Dear Editor:
In reading your opinion piece in the July 11 edition (about a request from Penticton to fund a study aimed at upgrading service at Penticton Airport), I couldn’t agree with you more.
First of all why, would certain members of council not accept a recommendation from the Chief Administrative Officer Barry Romanko, who is not only a seasoned executive, but who knows as well or better than most how critical tourism is to our community?
Second, why was Destination Osoyoos’ recommendation not given more consideration? They are after-all, the tourism and economic development organization for the town.
It is incumbent on council to avail themselves of all the resources available in making these types of decisions. We can’t expect all our councillors to be experts in everything.
As often-discussed plans for our local airport have never come to fruition, it is very important that we be as accessible as possible through the Penticton Airport. Many of the potential business meeting companies, that we love to have come to our community, count good air access as part of their basic requirement to hold meetings. That coupled with the fact that many companies hold meetings in our off-season makes them even more attractive.
One only has to make the trip to Penticton to catch or meet a flight and have the plane make two passes and return to Vancouver to understand how important the upgrade would be to our businesses.
It is my sincere hope that they will revisit the request after having utilized the expert input at their disposal. Thank you for allowing my opinion.
Derek Noske
Osoyoos B.C.
