've seen cars lose an entire wheel while driving)
- Lifted trucks (aka Trucktards)
- Aggressive tailgaters (usually trucktards, but not exclusively)
- Dumb speed limits in some areas (60 on harvey ave, really? Should be closer to 80 which is what everyone does anyways)
- Potholes everywhere, although the city does a decent job filling them
- Overall crappier customer service across the board
- Too many tourists in the summer
- Overly cloudy in the winter
- Forest fires/flooding/wind/snow can mess up the city weeks at a time
- Shortage of rental units / jobs (this one doesn't impact me since I own and work from home but still a major concern)

All in all, it's not a bad city. I prefer it over Van, as that is truly a soulless city. That said, I don't know if I will stay here forever. It all depends I guess. Also, I ask myself where else is there in Canada that would have Kelowna beat? Maybe the island? Everywhere else is just too frigid. I don't take Kelowna for granted but I'm also not convinced it is the haven that some make it out to be.

[lightspeed]

^ good critique.

A lot of the Kelowna perspective comes from where you came from, and personal experience since living here. Good/bad, successful/unsuccessful. Much of it is personal with a series of constants, those being the credible objective comments.

[dmctighe]

Well said ADLIONLINE

[maryjane48]

What comes to my mind when i hear kelowna ? fools