"How come this place is not on the map"

The above is the question that local coffee shop owner Vince Amante relayed to City council on Monday night, as the current state of the city tourist maps became a hot issue for the city's government.

Amante who runs his coffee shop in 800 block of Third Avenue West was surprised to find his shop seemed to appear in a form of barren lands, taking Overwaitea, Galaxy Gardens and The Villa restaurants, as well as the Aleeda and Pacific Inn hotels off to Prince Ruperts version of Siberia.

The Daily news added some background to a story we first brought you on Wednesday, the Friday edition of the paper adds some colour to the debate, which has seen local businesses in the dark green zone start to see red!

Merchants furious as they are left off key tourist map
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, July 27, 2007

Page one and two

City hall will be asking Tourism Prince Rupert (TPR) to put the businesses on Third Avenue between Seventh Street and Five Corners back on the map that is being handed out to tourists.
On Monday, business owner Vince Amante told council that the map being handed out by the destination marketing organization to incoming cruise ship passengers does not include the area where Third Avenue Coffee and Gifts, Sisters, Overwaitea, Galaxy Gardens, and La Villa - among others - are located.

"I had two tourists come into my building one day and ask how come this place is not on the map?'" said Amante, who owns Third Avenue Coffee and Gifts.

"I asked to see the map. It was put out by Tourism Prince Rupert. It was paid for with taxpayers money to promote Prince Rupert."

The map includes Cow Bay in a red zone, a yellow zone covering downtown to Sixth Street and a light green zone to seventh street and then it goes dark green

"Our street is not even on the map anymore," he said.

While Amante has no problems with people paying money to have their business highlighted on the map, he said the basic map should include the whole business section of town.

"We built Prince Rupert, we taxpayers helped build that port. I am paying $18,000 a year for my little property there and when we are left out I think that's not acceptable."

The city contributed $3.5 million to the construction and redevelopment of the Northland Cruise Terminal and Uplands Development.

Although Tourism Prince Rupert is not run by the city, it receives much of its funding through a two per cent hotel tax collected by the city.

Each year, the city contributes about $200,000 to TPR.

Amante noted that the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce used to print a map that covered the whole city and did not just highlight sponsoring businesses, but included the things tourists wanted to see such as totem poles and local trails.

Amante has spoken with some tourists who have made their way to five corners and they told him this is the type of feature they would like to see included on the map.

He said they want something to see and do after they go shopping.

"This (TPR) map should be taken off the street and corrected. If anybody paid any money, they should get a credit for next year. But give the tourists a proper map," said Amante.

"We've got five or six businesses down there. It's not just me," said Amante, who has owned businesses in Prince Rupert since 1974.

Coun. Joy Thorkelson said she was very concerned about the map and its contents and asked city staff to contact Tourism Prince Rupert to see if they can get that map off the street and put out another map.

"I'm not a brochure expert but there must be an old brochure around showing the whole of Third Avenue," she said.

"I think the comments were very fair - that if you only show two-thirds of downtown and don't show the other third, it doesn't help anyone at all."

Thorkelson also said she would like to see the trail systems, boat facilities and other features that are part of the city's amenities included on any future map.

"I have real concerns city money is supporting a brochure that cuts off part of the downtown area."

Coun. Tony Briglio said as a funding agency, the city has a right to ask those type of questions.
"I think it should be communicated to Tourism Prince Rupert that council should at least have the ability to look at those maps before they are distributed," added Coun. Ken Cote.