Here’s something to shake your head at.
A manager of a Penticton daycare centre was in Skaha Park recently with a number of children.
A senior citizen walked up to her and (no joke) asked the manager if she had a “permit” to have the kids in the park, seeing that the daycare centre was a business.
The manager was stunned to hear such a question and be the victim of such audacity.
Everyone knows you don’t need a permit to have kids in a park. That’s like asking a couple if they have a permit to have lunch on a picnic bench.
But the story gets better . . . or worse, depending how you look at it.
This senior citizen took her complaint to city hall because she thought a great injustice was unfolding by allowing daycare children in the park.
Unbelievable.
Children are part of the lifeblood of public parks. They remind us of our youth, and when they are in our care, they keep us young at heart.
But some people just can’t bring themselves to see this. If you have no love for children or have experienced a bad childhood, don’t take it out on others.
Hopefully, this senior’s attitude will not tarnish the character of other seniors who love children and their infectious happiness.
May we suggest that people who feel compelled to complain about what’s happening in Skaha Park look to the proposed waterslide deal that the city has given a green light to.
Taking away public parkland for a commercial waterslide venture is nearly as audacious as the permit question.
Once you take a piece of parkland away for development purposes, you’ll never get it back. And while jobs and tax revenue are important, you shouldn’t be sacrificing parkland. Surely there are other properties in Penticton that could accommodate this venture. (Penticton had a waterslide years ago, but it closed down.)
The Skaha Park dispute with city hall has the same kind of passion that surrounds the closure of Osoyoos Secondary School. Both involve legal action, so it will be very interesting to see the outcomes.
What do you think about the school closure? Is it justified?
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