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Lenskyj lecture disappointing

I attended the lecture by Dr. Helen Lenskyj, whom Pique reported to be a "respected author on the Olympic Games," and was most disappointed. I found her comments on the aboriginal support for 2010 to be most condescending and lacking supporting data.

I attended the lecture by Dr. Helen Lenskyj, whom Pique reported to be a "respected author on the Olympic Games," and was most disappointed. I found her comments on the aboriginal support for 2010 to be most condescending and lacking supporting data. Some of us with past Olympic volunteer experience challenged her negative comments that volunteers are exploited.

I wanted to know, with four months left until the Olympic party begins, what she would advise to make the Olympic Games better, or from her point of view less bad. The answer was "to make sure VANOC was accountable and transparent, something they have not been doing to date." Not only do I disagree that VANOC has not been accountable and as transparent as possible considering the work done, but how can such a comment be helpful to the approximately 50 people at the lecture? I trust our governments, as the taxpayers' agent, the media and sponsors who have paid big bucks to pay for the party, to be on top of that task.

To me it is obvious that a vocal minority do not support the Olympics at Whistler and hate the Olympic movement and philosophy. To them I say the party invitations have been bought and if you do not want to go, don't. Please respect the majority who wish to party to the best of our abilities. For those of us who are working or volunteering to show the world the best party possible for the limited budget, exercise your democratic right to not attend and get lost until the Games are over.

Michael Blaxland

 

A golden opportunity

In response to recent letters from Scott Carrell and Alix Nicoll...

It's great to hear Whistlerites starting to plan to create their own Olympic experiences by welcoming athletes and visitors to our town! I have an opportunity that is sure to be a great experience for any community member who is fortunate enough to be in a position to help.

Want to contribute to building local Olympic legacies? How about hosting a gold medallist? We (Whistler 2010 Sport Legacies) are trying to bring a bobsleigh pilot coach to town from November through January, to start coaching a few locals, who have expressed interest in becoming bobsleigh athletes or pilots for the post-Games public ride program. Her name is Jill Bakken and she is the first woman to win an Olympic gold medal in bobsledding.

The challenge is that we need to find Jill, and her dog, a self-contained suite for these three months. We're not looking for free accommodation, though budget for this program is limited.

It's important to note that we will not pursue solutions that cause any local to be displaced. If you can help us to enable this important legacy step, you'll undoubtedly have a unique experience!

Paul Shore

Paul_Shore@WSL2010.com

Whistler

 

Panem et Circenses

We are in the Great Recession. More and more people are losing jobs. Medical services are being cut. Government deficits are astronomical. Our taxes, especially municipal, are increasing. Provincial and federal funding to various organizations is being cut. There are 57 properties in Whistler to be auctioned for tax default. And then we are also graced with paid parking.

But there is a light in this darkness. To let us forget all the pain and anger, our illustrious Senators will throw a $150,000 community-wide party to celebrate the end of the Olympic Venatus.

I will have to enjoy this party, although I prefer my share to go to a charity or to Whistler Mountain Ski Club, or to reduce parking rates or municipal taxes. But in our faulted democracy we do not have individual choice... yet. We need the constitutional right to opt out of any nonessential government program and spending! Would that be a sight?

Well, we all know how this story ended about 1,500 years ago. Nothing has changed. The only good thing is that I am comforted in the knowledge that it took 500 years for the Roman Empire to go belly up.

Drago Arh

Whistler

 

Hoodwinked by Zealots?

There is a growing sentiment among some councillors that green "zealots" are hoodwinking them. I'm confident that this perspective reflects a core and growing segment of Whistlerites too.

As a fiscal conservative, former auditor and a person who generally gets off on numbers, I believe that having validated data is important. Experience has also taught me that you can do whatever you want with numbers.

While attending last week's council meeting, I thought Councillor Forsyth's motion to analyze the "numbers" regarding the performance of Whistler's green buildings was a good one. I support such a study. In his defeated motion for such a report, there may have been an element of political orchestration more than a genuine need to know.

The "numbers" for the library were readily available for Pique 's publication deadline. Hmm... I wonder where these numbers came from, how valid they are and what's the political purpose behind them? So goes the latest political counterassault against the "zealots."

This divisive American-style politicking, while intriguing, will not service us in the end. Will we ever get to genuine and authentic dialogue on important issues that we face?

Mitch Rhodes

Whistler

 

Welcome to paradise

Re: Temporary Use Permit #011, parking lot at Function Junction

When people first arrive into Whistler, and drive over the new bridge crossing the train tracks, there is a sign on the right welcoming everyone. This sign is surrounded by nature; the way that the Whistler image is sold to tourists. Putting a parking lot across from the welcome sign is not only tacky, but it conveys the image of some sort of cheap theme park (Wonderland?). Is this really the first impression we want to give visitors? In the name of a temporary parking lot?

I understand that the Squamish Nation may develop this lot in the future, but let's leave that to the future. Welcoming the world through a freshly snow-covered forest into the wonder that is Whistler has a helluva lot more pizzazz than saying "Welcome" with a gravel yard.

This is the very first impression the world will get when they drive up here from Vancouver for the Olympics, an impression that we'll never be able to change. The "Welcome to Whistler" sign is going to be broadcast around the world... wouldn't it be more pleasing to show off our pristine environment, rather than a parking lot?

I'm surprised the idea of having a parking lot put there is even being entertained. It just seems like a no-brainer. Furthermore, with Function Junction being an industrial area, it looks like an industrial area. The part of the buildings that face the road (and the train tracks) is their "back yards," and they are strewn with junk - old furniture, garbage cans, car parts....

Again, this is only going to tarnish the first impression of Whistler's visitors for years to come. Of course the industrial park of Function Junction is needed, but it doesn't need to be shown off, which is exactly what clearing those trees will do. Function, while a necessity for locals, it is not for visitors, so why not keep it camouflaged in the name of aesthetics? In my opinion exposing it will only hurt Whistler's image.

I urge you to reconsider using this land as a parking lot. Find another solution, one that rather than showcasing cars when people first arrive in Whistler, maintains Whistler's natural beauty and shows it off to the world.

Kate Turner

Whistler

 

Support the Writers Festival

I attended most of the events at the Sept. 11-13 Writers Festival organized and put on by a group of dedicated volunteers. It is probably the only such event in Canada where you are in workshops with published writers providing direct input on a one on one basis and not just in an auditorium.

But what does this matter to Whistler? A shoulder season event with mostly non-residents spending money for food and facilities in a year where this is particularly needed... but what year does not need shoulder season events that add to a broader Whistler appeal?

A lot of people are doing a lot of work so that Whistler is not viewed as a one trick pony. So are the unpaid volunteers for the Writers Festival. They need some support. They have no marketing budget, the writers are unpaid who travel to Whistler to add to our community and this will not go on indefinitely.

I am just a typical burdened taxpayer in Whistler but I would like to see some of my taxes go to broadening the community for some of us who now get our adrenalin rush remembering and writing about crazier days.

Many thanks to Stella and Dave Harvey and the other volunteers and participants for a significant weekend, and please don't burn out until we get you some support.

Bill Damm

Whistler

 

Mind over politics

At the end of his Sept. 10 "Pique 'n your interest" column Andrew Mitchell asked, "When did our politics get so small?" I am almost certain it was rhetorical but I have never been able to restrain myself from answering questions including even, "the last why." So even though he probably didn't want it answered I won't pass up an opportunity to advertise my view.

Before I began composing my answer I looked up politics and got sidetracked. I knew politicians do politics like ministers do religion but I didn't have a dictionary definition of politics in my mind. When I discovered in my Canadian Oxford High School Dictionary the first definition of politics is "the art and science of government," I thought I might die laughing. I stopped though when I thought of abstract art which allows people to see the same thing differently; and of high school-type experiments in which political "scientists" who don't know what they are doing try different policies to see what will happen, the results invariably being an explosion, a lot of smoke, broken mirrors and the smell of rotten eggs. After this second thought I concluded the initial definition perfectly appropriate, as is the following: "activities concerned with the acquisition... of... power."

Getting back to the question at hand now, saying "politics" is "small" is like saying "love is blind." It can't be. Only people can be blinded by their expectations of love. Similarly, our politics can only acquire the size of our minds and they didn't become small at a particular time. So to answer Andrew's question, our politics became small over the same time we have increasingly confined our minds to the diminishing space of self-interest.

That time, relatively speaking, has been short. Not so long ago our ancestors knew instinctively if they didn't co-operate they would die. Now after a few hundred centuries of replacing instinct with "knowledge" it seems we would rather be dead than co-operate; and we are desperately trying to get our own way. Our insistence on seeing the same thing differently is killing the Mother who sustains life. Our experiments have filled the air with foul smelling smoke. Though temporarily repaired, under pressure to get as much as we can anyway we can our economic aneurysm continues to grow. To the lost wars on terror, drugs, poverty, crime and peace the Americans have added a war on health. Here at home the political parties that best represent our self-interests are planning the acquisition of power. Michael Ignatieff is lobbing political bombshells from a backwoods hideout. Stephen Harper, unaware there can be a right wing ideologue, wants a majority so he can "teach the leftwing ideologues" a lesson. The other three leaders are auditioning for the role of Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

Our minds and our politics can get smaller but further regression is not necessary to ensure we crash. It will just take longer. We could make our minds larger. If we did, politics would become unnecessary, we might be able to avoid the crash and I could die laughing. If our minds don't become larger no one will survive the crash. To borrow the analogy from the letter "All aboard," we are all on the same train and even if we wanted to we can't get off. When we do crash "gravy" will be meaningless.

Doug Barr

Whistler

www.thelastwhy.ca

 

BMX is coming

Many Pembertonians have no doubt noticed that the jumps adjacent to the pump track are no longer. The community spoke up about the importance of our dwindling amenities and the municipality has listened, and responded. Those jumps will not be back, but as a community we have an opportunity to build something bigger and better. We have all the tools to succeed, we just need your support.

The vision is a BMX track with separate beginner and intermediate dirt jump lines for those who just need to fly. The new park will be built by two of the best. Steve Petrie of Arena Snowparks and Marty Gautrey from the Blackcomb terrain park and Whistler bike park, are volunteering their time and expertise to design and build the new area.

We have municipal support, and donated machinery. All we need is you.

Here are some facts. BMX is an Olympic sport. It's a family sport that is alive and well in most towns south of Whistler. Most don't have the luxury of a bike park. What impressed me most about BMX is that everybody does it - moms, dads, girls and boys and big kids at heart. People travel all over to race and when they do, they bring their wallets.

BMX is like ski racing, it teaches the fundamentals of biking. Those who BMXas kids rip on bikes.

This facility is not something that is happening eventually; the time is now. Dirt will be moving within the week and shaping will start shortly thereafter. Once the machine work is done we need diggers. If you don't want to give up a family day bring them along. Many of the teens won't be reading this so if you hear the call, kick them out the door with a shovel.

I will try to post digging days at the grocery store, bike shop etc. Please show up with your shovel and help to create something great for this community. "Everything is possible at the price of an effort."

If you would like me to contact you via e-mail on digging days or anything else pertaining to this project drop me a line at pembertonbmx@hotmail.com. As well, if you are intrested learning more about the sport of BMX, www.ababmx.com is an excellent place to start. Thank-you in advance.

Darlene Douglas

Pemberton