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Letters to the editor for the week of October 24th

Houseguests for the winter I'm one of the last original owners of an Eva Lake unit, which was one of the first employee-housing projects built in 1988. For me it has been a blessing and a curse. I got into the real estate game early at the age of 22.
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Houseguests for the winter

I'm one of the last original owners of an Eva Lake unit, which was one of the first employee-housing projects built in 1988.

For me it has been a blessing and a curse. I got into the real estate game early at the age of 22. Compared to now it was a good deal but it was still my life's savings at the time. It housed me in my ski bum days, it is where I started my family and it provided reasonably priced accommodation for dozens of tenants both good and bad.

The recent fire has unfortunately left many people homeless. The word is that the permits and repairs won't be complete before the snow flies and the building may remain tarped and vacant till spring.

I wonder if things would take that long for a municipal building?

Luckily Whistler is known for being generous in times of need and apparently there has been support for those left homeless. In fact my tenants will be staying with me as guests till this fiasco is over.

Unfortunately there is no consideration or safety net for owners. I am not looking for sympathy, as I am fortunate to be mortgage free, but I feel sorry for those who aren't. We will still be required to pay taxes and strata fees, which will probably increase due to insurance deductibles, and a raise in premiums.

I doubt many tenants or even owners had insurance. I didn't. I couldn't see the value in it since it was unfurnished. It's easy for others to say we should be insured, but I feel insurance is often a scam. They usually find loopholes or excuses not to pay and are quick to raise premiums and deductibles if you do.

I haven't done the math but I suspect 25 years of premiums would surpass my loss of rental income.

If you're a long-time local you may recall my rants over the settling foundation fiasco about 10 years ago. This situation cost us millions of dollars in engineering fees, administration lawyers and remediation. We settled out of court, which basically recouped our legal fees. Only two buildings were fixed — the third less severe was left to continue settling. This building was the one involved in the fire.

The fire department has been praised for doing a good job in saving the building. As a volunteer fire fighter in Birken I appreciate the training and skill involved. However, if I were the fire chief in this situation I would have happily let it burn to the ground.

Mike Roger

Whistler/Birken

Readers and writers success

2013 marks the 12th anniversary of the Whistler Readers and Writers festival. And what an incredible event it was.

Wrapping up this past weekend, the festival hosted 30 guest authors and over 1,200 participants to an array of literary offerings including readings and panel discussions for the public and developmental workshops for emerging and experienced writers. For all those who participated, I know the weekend was sure to restore their faith in the power of the written word.

Whistler is a very special community. When the festival was in its infancy, so many of you came out to see what we were up to. You liked what you saw, and told your friends. And you kept coming back. Your support helped expand our base. Thank you for sticking with us.

The festival could not get off the ground without the single-minded focus of our small, but mighty team. I'd like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of: Katherine Fawcett, Sara Leach, Mary MacDonald, Libby McKeever, Sue Oakey, Claire Piech, Dee Raffo, Nancy Routley and Stephen Vogler. Thank you. I am grateful to work alongside you to make this festival happen every year.

I'd also like to thank front-line volunteers who came through for us in so many different ways I can't begin to list here. Thank you, Pat McKenzie, Karen McLeod, Deanne Proach, Sandy Fiteni, and Alix Nicol.

I'd like to acknowledge the staff of the Fairmont Chateau Whistler for their hospitality and exceptional service. They were committed to the success of the festival and made it seamless. Thanks also to Millennium Place and the Squamish Lil'Wat Cultural Center. It's wonderful to host events in such beautiful facilities with staff so committed to excellence.

The Whistler Writers Group is a non-profit group. Our budget is completely allocated to covering the costs of the annual Whistler Readers and Writers Festival, the writer-in-residence program, and other literary events throughout the year. We could not do what we do without the generous support of a number of sponsors including: The Resort Municipality of Whistler and the province of British Columbia, The Writers Union of Canada, The Canada Council for the Arts, The BC Arts Council, The Whistler Public Library, our festival hotel partner, The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, The Whistler Arts Council, The Whistler Blackcomb Foundation, Armchair Books (the best bookstore in the world, bar none), Goodwin Studios, and Access Copyright. Thank you so very much. 

And now we begin planning for next year. Yikes, did I really say that?  

Stella Harvey

Founder, Whistler Readers and Writers Festival

Booksale bonanza

Once again the Giant Used Books Sale has been a success, raising $4,667.00 and supplying reading material to hundreds for those cold winter nights. The Friends of the Library are grateful for all the support to help provide funding for Whistler Public Library programs and resources.

A huge thank you to IGA Marketplace for allowing the sale to be held in front of the store, as well as Nesters Market and TD Canada Trust for being collection depots. Thank you to the local newspapers for getting the word out.

Sorting, moving, and selling all those books requires lots of hands and at this sale they belonged to uber-vollies Moe Richmond, Jessie Pendygrasse, Maureen Chaddock, Susan Annand, and Kashi Richardson, Jane Clifford, Ophra Buckman, Jane Finlayson, Alix Nichol, Alison Hunter, Kris Shoup, Simon Crichton, Rosemary Malaher, and the men, John Richmond, Len Van Leeuwen, Bill Janyk, Garry Clifford, and Rick Reid.

We missed Lil Goldsmid at this book sale as she was always in the thick of it all, sorting and selling. Thanks for all the help over the years and the memories too, Lil.

Lastly, thanks to all those Whistlerites who donated books so generously to the sale, and those who came from near and far to stock their bookshelves. Happy reading till next time!

Jane Reid, Organizer

Whistler

Fungus Among Us

What a year for the 11th annual Fungus Among Us Mushroom Festival!

It's been a phenomenal year for fungi and we had a fantastic capacity crowd that came to celebrate with us. At first count the scientists identified almost 200 species, of which 20 to 30 are new records for Whistler.

There were lots of big grins as people came back from the Saturday mushroom walks, tasted their way through the delicious cooking show, and were then awed by the huge variety of mushrooms on the display table.

The Whistler Naturalists would like to thank all those who made the annual event possible:

• the Community Foundation of Whistler as our main sponsor;

• The Toadstool Troupe for their highly entertaining performance;

• Bryce Kendrick for his fantastic talk and photos on "Fungi: Now you seem them, now you don't";

• the 16 fabulous mushroom gurus for leading the walks on Saturday and for the fungus display;

• Alta Bistro's Edward Dangerfield and his crew for presenting the hugely popular cooking with mushrooms demonstration and tasting;

• Nesters Market for donating supplies for the tasting and raffle prizes;

• Kevin Trim for donating his fungus sculptures for our fundraising raffle;

• the great group of volunteers who helped out; and

• all the folks that came out to share their enthusiasm and wonder for all things fungal.

See you next year!

Bob, Mel & Kristina

On behalf of the Whistler Naturalists

Whistler

Another nail in environmental coffin

The government is not content with handing over our wild rivers to Independent Power Producers. It is now trying — again — to privatize our public forests.

Prior to the May 2013 election, the government attempted to push through legislation (Section 24 of Bill 8) that would have virtually handed over our publicly owned forest lands to the five companies (Canadian Forest Products, West Fraser Timber, International Forest Products, Tolko Industries and Western Forest Products) that control most of the logging in B.C. Thanks to public opposition, the legislation was withdrawn. Premier Clark wants to reintroduce the bill.

We need to raise our opposition again because the only ones to benefit from the privatization of our public forests would be the shareholders of the afore-mentioned forest companies.

Budget cuts to the Ministries of Forests and Environment, as well as Parks BC, combined with the gutting of our environmental laws have made the management of our natural resources completely dysfunctional. This bill would be yet another nail in the coffin.

Louise Taylor

Pemberton

Picnic tables in Mountain Square

I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering why the municipality removed the picnic tables from Mountain Square.

I'm fairly certain that snow isn't set to fly anytime soon, and judging by the fact that they were always full, I'd say that visitors and locals alike enjoyed them where they were.

It would have been nice to continue eating my lunch while sitting on one in the sun. Back to the concrete stairs I suppose, but perhaps next year you could look outside before hauling them away for the winter?  

Kate Turner

Whistler