I strongly encourage Mayor and Council to continue moving forward with the Station House renovation. It’s a challenging project, but extremely valuable to Hope and a wise investment in public funds.
Hope desperately needs a new Visitor Centre and Museum. For a town our size, we’re boxing way above our weight in terms of the audience we reach — close to 50,000 people annually — ranking our Visitor Centre among the busiest in the province. It’s an incredible opportunity that we should be taking full advantage of, yet Hope currently serves this audience with a cramped A-frame cabin and a run-down museum building. Imagine the positive impression we could make with a renovated Station House! Under all that peeling paint is a gem waiting to be restored, and it’s one of the few surviving remnants of Hope’s proud railroading history.
Hope needs an attractive new Visitor Centre and the 100-year-old CN railway station deserves a makeover. We can achieve both goals in one worthwhile project.
Kelly Pearce
Hope