Cutbacks put daycare renos on hold
Penticton News
by Elisha Dacey
Mar 22, 2010

Government cutbacks and red tape mean a South Okanagan daycare has to put their expansion plans on hold yet again.

Officials with Columbus Park Child Care Centre on Main Street in Penticton say they've been trying for two years to get everything in place to expand the centre, which would add an additional 17 infant, toddler and child daycare spots.

"By the time the zoning went through...everything had been cut," says Tina Zumpano, an early childhood educator with the non-profit centre.

She says they had applied for two large grants through the provincial government's Emergency Repair, Replacement and Relocation grant for daycares, and through B.C. Lotteries gaming grants.

By the time they were approved, both had been cut in half, resulting in an $11,000 shortfall.

Zumpano says the daycare currently has a "three-and-a-half page waiting list."….