Penticton's downtown

I am writing to inform (readers) of my thoughts on the business opportunities of our merchants in (Penticton’s) downtown core.

We must focus our city council on having developers invest in our downtown core. Bringing residential and commercial investments for downtown will be a huge game changer for this area.

When looking at many downtown lots that have remained vacant—in some cases for more than 23 years (300-block of Main Street, 400 block of Martin Street, the city’s own lots at the corner of Nanaimo Avenue and Ellis Street and Front Street commercial lots and the list goes on.)

The first and most important step that should be taken is to have a developers’ incentive plan activated. That is where the city and developers would work together to bring concepts into focus.

Condominiums and apartments, plus a major food retailer, would be a huge game changer for our downtown core.

We definitely have the commercial lots available. The owners of those downtown lots should be given an incentive to sell as well.

The downtown area of any community is the heart and soul of a city. Ours is hurting in many ways. Let’s focus on Penticton’s oldest and original commercial area.

Bringing back families and others to meet and greet in our downtown core is very important.

Our city is unique and a beautiful place to live. Let’s work together on this idea.

Bruce Manery