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Letter: Grocery store needed before arts centre

Suggestion for the property being held for the South Okanagan Performing Arts Centre
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Penticton Western News letters to the editor.

Grocery store needed before arts centre

Regarding the decision by the majority of city councilors to hold the property at the corner of Nanaimo and Ellis street for the South Okanagan Performing Arts Centre (SOPAC), I’d like to offer a suggestion.

Why not court the big grocery chains to see who would like to put a full service grocery store on that lot. The shift in population density in the area now and in the following months has been stunning and might just make it profitable enough for them to do it.

There are a huge amount of people that could walk to a store at that location, reducing vehicular traffic. There are many retirement homes (and a soon to be built low income subsidized housing project) right there. The parcel of land seems to be the right size and it’s probably the only one city hall could zone for grocery store use only.

If not there, where? Performing arts centre? Or, grocery store? One of these is a want and one is a need.

George Murai

Penticton