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Letters to the Editor for the week of June 7th, 2012

Community voices heard
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It was with great pleasure and a sense of satisfaction that I read in the press release from Vancouver Coastal Health that orthopedic services in the Sea to Sky corridor will be expanded.

For many months following the announcement that Dr. Pat McConkey planned to retire early this year, members of the three Health Care Foundation boards, under the leadership of their Triboard committee, embarked on a campaign of lobbying and fundraising to do what they could to ensure much needed orthopedic services for the corridor would not be compromised.

Funds raised at the different Foundation events were designated for purchasing equipment necessary to expand the orthopedic surgical program.

Raising awareness within the corridor communities of the need for expanded services was also a goal of the Triboard.

Our voices joined those of the health care professionals, politicians and other stakeholders in making our needs known to the VCH administration. It is gratifying to know our voices were heard and that positive action has followed.

Thank you to VCH for listening and finding a way to meet our requests.

We look forward to "more seamless, timely and quality orthopedic care that will fit the needs of Sea to Sky residents and visitors," as promised by Wendy Hansson, Chief Operating Officer VCH-Coastal in the recent press release.

Marnie Simon, Chairperson Sea to Sky Health Care Foundations' Triboard

Pemberton

It takes a community!

With the 2012 Whistler Secondary Graduation Festivities drawing to a close, many of us are looking forward to the next chapter in our young adult's life.

The saying that our son's grandmother often used — it takes a community to raise a child — rings loud and clear to us at this time. On behalf of many parents that are celebrating their young adult's passage from high school to the next step in their life, I'd like to thank our wonderful community.

Thank you to our health care experts that guided us through 3:00 a.m. emergency room visits, broken bones and sore throats, to our neighbours that scolded our children for not watching for cars, to the loving child care heroes that have allowed parents to work outside the home, to the ski instructors that taught our children to be stronger skiers than us by age five, and then by 10 taught them compassion and consideration, and where the safest place to wait for us was (Denis and Norm, that's you!), to the Kindergarten teachers that taught them that the world does NOT revolve around them, to the amazing Science, English and French teachers that encouraged and believed in them, to the music, dance and art teachers that continue to inspire and motivate, to Michael Allen for teaching them to be so bear wise, to our school administrators that have shown our children patience and respect, to the employers that take a risk in hiring our children then teach them to be good employees, to the businesses that donate thousands of scholarship dollars and continue donating for our children's benefit, and lastly to the community sport organizations, that with mostly volunteer administrators and coaches work tirelessly to develop well rounded and often world-class athletes.

The list of successful youth raised in this community is long and impressive. Thank you Whistler for helping to raise our children!

Laura and Chris Wetaski

Whistler

Keep music lively and free

To the guy that wrote in last week chastising Whistler for putting on free concerts at the town's crown jewel of a $13 million stage — get your head checked (Pique May 31).

Firstly, live music is the only thing this town is doing right in turning the village's boring outdoor mall vibe into an actual great atmosphere people want to be part of and are surely to remember.

Live music is what brings people together, and has been the case since the dawn of humanity, to go on about it being a waste speaks volumes about your disconnect from reality.

I also don't appreciate your statement that local musicians are clamouring to play the stage for free. Just because we are local, does not mean we are worthless.

If you actually managed to make it out to any of the three jam nights a week, where we are surely to be found sweating away and polishing our crafts and acts you would know we are all worthy of earning money — if only to pay for the thousands of dollars in music gear we cycle through regularly.

It's bad enough we have promoters trying to pay us in "exposure," we don't need that sentiment to transfer over to the public. When it comes to music and entertainment, you get what you pay for.

And as far as your idea that the muni should get out of the way of promoters that know how to put on shows people are willing to pay to see —you are wrong, and I am basing that on the fact that many have come and gone and they have all wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years trying to do so, never to return.

Keep Whistler concert series lively and free.

Let's keep the visitors excited to share in a town's vibrant sense of a good time.

Mike FroMontreal

Whistler

Aiming at multi-day tripper

Tourism Whistler would like to respond to some of the comments made in last week's Maxed Out column (Pique May 31).

Tourism Whistler would like to clarify that our regional marketing strategy aims to drive room nights from the British Columbia market by changing the perception that Whistler can be "done in a day" and converting day-trippers to overnight stays.

Through this strategy, day visitors and one-night visitors are enticed to purchase a two-night stay, but are in fact rewarded with a third night free. The extended stay allows the visitor to experience the multitude of activities Whistler offers in the summer months.

We'd also like to note that there is no price mentioned in Tourism Whistler's promotion in question, which simply encourages guests to book by June 30 in order to obtain a third night of accommodation for free. The promotion, in fact, has nothing to do with discounting or attracting a price-sensitive market, but aims instead to drive business to the resort by converting what may have been a day-tripper or single-night visitor to a multiple-day visitor.

If Pique or our members would like further clarification on Tourism Whistler's marketing strategies, we would be pleased to speak to you in more detail.

Louise Walker, vice president marketing strategy, Tourism Whistler

A runaway success

I would like to acknowledge the incredible team of people who organized the 2nd Annual Whistler Half Marathon.

Dave Clark and his staff assembled another amazing event, which brought many people from across Canada to our beautiful community.

As a runner it brings tears to your eyes as you run through the neighbourhoods and familiar faces young and old cheer 1,000 runners as they push through mental and physical pain to accomplish the goal of 21 kilometres.

I would specifically like to acknowledge the incredible work of trainer Christine Suter. Her enthusiasm and passion to teach others to believe in themselves is inspiring. Our community is graced with many incredible leaders but Christine truly makes Whistler a better place. She assembled an incredible team of run leaders, such as John Blok, who is also one of the most humble and giving people I have ever met. If you have the pleasure to keep up with his fast paced running you will learn that he represents a generation of people in town who redefine age and inspire those around them to be better and stronger people.

Special thanks as well to Marie Anne Prevost, Brenda Baker, Ondrea Ross and Eileen Craig, a truly amazing group of women who encourage others to find their inner strength and to reach their potential.

Wishing all the volunteers, race directors, trainers and runners a well deserved rest after a very successful event.

Jackie Dickinson

Whistler

More about changing laws than budget?

I don't know how federal budgets tend to go, but my skim through the proposed Budget Act (Bill C-38) gave me the impression that this budget is (not much about) budget and mostly about changing laws.

It just doesn't seem right, and when I look at the changes to the various environmental acts, including how the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act is repealed and replaced with a whole new version, I can't help but feel that the whole system of budget-making is broken and being totally abused.

When I raised these concerns to our MP, John Weston, and a group of fellow citizens at John's town hall meeting in Lion's Bay last Friday (good on you John for doing these), I was told that we should be thankful that we live in a democracy.

That was a bit insulting, considering all the anti-democratic activity the Conservatives have and continue to demonstrate.

It would seem to me that we don't just have a situation of tyranny of the majority‚ where a majority of citizens exert its power on minorities in society, but a tyranny of the minority‚ given that the Conservatives have a false majority in parliament, i.e., less than 50 per cent of the popular vote, but more than half of the seats.

John talked about how he had to balance his party's interests with the interests of his constituents, and that if he went too far against his party he'd be shut out.

From the turnout and sentiment at the Lion's Bay town hall, though, it would seem that John is more interested in serving the man in Ottawa than his constituents. I don't know about others in Sea to Sky who are concerned about the budget, the pipelines, robocalls and everything else, but I think that John would exert more power and get more done in the grand scheme of things by representing us to Harper, not Harper to us.

Chris Joseph

Squamish

Time to grasp the opportunity

G.D., what's happened to you? It's a long time since I've read an article so timid and fearful (Maxed Out on "Post Secondary Thoughts," Pique May 24). Let me put a few ideas forward to balance the seesaw.

Beforehand, I must make it clear that I'm just as in love with Whistler as is G.D. And I mean the current Whistler, its look and feel, its boundless opportunities above and below the snowline, even its occasional (but thankfully few) infuriating foibles.

While we would all like Nirvana to persist unchanged, the world does not work this way. For instance, there are some who remember a different Whistler, maybe even before the name, and who feel that things have already gone too far — however this is defined. Nonetheless, Whistler moved on and for most of us it has already achieved even greater success.

Like all communities, Whistler faces challenges in the future and is presented from time to time with opportunities. Currently, even with its stunning successes, Whistler remains principally a one-horse town. We all owe a great deal to the former Intrawest and to Whistler Blackcomb Ltd.

In retrospect, the vision of the people involved in the creation of the mountain experience, as it now is, both summer and winter, is astonishing in the true sense of the word. The quality of the infrastructure and the service remains second to none — notwithstanding the tightening of purse strings and recent global financial challenges. We are indeed lucky.

But if Whistler Blackcomb sneezes, Whistler Village gets a seriously bad case of influenza. And we all know that Whistler has more beds than it needs, and more of just about everything (except skiing terrain, of course) other than in the peak weeks of the year. An opportunity to increase Whistler's baseload cannot be ignored. For this reason alone, an organization that is self-funding, has a year round requirement for goods and services and the wherewithal to pay for them, that is environmentally benign has the highest standard of intellectual integrity one is likely to find, sounds like a good place to start.

As to the "fit," I find it difficult to imagine a better match for Whistler's switched on and highly educated population. Whistlerites "get" tertiary education. Tertiary institutions are typically excellent corporate citizens. Their land is invariably handled with kid gloves. Tertiary campuses are nice places to be. And so are university towns. Just check the tourist numbers. It's precisely the sort of complementary development that we need. Immensely better than, for instance, asphalt plants — even small ones. G.D.'s 700lb (or rather 350kg) gorilla may be made of straw and weigh substantially less.

I simply don't agree that the size of the WhistlerU proposal in its final form will upset Whistler's balance. We regularly play host to somewhere between 20,000 and 40,000 people for months each year. Indeed, that is why we are here! An additional thousand or two is close to being lost in the noise when looked at from this perspective. And then in the dreaded shoulder seasons, when our total population may be closer to 10,000, we have the benefit of additional, ongoing business just when it is needed most.

And no one has yet mentioned the spin-off of additional tourist business from families, friends and business associates of the staff and students of WhistlerU. It would be better from an economic perspective to visualize WhistlerU as one more large resort development, but with the significant difference that it will be fully booked most of the time.

Financial failure. Come on! This sounds like a tactic guaranteed to put the frighteners on the community — a bit reminiscent of the credence sought by the pseudo-science of the global warming deniers. I'll leave it to the bean counters in the university that will be paying the bills to decide if their investment is secure. And I'm happy for the Muni to do the due diligence on our behalf. If the spectre of failure of Intrawest's investment in the then nascent resort had been hyped up at the time, maybe neither G.D. nor I would be here now. My youngest, a Whistler tragic in her late 20s currently studying post-grad in Australia, commented that the Whistler campus would be one of the most sought after in the universe. I suspect she is right.

I'll make a prediction that I hope one day in the future I'll be able to settle with G.D. retrospectively over a quiet ale: Whistler U will be a goer; it will grow a bit more slowly than the proponents currently envisage; we will agree that the development of site, its buildings and architecture are an asset to the town, including protection of the wetlands; it will be well patronized; apart from the occasional induction-week prank, the students have not had any noticeable effect; the business community got a small, but useful bump from it, and; Whistler is proud to have the university as part of its makeup.

My own straw poll, among resident retirees, local business people and skiers in general has yet to turn up someone who thinks it is a bad idea, so the reticence starting to appear comes as a surprise. Roll on the council meeting on June 19th. Let's get on with the due diligence then, all things being equal; let's grasp this opportunity with both hands.

Tony Hetherington

Whistler

Food Plus Closes

I can't help but feel nostalgic as I drive by the now closed Food Plus. It's the end of an era for Creekside. Remember the awesome deli they once had? It's the end of an era for me. I will miss getting my munchies from Scott, Steven and the other boys.

Thank you for the many years you served us!

Paloma Astiazaran

Whistler

We can do better

This spring we had the opportunity to visit some ski and seaside resorts in the Western U.S.A. — and I was impressed by the care and attention some of the resorts show to their surroundings.

On the way home, after a beautiful drive along the well re-constructed Howe Sound highway, and the incredible views of the Sea to Sky mountain scenery, we arrived back in Whistler.

I was shocked when I drove by Function Junction to the Whistler Village — what a messy picture: The sewer treatment plant in full view, an untidy turnout area with aging signage, no welcoming international flags or signage to recognize Whistler's 2010 Olympic venues, seven stoplights through the Whistler corridor instead of some roundabouts to speed up the traffic (the roundabouts are a reality, even on highways we saw many of them), weeds and bushes, and neglected trees sprouting all along the two-lane highway, ditches with rocks and garbage all along the way until the Village entrance, uncut grass and weeds just near the Village, and power and telephone lines crisscrossing the road.

What ever happened to all the underground pipes laid when the mostly three-lane highway was reconstructed? Remember?

I wondered if we are just so used to it. At least in wintertime most of it is covered with dirty snow.

What can we do not to look like some third-or fourth-rate country? Whose responsibility is it? The RMOW's, the department of highways, Tourism Whistler's?

Not only should our Village be a showcase, so should the approaches leading to and from it — they must reflect the quality of our resort.

So please think about it — send your improvement ideas to the RMOW.

I am certain we can do better.

Peter C. Alder

Whistler

Food Bank lessons

On Friday May 25, 2012 my class went to the Whistler Food Bank. It was great!

We got to see the place where people get food. I had no idea that there were so many people who needed the food bank. Did you know that there were 2,864 residents of Whistler that used the food bank last year?

Also, 22,161 pounds of food was donated to the food bank last year.

I think that people should donate regularly to the food bank.

When I am older I never want to have to use the food bank. I hope one day that no one has to use the food bank.

Did you know that many stores like the Great Glass Elevator donate candy to the food bank? A lot of stores donate food to the food bank. I wonder how many people use the food bank in a decade?

Samantha Deally, Grade 4

Spring Creek Community School

A Huge Thank You

A huge thank you to the guys in #16 who took quick action to call for help and start fighting the fire that engulfed my condo on Sunday evening.

They saved the life of my tenant's dog, which was trapped in the fire, and searched for and found her when she ran off.

Big thanks too to the fire department, police, and the strata manager; it could have been much worse without all your help.

I'm forever grateful.

Rose Lawrence

Whistler

Au revoir, merci et à bientôt!

Close to four years ago my family and I moved to Whistler to open the Scandinave Spa.

What an incredible adventure! The excitement of starting a new project, meeting new people and becoming part of such a dynamic community was so thrilling.

Very quickly the kids made new friends at L'Ecole La Passerelle and found out how special it was to be living in an Olympic town.

We became passionate about the mountains and skied and biked countless days with our new friends. The incredible outdoors, the numerous events and the vibrant art community kept us alive and curious. We loved the adventure we embarked on and still do!

Recently though a new adventure presented itself and I have accepted the position of vice-president marketing and sales at Tremblant Resort. At the end of July we will return to Mont-Tremblant, Québec and start a "new" life, as we have grown tremendously while living in Whistler.

It is with a heavy heart that we will be leaving this amazing place. We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who welcomed us with open arms and made us feel at home from day one.

We will cherish those memories for a lifetime and we will return for sure — otherwise our son will kill us!

Au revoir, merci et à bientôt!

Annique Aird

General Manager, Scandinave Spa Whistler