Kelowna doesn’t care

Dear editor: We came here some 30 years ago now. We have lived in the same house.

I am writing because there is a huge change and it just does not feel right. I also think that this change is in many cities. But why ours? Why can’t Kelowna be a city that cares about all of its citizens?

It not longer feels like the farming/orchard/tourism industry that we moved to in 1986. It is a place that does not seem to care about young people and families. I am especially referring to families that are living on very small incomes. I might even add families with middle incomes feel this also.

There is a lot of construction going on everywhere. There are huge homes being built. But, at the same time, there is a crisis in the rental category. The rentals in Kelowna are equivalent to a mortgage rate. People are charging outrageous amounts and sometimes for not-so-nice accommodation

We have more and more homeless on the streets and more drugs and crime. Why is this?

Did you know that Medicine Hat, Alta. no longer has homeless? Amazing what they have done to fix that problem.

There is also a serious lack of empathy and caring. The feeling is that the city only wants to cater to the wealthy.

When we arrived here, there was probably only one or two homes that were over $1 million. Look at how that has changed. I have nothing against wealth at all. Great for people that work hard and achieve a wealthy status. But, this city is changing. I am not so sure I want to be here anymore.

More and more people are living in RVs. Why? Well for the reasons above. I find it cruel and absurd that the city demands that these RV parks are forced to close in the winter. Where do these people go? And then in the summer the rates go up a lot to accommodate the tourists. How can people who live in the RVs survive this?

There have been some nice changes in the city. It isn’t all bad. The development of downtown is done with taste. But, it does not feel like a caring city.

Denyse Turcot

Kelowna