ROTHENBURGER: 10 big Kamloops ideas that never made it off the drawing boards
Moving the trains out of downtown Kamloops has long been wishful thinking. (Image: Mel Rothenburger)
IT TAKES IMAGINATION to build a great city, and that means coming up with a lot of ideas, big ideas.
Some of them succeed and endure, like the Tournament Capital of Canada, Riverside Coliseum (now Sandman Centre), Riverside Park, Thompson Rivers University. Others come and go or wane over the years, like the KXA race track, the ginseng industry, Kami Overlanders Days and the giant KAMLOOPS sign on Mount Paul.
And others — like the performing arts centre or a downtown pedestrian mall — remain in the realm of the possible. Still others never pan out. Kamloops has had its share of the latter. Here’s 10 from over the years — some you might remember, others you might never have heard of — that never got further than musings, blueprints, studies or news releases.
Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.
Since 1968, maybe 1972, there was a proposal to cover and build above the CPR yard. There was a model made. Aubrey McKinnon and Associates were involved. Does anyone else remember this?