Rushing to build something on KDN property would be a mistake
KAMLOOPS – Now that all hope of saving the Kamloops Daily News building is lost — the contract has been awarded to demolish it and put up a parking lot — we’re supposed to rest assured that City Hall is already thinking hard about what to build there.
At last week’s City council meeting, Acting Mayor Arjun Singh emphasized that it’s important for everyone to understand that the parking lot is temporary. We must come up with ideas for long-term use, he said.
City CAO David Trawin offered assurances that the appropriate committees will be brainstorming on the subject.
It all has the sound of an attempt to reassure everyone that the whole fumbled exercise was worth the time and expense — the purchase of the building for $4.8 million, the rejection by voters of a $90-million performing arts centre they thought was too rich, the failure to come up with an alternative, and now the $1.1-million teardown-and-asphalt project.