Kelowna

Kelowna's City Manager described the medians along Harvey Avenue as 'something you'd see in an abandoned eastern city.'

Photo: Wayne Moore - Castanet

"Sorry, it looked like Detroit," says City Manager, Ron Mattiussi.

Mattiussi was responding to comments made by Councillor Andre Blanleil decrying the condition of some of the medians along Kelowna's stretch of highway.

Blanleil told his fellow councilors, with all the tourists in town over the long weekend, he was embarrassed about the condition some medians have become.

"The weeds are like a foot and a half high down Harvey Avenue," says Blanleil.

"I understand when you are driving in the middle of nowhere it's fine, but when you are in the middle of downtown Kelowna and the weeds are a foot and a half high it's just terrible."

Blanleil, a frequent visitor to Scottsdale, Arizona says that city is pristine. "It's perfect."

"I drive into our city. Harvey Avenue is not the most beautiful road in the world anyway,but then you have these weeds growing through broken asphalt. It just looks terrible."

Maintenance of the medians is the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Mayor Walter Gray agreed the problem is bad, but added there are essentially two problems.

"It's not just the weeds, it's the weeds growing out of pavement that have been carved up a number of times. We've really tried to improve those medians and sometimes even with supplemental funds from the city to make it done right as opposed to just highway standards," says Gray.

"It's quite extensive. It's from that Safeway corner all the way down to London Drugs."

Council agreed to contact the ministry in an effort to get the situation rectified, however, Gray says he's not optimistic a solution will come swiftly.

"I wouldn't expect anything to be done within the year. I think it takes a considerable amount of planning," says Gray.