Editor:
In regard to the article in the Aug. 1 edition of the Outlook, "Closure looms for Canmore visitor centre as funding, visitor trends shift", I am glad to see it finally got the attention of the general public.
I have been following and doing research on this myself since it was announced. My exception to this article, however, was Tourism Canmore Kananaskis CEO Rachel Ludwig's comment "RVs would line up and then people couldn't access the parking lot anymore."
Having used this RV sanitation site for decades, this is simply not the case.
It is the RVs that line up along the curb waiting for their station, they do not block the parking. They just want their few minutes, then they move on.
It is the bikers and hikers that tie up the parking spaces as well as park where they are not supposed to. They do this for hours on end as they hike/bike and use the trails.
Let us remind ourselves what this location was originally intended for. That is a stop, stretch, use the washroom, maybe a short picnic, get info – which I agree may no longer be required – and move on and for RV'ers, use the sani station and move on.
It is the hikers/bikers that have overtaken it and caused the parking issues it has. They should have expected this when they built the trail I guess.
Maybe return it to use that was intended, limit parking to 30 minutes and re-open the RV sani station. It seems odd that entities want to close it because "it is getting too much use". That makes no sense.
Jim Hartsook,
Canmore
