Hodge lone council objector to Tourism Kelowna centre
Editor’s Note: The Daily Courier presents another story in its How They Voted pre-election series looking at how city councillors voted on key issues during the past four years.
Tourism Kelowna probably never dreamed its dream of a new home would turn into such a public relations nightmare.
After a failed bid to get a new building in City Park, an endeavour that sparked a considerable public backlash, the organization likely thought it had found a perfect alternative.
It chose a small, little-used, cityowned parking lot at the end of Queensway, ideally situated to serve the considerable number of tourists ambling along the downtown waterfront between City Park and Waterfront Park.
But the ensuing public brouhaha was intense. Critics said it was a poor use of scarce publicly owned waterfront. They said it would block the view of the lake. They wondered about the lack of parking.
And they even wondered about the relevance of a visitor information centre in a digital age when tourists can find out all they want or need to know about a community with a few taps on a phone or tablet.
In its defence, Tourism Kelowna said similar organizations that had moved into areas with high pedestrian traffic had flourished, attracting many more visitors than they had at highway locations.
Serving the public that way, Tourism Kelowna said, was a vital way of directing additional commerce to the many city businesses that depend to one extent or another on dollars from visitors. Here’s how council voted: In support: Mayor Colin Basran, Luke Stack, Gail Given, Ryan Donn, Tracy Gray, Mohini Singh and Brad Sieben.
Opposed: Charlie Hodge.