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This past Wednesday the Honourable Rick Thorpe, Minister of Small
Business and Revenue visited Revelstoke for the day. He brought with him
a cheque for the City in the amount of $86,000.00 towards the extension
of Grizzly Plaza. This is a project that has been on the books for quite
some time and will be a nice addition to the downtown core once full
funding is in place and construction can proceed. What will happen is
design elements in the plaza will be extended up two more blocks to
Third Street. We will see sidewalks being widened with brick paving and
brick work installed on the streets at the intersections. The two most
often asked questions are will Mackenzie Avenue be one way, and will we
lose our parking? The answer is no to both, it will be two way traffic
and we will have parking on both sides of the street.
As part of the Minister’s
visit I toured him around the community visiting various businesses. The
Minister remarked several times how the feeling of the community was so
vibrant and positive which was a lot different from his first visit here
approximately 11 years ago.
We toured part way up the
mountain and saw the gondola base station, steel towers for lifts and
lots of construction going on for the both the lifts and condo
development. Our next stop was to Vic Van Isle and their millwork shop
and retail store outlet. The Minister was impressed with all of the high
tech equipment in the shop. The rest of the day was spent at Downie
timber, The Energy Corporation, Canadian Avalanche Association, greeting
Taiwanese students at our language school, and a short visit with City
Council and Staff.
The day ended with a
small business roundtable where the Minister heard from the Revelstoke
business community. It was a great day and opportunity to showcase
Revelstoke’s businesses as well as our special quality of life.
During our visit to
Downie Timber the subject of the burner was brought up and as I write
this on Friday there has been a groundswell of concern over the
increasing amount of smoke and fly ash coming from the Downie burner.
Downie has been looking at alternatives to the burner for quite some
time and has finally put together a plan that will result in the burner
ceasing operation. As you read this the burner may already be history,
but if it is not it is very close to the end of it’s life.
Saturday July 21st is the
date of the Ascentennial of the first climb to the top of Mount Begbie.
I, with the Ascentennial committee and special guests including the
Honourable Iona Campagnolo, will fly up to the top of Mount Begbie for a
short ceremony when a Revelstoke time capsule will be buried for the
next 100 years. We will be re-creating that ceremony later that day at
3pm in Grizzly Plaza. If you have never had the opportunity to listen to
or meet the Lieutenant Governor this would be a good opportunity. Her
Honour is a very special person and one that adds much grace and poise
to a very special office.
This year the Kokanee
Glacier Challenge will include a new kind of challenge. The Rotary Club
of Revelstoke is contacting all of the visiting ball teams and asking
them to bring any old or unused baseball equipment they may have. The
Club will then provide this equipment to underprivileged kids in third
world countries. If you have any equipment kicking around your garage or
basement, bring it down to the Centennial Ball fields and help make a
difference in someone’s life.
Mayor McKee
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