This Week I Heard: Downtown Kelowna
Week one of Teresa May's 1,000 Conversations Tour in Downtown Kelowna: what 25 residents said about safety, the performing arts centre site, city spending, and family programming.
This week I spoke with 25 residents in Downtown Kelowna: at Sprout on Wednesday morning, at Deville Coffee on Friday, and in conversations around the neighbourhood.
Running total: 60 / 1,000 conversations · 1 / 13 neighbourhoods
Includes conversations from before the tour’s formal launch.
What I heard most
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Safety isn’t only a downtown conversation. I expected to hear about it downtown. I didn’t expect to hear it from someone in Glenmore whose home was broken into while they were inside it. People across this city are telling me the same thing: they don’t feel safe the way they used to.
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The performing arts centre: yes, but not there. Nobody I spoke with is against building it. Almost everyone who raised it said the same thing about the site: not on the green space at Pioneer Gardens. People want the project. They don’t want to trade away one of the last open spaces downtown to get it.
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Spend smarter, and show us the numbers. The sign came up again and again, not because people hate the sign, but because of what it says about how decisions get made. Kelowna’s budget is now over a billion dollars. Residents aren’t asking for less to be done. They’re asking to see where it goes, and to know somebody shopped around first.
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Keep the work here. When the City hires architects from Vancouver and developers from out of town, that money leaves Kelowna. People notice.
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Something for the families. More than one person told me our events calendar has plenty for adults and not much for kids and teenagers. Someone brought up the children’s festival we used to have (I chaired it for years) and asked why there’s nothing like it anymore. That one stayed with me.
What people love
The climate. The flowers. One woman told me the City’s plantings put a smile on her face everywhere she looks, and she’s right, they do. Whatever else needs fixing, somebody at City Hall is getting that part right.
In their words
“Everywhere I look, there are flowers. They put a smile on my face.”
(Shared with permission.)
What surprised me
I expected to hear about safety and homelessness, and I did, in almost every conversation. What I didn’t expect was how many people wanted to talk about City Hall itself. Is the organization becoming too management heavy? Are we measuring results as carefully as we measure spending? Those questions came up more than once, unprompted, and I don’t think they’re unreasonable ones. I believe council has a responsibility to review the organization regularly, so residents can see they’re getting the best possible value for every dollar.
Thank you to everyone who took the time. Next week I’ll be in Rutland:
- Wednesday, July 29, 9:00–11:00 a.m. at Tim Hortons, Highway 33
- Friday, July 31, 9:00–11:00 a.m. at Tim Hortons, Highway 33
Can’t make it? Share your thoughts anytime at teresamay.ca/1000.
Teresa