Don't waste money on a misplaced tourist office

Posted Feb 9, 2012 By Thomas Charbonneau

To the Editor:

I read with interest the recent letter by Doug Smith (Chronicle Guide EMC, Feb. 2) and his take about the positioning of a tourist information office for Arnprior.

He ran for mayor with a well-thought-out plank about such an initiative, and, in my opinion, he is 'bang on' about what is needed and where it ought to be. In fact, he mirrored what I wrote about in a recent letter to the Chronicle Guide about this much-needed resource.

I agreed with his vision when he ran for office, and I agree with him today.

A tourist information kiosk, office or whatever it will look like should be, to use his own words, "near the fishing holes" and not in a place where people might be inconvenienced in trying to find such a place.

Having said this, I was also pleased to see that Council has deferred making any decisions regarding the BIA proposal. They obviously have concerns about spending taxpayer money on a poorly-thought-out initiative.

They understand that we need a tourist information centre and from the comments I read about their deliberations, also prudently have serious concerns about what it should to be, what it can be, and where it ought to be.

If this is done right, our community and adjoining neighbours will benefit from this. If it is going to be what the BIA envisions, it simply won't work and we will have spent money for nothing.

With a potential tax increase staring us in the face, we can't afford to throw 'our' money down the drain.

Thomas Charbonneau

Arnprior