ROTHENBURGER – Tranquille corridor upgrade a good idea but it won’t solve social issues
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.
ANOTHER TRANQUILLE ROAD store has been broken into, its front door smashed open.
Coincidentally, City council discussed a plan yesterday for an upgrade to the Tranquille Road shopping corridor.
The last major streetscaping there was done 50 years ago. Improvements will include getting rid of the unattractive tree planters, installing benches, fixing up sidewalks and improving pedestrian sightlines.
The North Shore BIA, understandably, promotes the idea because it will make the shopping zone more inviting. The BIA is, however, being overly optimistic about possible impacts on social issues and street crime.
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.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Has our city council not clued in yet? We who live on the North shore would like to see more initiatives to get the folks off the streets, not benches where they can camp and set up housekeeping on a daily basis. The merchants and some homeowners need to take some initiative to tidy up their spaces, spruce up the storefronts and bring much-needed variety to shopping on the North shore. There are several properties that need to be torn down and some that are totally abandoned. The upgrades to lighting and pedestrian crosswalks done just a few short years ago, has done nothing to change the atmosphere. The city seems determined to change the North Shore into yuppieville. We just want a place to live with things for our kids to do and for our elderly to be able to walk about without fear of being hassled by some thug who only wants money for more drugs or booze. Spend the money on cleaning up the back alleys, putting in an indoor facility like The Tournament Capital or Westsyde . Add accountable agencies who actually help the people instead of warehouse them. Putting in so much low-income and housing for street folks in one area has exacerbated the issues tenfold. Now we have more coming. The North shore is looking really run down and tired. Back alleys are overgrown, houses are getting run down and the businesses are weary of constantly fighting to survive. Even our “Island” is not what it used to be.
The last major streetscape was done under your watch actually and not 50 years ago. Plus just a few years ago another pile of money was spent to re-upgrade the portion close to Fortune Drive.