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Letters to the editor for the week of November 8th

Spooky success Despite monsoon-like rains, Tapley's Farm was inundated with over 1,000 kids and their families, who came out for a howling good time to enjoy the 29th annual Halloween celebration.
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Spooky success

Despite monsoon-like rains, Tapley's Farm was inundated with over 1,000 kids and their families, who came out for a howling good time to enjoy the 29th annual Halloween celebration. Fifty neighbourhood residents once again pulled out all the stops to create a spooky and festive atmosphere complete with decorations, lights, music, special hot drinks and of course copious supplies of candy, with an estimated 50,000 pieces handed out. 

Thank-you to everyone who donated candy and especially to Nesters Market, IGA Marketplace and The Grocery Store for their generous contributions, as well as to local families who kindly donated to the Whistler Food Bank on their way in.

The night culminated with the most spectacular firework display to date, generously sponsored by Nesters Market.  Thanks also to the Whistler Fire Department for managing the fireworks and warming everyone with hot chocolate, and to the RCMP for their ongoing support.

This was the 10th anniversary of the "Park and Spook" shuttle to Tapleys — thanks to Whistler Transit, Whistler Marketplace and the RMOW for making this possible and to the Waldorf School kids for their creative decorations. 

New for 2012, prizes were awarded for Best, Scariest and Funniest Costumes with prizes going to Oscar VanDongen, Jack Morrow and Garret Riley respectively. There was fierce competition for the best decorated houses. Winners were Spookiest House — Paul Fournier, Most Kid-Friendly House — Erin Marof and Best Special Effects House – the Munsters. Special mention for Artistic Excellence in Pumpkin Carving went to the Riley and Johnston families. Many thanks to our dedicated and bedraggled judges Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden, Whistler Question Editor Tanya Foubert and RCMP Sergeant Rob Knapton.

And finally, thanks to the local companies who donated prizes and services to support this annual event, including the Whistler Question, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Ziptrek, Summit Sports, Momentum Ski Camps, Dupps Burritos, Dairy Queen, Fruv Freedomwear, Green Earth Organics and the Whistler Film Festival.

Here's to keeping this free, family friendly tradition alive in true Whistler spirit!

Julia Smart

Whistler

Seasonal workers need housing too

The Whistler Housing Authority and Resort Municipality of Whistler have made substantial efforts to tackle the problem of affordable housing for Whistler residents; yet, these benefits have primarily helped those who live in Whistler full time and have not extended to seasonal workers.

Given that seasonal employees comprise 30 per cent of Whistler's workforce, we must acknowledge a few facts that point to potential tumult and uncertainty facing this winter's incoming round of seasonal workers seeking the ski town dream.

According to the Whistler Housing Authority's 2011 Business Plan, 85 per cent of seasonal employees in Whistler earn incomes below the basic cost of living, and fewer than one in five Whistler employers provide housing for their employees. (Vince) Shuley's feature article in last week's Pique (Nov, 1, 2012) is a solid reminder that despite Whistler's success in overcoming its long-standing lack of affordable, resident-restricted housing, thousands of young people arriving in Whistler this season will still struggle to secure high-quality, affordable rental housing.

For those who may not be aware, the Whistler Housing Authority (WHA) has succeeded in creating more than 6,000 resident-restricted beds of affordable housing since its inception in 1997, such that two-thirds of Whistler's resident workforce is now housed within municipal boundaries in resident-restricted housing.

Our community is lucky that the municipality has supported affordable housing projects, and that the WHA has successfully implemented a model for housing reform so that individuals and families who live and work in Whistler can afford the high costs of living associated with a resort town.

As Shuley articulates, the development of resident-restricted ownership units in Cheakamus Crossing and Rainbow has freed up rental units for seasonal workers, while also causing rent prices to fall.

Yet, the ongoing experiences of Whistler's seasonal workers indicate a continued lack of affordable housing, yielding the inevitable scramble for the 2012/2013-winter season.

As a 20-something, semi-permanent Whistler resident, I have known dozens of friends and colleagues over the years who have crammed into tight quarters in staff housing or lived on acquaintances' couches while desperately trying to secure an affordable room for the season. While the worst of Whistler's housing crisis may well be behind us, there still exists a strong demand for affordable rental housing, especially considering that the number of WHA affordable units for ownership far outweighs affordable units for rent.

Shuley's article speaks to some of the questionable accommodations seasonal workers have contended with over the years; it is important to acknowledge that spending the season in Whistler shouldn't just be about surviving, but about thriving.

While many new arrivals may accept the mindset that it is worth suffering poor housing to be one of the lucky few to live the dream, in all truth, we all want (and should have access to) a safe, comfortable, relaxing, high quality home to return to after a long day of work on the mountain or in the community.

The WHA has been incredibly successful over the years in addressing the lack of affordable housing for rental and ownership in Whistler; however, now might be the time for the organization to turn to projects that address the needs of temporary seasonal workers, with support from the municipality and the community.

I would urge the WHA and RMOW to continue their support for affordable, price-restricted housing in Whistler by tackling the needs of seasonal workers, considering that many of the individuals arriving this winter to contribute to our resort economy will face issues of housing affordability, suitability, and adequacy.

For those of us who are settled in our permanent homes, it is easy to underestimate the stress resulting from trying to find affordable housing in a market that tends to price out seasonal workers.

Let's continue to foster community and diversity within Whistler by ensuring adequate, available, and affordable rental housing for all individuals who seek it, making Whistler a place where we need not sacrifice sleep, sanity, or health in order to live the dream.

Sarah Goldstein

Whistler

Sunday library opening

Here it is, once again, Sunday, my only day off.

Wouldn't it be awesome to go to the library?

I must admit, I think this quite often once Sunday arrives.

Then the same thought disturbs my mind, it is closed.

No!

This needs some attention.

Has the municipality considered using Resort Municipality Initiative or other tourism funding to support increased library hours?

After all, the library is an important part of the visitor experience. It's where many of them go to ask questions, as well as for Internet, wireless access, and with the best DVD collection for hundreds of kilometres, affordable entertainment.

It's where visiting parents and grandparents take their kids for story time and sing-a-longs, as well as craft days.

 But whether or not funding can be found from tourism, the hours need to be extended, especially to Sundays.

Sunday is the best day of the week for many others and myself.

The library is a cornerstone of community, and too many members of our community are not getting the access they need.

I would welcome anyone that has any good suggestions on how to achieve this to forward them to council.

Surely there are many of us that would love to see the library open on Sunday, including our bread and butter, tourists.

Peter Skeels

Whistler

Thanks and carpe diem

My wife Jane and myself were so glad that we were able to make it to Whistler last Wednesday to pay tribute to an old friend, and one of Whistler's icons, who passed away in August.

As I said in my tribute address, I first met Flo Petersen more than 45 years ago, and was pleased to call her a good friend through the many years we spent at Whistler.

Flo was a dedicated, tireless worker and an invaluable asset when it came to the history of Alta Lake/Whistler. Through her hard work and persistence the Whistler Museum and Archives was established, and over the years she contributed greatly to the growing Whistler community. She started the Over 50 Club as a venue where the "oldies" of Whistler could get together. She married over 1,000 couples in her role as Marriage Commissioner, and she was always available to give guidance and spread the word about Whistler's heritage, whether it was as a narrator on a bus tour or as the docent who delivered the Whistler History portion of the Whistler Spirit Course for the Chamber. 

When Jane and I started the Whistler Question in 1976, it was Flo Petersen who was there to help us out with context, and to set us right if we ever got it wrong!

What a treat it was to be a part of the gathering of over 250 people who were there on Wednesday to pay tribute to Flo in the Whistler Centre.

How appropriate it was that Mayor Nancy and council bestowed the freedom of the municipality on Flo and Joan (Richoz) just months before Flo passed away.

On a more personal note, I can't tell you how touched we were at the outpouring of concern and affection that we received this week from so many of our Whistler friends as we cope with our life in Salmon Arm after Jane's diagnosis of AD (Alzheimer's Disease) in May.

Having this disease diagnosed in its early stages has allowed us to follow a regimen of both homeopathic and conventional medicine that has not only slowed the progression of the AD, but which has in fact actually resulted in some noticeable improvement since August when she was having serious trouble with her vocabulary and her speech and her overall mental acuity, and for that we are both eternally thankful.

Jane is indeed one of the lucky ones who has showed some improvement, and she can now function almost normally and we can continue with our vagabond travelling lifestyle.

While we have established many friendships in the past 12 years here in Salmon Arm, it was heart-warming to us to find that we still have many friends at Whistler who care, and I was amazed at the 100 or so handshakes and hugs that happened last Wednesday.

Thank you to you all and keep well, and remember above all — carpe diem.

Paul and Jane Burrows

Salmon Arm

Supporting families in our community

On behalf of Moving Mountains for Children, I would like to thank all those who contributed to making our recent Community Garage Sale at Creekside such a success. This was our third bi-annual Community Garage Sale and was by far the most successful to date. There were over 36 stalls selling everything from ski gear, and clothing to toys and household items.

Thank-you to everyone who attended or held a stall on the day — braving the start of the rainy season.... We would also like to thank Whistler Blackcomb for the use of the Garage, and Cutting Edge Signs for our signage materials.

Our next bi-annual Community Garage Sale will be held on May 5, 2013, which is a great opportunity to do the big spring clean out and prepare for the summer season. Please put it in your diaries. For more information email info@movingmountainsforchildren.com

Moving Mountains for Children is a fun volunteer group of mostly moms supporting families with children from newborns to age six. We have initiated programs such as Music Together, the annual Easter Egg Hunt and the Open Gym. For more details of activities available for families, see http://movingmountainsforchildren.com/monthly-calendar/

Our next monthly catch up is on Tuesday, Nov. 13, from 6-8 p.m. at Myrtle Philip Community School and we would love to see new faces with new ideas. New volunteers are always welcome.

Morag Kerr

Moving Mountains for Children

Whistler

Living a cowboy fantasy

The sorry state of affairs with the transit system along the Sea to Sky Highway is more proof that the provincial government is mired somewhere between the 1950s and the 1980s (and still will be in 2013) — regardless of which party is in power.

The successive Ministers of Transportation under the B.C. Liberals don't appear to have a basic knowledge of transit and no interest about learning what is being done successfully elsewhere as they come and go too frequently.

The federal government isn't much better, as Canada is likely the only country in the western world without a federal minister of transportation.

Watching quite a few TransLink decision-making staff unable to explain the videos of foreign transit system they were showing at the many open houses I attended was heart-breaking! Aren't they interested at all in finding out what works and what doesn't, both in other countries with a much longer history of public transit and in Toronto and Montreal?

In many countries the 21st century has moved public transit from the limited confines of a town to a whole big region around that town. The national, regional and municipal governments of a country cooperate — within a regional transit authority — to plan and finance all modes of transit in a region, using both public and private transit operators to run trains, buses, subways, ferries, shared bikes and cars and what the North Americans call LRT (both manned ones — like big sized articulated tramways — and automated ones — like SkyTrain and its more advanced cousins, the European VAL and the Japanese AGT) etc.

The 21st century also brought transit smart cards, used even in small towns (population around 70 000) that provide access to all possible modes of transit in one given region.

In B.C. the current government easily found over $500 million to roof-over a stadium but refuses to fund public transit in Vancouver and ignores transit in the rest of the Lower Mainland, not to mention the rest of the province.

The foreign region where I was born has half the population of the Lower Mainland. Yet it manages to have not only an urban transit system covering the whole major town of that region (unlike Metro Vancouver, where there is no rapid transit west of Cambie, on the North Shore, Surrey, White Rock etc.) and there are also 15 lines of commuter trains (the longest possible trip is 235 km) and 60 lines of inter-cities buses operated by several private companies.

The inter-cities bus fares are quite reasonable. As of Sep. 1, 2012 trips only cost Euros 2.50, regardless of the length of the trip. As a result the number of first-time subscribers of yearly passes (paid monthly by auto-debit) is already sizable.

I call it the Walmart effect: it is better for the transit company to sell cheap passes to tons of people than selling expensive ones to a few. Of course the high price of gas and the fact that divided motorways are tolled are both incentives to leave a car home.

An interesting trend is that cities that used to have many fare zones are doing away with them, not just in Europe, but in the U.S. too. Portland has raised the price of a single trip to $2.50 but now has only one zone instead of three. A monthly pass for adults (18-64) cost $100. Much cheaper than in Vancouver.

Unfortunately there isn't in B.C., not even in the Lower Mainland with all its immigrants, a true transit culture and it is hard to get one going when the various levels of government refuse to fund transit adequately. We are living a cowboy fantasy, with cars instead of horses.

J-L Brussac

Coquitlam

A question of race?

I doubt if (a) suspect (in a police investigation) were Caucasian, he would be identified in the news release as Canadian. It's acceptable to identify a suspect's race in the hope that it will lead to a quick arrest. But Indo-Canadian is not a race — it's a community.

So, why is race not a marker of this suspect (in the recent case of the sexual assaults against two women in Whistler)? (see related story Pique Nov.1, 2012)

I hope the RCMP and editors of this esteemed newsmagazine will correct the mischaracterization, and identify the suspect by his colour and other features.

Gagandeep Ghuman

Squamish

Lest we forget

I am a member of The War Amps Operation Legacy, which consists of young members and graduates of the Child Amputee (CHAMP) Program who are dedicated to preserving and commemorating Canada's military heritage by teaching younger generations about our nation's wartime history.

I have had the privilege to learn about Canada's military heritage and also know what it is like to live without a limb — a strong bond that I share with war amputee veterans. CHAMP was started by war amputee veterans and I want to give back to those who have given me so much.

It's important to remember our veterans for countless reasons. The individuals that left their families, homes and lives behind to fight for us and our country deserve more than just remembrance. We should be thankful every day for what they went through for us. The bravery, strength and courage it took are not something easily found. I give all my respect to our war veterans.

I encourage all of you to learn more about Canada's history by means of The War Amps Military Heritage Series documentaries, which can be ordered at www.waramps.ca.

Kendra Blakely

Operation Legacy Member

Revelstoke

Something needs to change?

A doorman rarely has a license to use force, particularly damaging force on a member of the public. They are there to observe and protect, and use force as a last resort.

If only this could be true of the unfortunate event I was a victim of on the early hours of (last) Saturday morning. I was refused re-entry into (a) nightclub on grounds of intoxication. I denied this but demanded the return of my jacket. The doorman grudgingly did so. On his return I once again denied overintoxication, only to be slammed into an arm bar and tripped to the ground where the doorman continued to apply pressure onto my arm. When he finally got off me I went back over to demand an explanation.

The only explanation given was that I was "in the doorman's face." I denied this pointing out I was just speaking to him. It was then that the officers of the RCMP arrived and I was hopeful that they would bring some justice so the situation.

Far from this they accused me of causing trouble and ignored my protestations that I had basically been assaulted...

I meekly left the scene assaulted and belittled at the hands of an over-zealous doorman and an uncaring RCMP officer.

For too long in this town doormen have had a license to behave however they want and (I believe) the police target rather than protect people who are merely out to have fun and a few drinks.

The result for me is a potentially fractured arm, an inability to work and some big hospital bills. Something needs to change!

Joseph Smith

Whistler

Why not take the Greyhound

I've ridden the Greyhound bus regularly up and down Highway 99 for 16 years, so naturally I am as disappointed as anyone regarding the prospect of a reduction in service.

But I am not surprised by the news as I've noticed low passenger occupancy on most runs I've travelled. Like any transit service in North America, Greyhound has difficulty competing with the convenience of our heavily subsidized system of personal motor transport (including free parking).

And like any other business, Greyhound presumably is not immune to the vicissitudes of supply and demand. So, in respect of market forces, rather than petitioning the government to forbid the cutbacks, with this letter I hope to encourage bus ridership.

I am not idealistic enough to believe that there will ever be many others like me who prefer the bus based on environmental principles so let me suggest three more pragmatic reasons...#1: MONEY...If you purchase a "commuter" book of 20 one-way Whistler-Vancouver tickets (which can be shared), each round trip to the city will cost only $27, surely cheaper than driving. #2 TIME...Yes, it does take a little longer on the bus than in the car (an extra 30-45 minutes, on average), but rather than wasting 100 minutes to drive, you can invest 140 minutes in reading, texting or sleeping. #3 SAFETY...In almost 30 years of Emergency and General Practice, I do not recall treating a single serious injury related to bus or train travel. On the other hand, I treat car crash victims almost daily.

It has been estimated that for every hour that someone spends behind the wheel there's another hour spent by someone else in pain, disability or death (i.e., a "life-hour" lost) due to a personal motor vehicle accident. Regular motorists expose themselves to a 28 per cent lifetime risk of permanent injury or death. For transit users this figure is less than 0.5 per cent.

Hope to see you soon on the Greyhound, rather than at the clinic. 

Dr Thomas DeMarco

Whistler