Critics of the proposed Kamloops Centre for the Arts have been vocal about a perceived lack of parking for the facility but one Kamloops councilor doesn’t see what their problem is.

Bill Sarai was on the NL Morning News and pointed out most events happening at the Centre would not be held during normal business hours.

“The whole landscape of parking in the evening is totally different than in the day time and I believe, with the new directions they’re going, there’s a lot of private parking lots, private businesses that have parking spaces in the evening that their employees have already gone home, they’re open.”

He says there is parking if you don’t mind a bit of a hike, with parking available downtown if people are willing to walk five to ten minutes.

“Just like the Blazer’s game, if you’ve got a senior, if you’re taking your Mom, your Dad or your Grandma, I usually go to the front and drop them off and I’ll go park the car and I’ll make my way back,” Sarai said. “It’s going to be no different at the Performing Arts Centre.”

Sandman Centre has 5,000 seats, but just 300 parking stalls beside the building.

“People are still getting to the hockey game and I think education and knowledge and getting information out there, parking is available, we’ve just got to make accessible to the pubic and know where it is,” he said.

Sarai suggested a smart phone app that shows parking lots not in use at night would also make things easier.

Kamloopsians vote on whether the city should borrow $45-million on the new centre on April 4th.