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Letters to the Editor

A sinking feeling This letter is in support of the position put forward by Mike Roger (Pique letters July 14) regarding our situation at Eva Lake Village.

A sinking feeling

This letter is in support of the position put forward by Mike Roger (Pique letters July 14) regarding our situation at Eva Lake Village. Put simply, a number of these properties are sinking because they were built on improper fill and the best idea the Muni can come up with is to hide behind a two-month "statute of limitations" clause which, they claim, protects them from any liability. Meanwhile, the owners are faced with shelling out over $1.2 million to fix three of the buildings and must sue the Muni and other parties to recover their money, because none of the culpable parties is willing to come to the table with a meaningful offer, even though we all agreed to mediation. This kind of adversarial conflict resolution is a useless and avoidable drain on the resources of all concerned and will result in significant dollars being lost in legal fees, money that could be spent on better housing.

Eva Lake is filled with Whistler working people, both lease-holders and renters, who need proper, affordable housing in this overheated market. The Muni's attempt to avoid responsibility in this matter is shortsighted and irresponsible, leaving the future of this under-developed property in the hands of people who are least able to deal with it. If the Muni is seriously committed to providing affordable housing for Whistler residents, they would do well to take control of the remedial work on their land, ensuring a secure future for existing residents and maximum utilization of the resource in the future.

Fred Michael

Burnaby

 

Torino on $1,571 a day

If some of us were not already a little suspicious of some of the wheelings and dealings of VANOC and the IOC, then surely the Adrienne Clarkson-size travel bill of $11,000 for a trip to Torino (senza airfare) for each of our three members of council should make us sit up and seriously ask just what the hell is going on here.

According to an article in last week’s Pique, this extortionate fee would cover seven days at the Games, including ground transportation (presumably in a stretch Maserati Quattroporte), a clothing package (the new spring collection from Versace maybe), tickets for the events (20 for each person so they can scalp the spare ones for some pocket money to purchase the overpriced souvenirs), food (three meals a day at a three-star Michelin restaurant), and accommodation (a Medieval Castle in Bardonecchia).

I don’t know about you, and you can call me a cheap bastard, but personally I’m not too comfortable with the Olympic Committee fleecing $33,000 of our taxpayer’s doll for a trip that’s the equivalent of an eight-week Serengeti Safari.

Thank God some of our councilors are looking at alternate options. I have the number of an old school buddy who lives in Sestriere, and he’s willing to give up his couch for a week if anyone’s interested!

Harvey Lim

Whistler

 

Telltale beer cans?

This last Sunday was a great day for a hike so a group of us drove up the Callaghan valley past the massive logging cuts and the burning piles of wood for the expanded road to the Whistler Nordic Centre, rafted across Callaghan Lake and hiked up "Around the World" to the breathtaking lakes in the alpine behind Callaghan Lake.

We're getting used to collecting and filling what room we have in our packs with the garbage that snowmobilers leave behind: Doritos bags, 5 gallon gas cans, sardine tins, air filters, spark plugs etc. but I'm left wondering about one thing — as about 9 out of 10 beer cans (the dominant garbage category) are U.S. brands such as Bud or Coors, does that mean that all snowmobilers generally have questionable taste and enjoy drinking U.S. brands or do our American friends who lug up all their own booze and snack foods tend to litter more?

I appeal to Canadian snowmobilers to drink and discard in the wilderness, if they absolutely must, only Canadian empties so that perhaps our local sled clubs will know who to target their "Don't be a litterbug" campaigns to.

Eckhard Zeidler

Whistler

 

The charging dog

I live at Chalet and Mountainview in Alpine Meadows. I have two dogs, Mac and Tosh. This letter is to the mother and child that were charged at by Tosh on Monday, July 25th. I must express my deepest apologies to you and your child. There is nothing scarier than an aggressive dog charging towards you. Please know that I am taking this very seriously. She should not be loose, and won’t be again.

Tosh has had behavioural problems for four of her six years, including fear aggression. She tends to charge and make a lot of noise when she picks fights with other dogs, but I have never seen biting or blood during a fight with another dog. To my knowledge, she has never bitten any people. That said, I am certainly not comfortable with her charging a person, especially a child, and I will be monitoring her behaviour more closely from this day forward.

If you or any of my neighbours wish to speak to me about Mac and/or Tosh, please do not hesitate to call me or e-mail me at 604-905-1025 or alexscott@whooshnet.com

Alex Scott

Whistler

 

Ahoy mateys

A great big Pirate thank you to the amazing parents of Mrs. Epplett and Mrs. Friend’s classes at Spring Creek Community School. Our year end party was fantastic! Thank you to the organizing committee, Whistler Cooks Catering, and Captain Scathead (a.k.a   Officer Blake   McLeod) and First Mate Skuttlebut (a.k.a. Officer Devon Jones). All of the little pirates had a wonderful day. Thank you from tbe bottom of our hearts. Enjoy the rest of your summer. See you in September.

Sandra Epplett and Melissa Friend

Whistler