Hotel Eldorado is still blocking people from the boardwalk next to Okanagan Lake.

(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

Al Janusas is fed up with the Eldorado Hotel’s continued refusal to open a gate along the public boardwalk in front of the hotel, especially after losing a court battle with the city last week.

Janusas is the man behind Plan Kelowna, a Facebook page that has advocated for public access along Okanagan Lake for years.

“They’ve had two summers where they put up these signs that said, unless you’re a customer here, keep out because they thought they could make a lot of money having this patio open and not having the interference of people walking by,” he told iNFOnews.ca. “I don’t think they give a rat's ass about the citizens of Kelowna.”

The city filed a court action against the hotel and owners Argus Properties earlier this year. At one point the city cut off the lock on the gate only to have it replaced.

The court ruling was given orally and the city is still waiting for the written version before deciding if further actions can be taken if the gate remains locked.

“I went down and checked yesterday at 1 o’clock and it was locked,” JoAnne Adamson, manager of property management for the City of Kelowna, told iNFOnews.ca today, Oct. 22. “There was no one on the patio.”

The ruling, which she heard, said the public has the right to access the boardwalk but, because of COVID-19, the hotel can lock the gate when the patio was being used.

“Their patio season is obviously over now, at least the part that’s on the walkway,” Janusas said.

He was down there recently and, while there were some customers on an upper patio, there were none at the boardwalk level.

Besides, he argued, the boardwalk is plenty wide enough for people to pass safely, even though there are tables on both sides of the boardwalk.

Janusas suggested residents anything from avoiding the restaurant to telling the hotel their thoughts through online reviews.

“I think that’s a really effective way of getting the message across that the citizens of Kelowna don’t like having the Eldorado thumb their nose at them,” he said.

Argus and the Hotel Eldorado manager did not return calls from iNFOnews.ca by publication time.

READ MORE: Here’s the part of Kelowna's Hotel Eldorado story you may not know

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