Make Penticton great again

Dear Editor: Just a couple of short points voicing my concerns over a couple of potential projects coming up in Penticton.

The first project is the proposed twin ice sheets to be built on the west side of the South Okanagan Events Centre. Early figures peg this project at $33 million. Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, history will repeat itself and the final tally will be closer to $66 million. I sometimes think the public is purposely given a low-ball estimate to make the project seem more appealing. Once the go-ahead is given and ground has been broken, then it is too late to turn back. It seems that the minute the first shovel goes into the ground, the cost of materials seems to somehow soar about 3,000 per cent. Taxpayers beware.

The second project is the proposed hotel on the site of the former Petrocan across from the SOEC. A hotel in that spot means a lot of guests will want to cross the highway, where there is no pedestrian crossing. Guests will then either be forced to walk to the nearest crosswalk, take a chance crossing the road (a disaster waiting to happen), or else a pedestrian controlled crosswalk will have to be installed.

This will wreak havoc of biblical proportions with respect to traffic tie-ups. The only feasible solution I can see is the construction of an overhead walkway. What would this cost, and who will bear that financial burden?

On a side note, I also read Mr. Kimberley’s letter of Aug. 5. All I can say, Mr. Kimberley, is that I have been telling the upper echelon at the City for years that they need to clean up the city if they want the tourist industry to improve here. My pleas have always fallen on deaf ears.

With all the bad decisions by mayor and council, coupled by the seeming indifference with respect to the crime in this city, I hate to say it, but Penticton is dying a slow death.

Clean up the city, get rid of the drug dealers (the RCMP must know who the players are by now; the days of five-year investigations should come to a halt), and everything else will fall into place.

As much as I hate Donald Trump, I must slightly amend and use one of his signature phrases. Let’s make Penticton great again.

Mark Billesberger

Penticton