To the editor:
For the fear of sounding like I am beating a dead horse, but the recent comments by Mayor Basran leads me to believe that he does still not get it when it comes to the real issue regarding the proposed Tourist Centre. What mayor and council does not seem to understand is their responsibility to protect public lands and to encourage compromise between business and those who are wanting to preserve our waterfront.
There is no argument that tourist centres promote local business…the real issue is do they need to do this directly on waterfront lands? Had council suggested to the Tourist Centre to consider building further back at Kerry Park (replacing the stage/ entertainment area), this controversy may have been avoided. Not only would this location still provide access to tourist information etc., the building could have incorporated a new entertainment staging area, it would also provide a washroom amenity to those attending the entertainment in Kerry Park. It would also preserve the deep water boat launch and public parking.
Unfortunately, It seems that those within the Tourist Centre were hell bent it was the jetty/waterfront, nothing less and our mayor and council failed to protect the waterfront or listen to voters who spoke against the proposal. I still believe there still is time for council to re-visit this issue in order to satisfy the whole and I believe the alternative is something Tourism Kelowna might consider.
Joyce Mainland, Kelowna