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The missing legacy… Dear Community Members: The fate of our community’s support for the 2010 Olympic Bid will be decided Monday night by Council.

The missing legacy…

Dear Community Members:

The fate of our community’s support for the 2010 Olympic Bid will be decided Monday night by Council. The Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation has been working to ensure that what is presented to the International Olympic Committee is the best scenario for all people involved: the athletes, the host communities, the host country and all those people who are touched by the Games.

There is one aspect of an Olympic Games – Winter, Summer or Paralympic – that seems to have escaped the media and vocal community members so far in this bid process: It is a benefit that extends far beyond those directly involved in an Olympic event and it impacts people in a way that no other event can.

When I was seven years old, I was beginning what was to be a lengthy competitive gymnastics career and at the time I had no real understanding of what that meant. This was at about the same time that I learned what participation at an international level could mean and how I could shape my dreams and goals. It was at that point that I was touched by the Olympic spirit in the form of an Olympian who came to teach proper running technique to me and my gymnastics team-mates.

I was given the opportunity to understand what kind of a person I could become through sport and international competition. A person who works hard, strives for what I believe in, believes in fairness, is gracious and supportive, recognizes the efforts of those around me and the challenges that each of us must endure. I was given a role model who possessed these traits and who had succeeded by being true to herself. This role model is what the Olympic dream is about. It is the by-product of an Olympic Games and is in fact, the basis of Olympism.

I never achieved Olympic level competition although I did benefit from the path towards it. Not reaching the summit does not stop my desire to have this experience/path touch others and benefit my community. I carry with me everyday the characteristics that were shown to me as a child and that affect everything I do. And it only took half an hour with somebody who exemplified similar traits.

Having attended the Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games, I was struck by the overwhelming positive feelings within the host communities. Never have I seen a friendlier place that a host city during a multi-sport games. I was able to stay with a local family during my time in Salt Lake and discuss with them at length the emotions and economics that the residents experienced during the bid process, organization and actual event. I maintain contact with this family and they continue to tell me that it was the greatest experience of their lives and they are so happy that their children could be a part of it. They learned about people from around the world and I believe, they are now all touched by that spirit and live "Olympism".

In a society that is focused on making money, it is nice to know that there are some things that can be as pure as the true meaning of the Games; something to which no financial value can be attached.

I encourage those of you who wish to benefit from the three pillars of the Olympic movement – culture, sport and the environment – to encourage our Municipal Council to vote to support the Vancouver 2010 Bid. We can live daily by the Olympic creed created by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Games:

"The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

Sincerely,

Karen Allison

Whistler

Beavers love the water

Thank you Tim Malone of Whistler Outdoor Experience from the Whistler Beavers. We all had a great time.

The Whistler Beavers

Highway to hell

Language is a powerful means of communicating ideas. Unfortunately, it can also be misused to mold public opinion and derail rational reflection. The "communicators" of the Ministry of Transportation have become excellent manipulators of words.

Citizens with "rights", are labeled "stakeholders", the space in which we live is referred to as a "corridor", economic intentions and political goals have been concealed behind the mask of "safety", and the legitimate concerns and long range needs of human community, environmental stability and natural beauty, are obfuscated by talk of time saved and cost efficiency.

The most recently proposed "preferred option" for "improvements" on the Sea-to-Sky highway – labeled "context-sensitive" – now includes a mixture of changing lanes from 4 to 2 to 3 to 4 and back to 3: potentially far more dangerous than the present roadway or any previously envisioned "upgrade".

As a resident of Lion's Bay, I find the proposed extension of 4 lanes through the heart of the village particularly ill conceived.

The village is narrowly perched on mountain slopes with the highway running directly through its entire length. The resulting levels of toxic fumes, noise and casualties is already excessive.

To add additional lanes will only increase the adverse effects of these scourges. Not only will the danger of getting on and off the highway be heightened, but a projected shift to just 2 lanes at the northern boundary of the village will lead to the sudden acceleration and breaking of vehicles – particularly diesel buses and trucks – as drivers jockey for position. This assures more chances for mayhem, injury and death.

An alternative route, we are told, is eventually inevitable. Build it now. In the long run it will not only save money, but solve the concerns voiced by the people who live along the Sea-to-Sky highway and are dependent upon it.

Lawrence W Denef

Lion’s Bay

 

Do TA process right – start over

At the public information meeting of October 5 on TA property business licensing, Bill Barratt made it clear that the meeting would not permit a discussion or debate of the background of the TA issue in any way. The meeting would only discuss his proposal to licence all TA property owners.

It is now time for Whistler to commence a complete objective review process of the whole issue of short-terms rentals, by those who are not currently zoned or permitted to do so. The current short-term rental policies are going from bad to worse quickly. The circumstances and dynamics have vastly changed over the past six years, and everything needs to be reassessed in light of that reality.

When the new Council is elected, it should put a hold on the adversarial lawsuit approach, which has been a dismal failure. It should then start in the Spring to undertake a structured and professional method of looking at the total picture of Whistler's current and future short-term rental needs.

In order to remove the process from bureaucratic or political influences, it should ask a neutral committee, such as the Whistler advisory planning commission, to develop a public hearing process and invite input from all those affected, and eventually end up with a range of options and the pros and cons of the various options. Every property owner should be invited to be involved – especially the 80% of property owners who don't live full-time in Whistler, but who contribute 80% of the residential property tax base, and who have been left in the dark about policy changes that impact on them.

Up to now, that whole second property owner segment has been ignored in the Whistler policy approaches, as all property owners have not been notified in writing by Whistler about any policy suggestions or changes. This non-communication approach has to change and immediately. Whistler's local, national and international reputation and credibility is at stake, unless fundamental systemic, public involvement and feedback, and communicative changes are made.

Duane Scofield

Vancouver and Whistler

 

Thanks from Solterra School Society

We wish to thank the generous supporters and amazing volunteers who helped an idea become a society and a future school.

The yard sale and raffle were both very successful. Special thanks to The Herbal Emporium, The Spirit Circle, Pemberton Public Library, Pemberton Valley Vineyard and Inn, the Pemberton Valley Supermarket, The Spa at The Chateau Whistler, and the Pony Espresso.

We began our fall program officially this October with a parent-tot drop-in to meet the needs of a growing community and to exchange information.

If you would like to join us or hear more about this Waldorf —inspired independent school in Pemberton area, please call 604-894-5300.

Cathy Power

Sarinda Hoilett

Lesley Becker

SolTerra School Society

 

Australia in mourning

As an Aussie who lives in Whistler part-time, and due to arrive 'home' soon, I feel it's important to relate the real severity of the Bali terrorist attack on the Australian community.

In typical style, US press is making vague references to foreign tourists. The reality is, of the 300-plus dead, injured and missing, around 80 per cent are Australian.

There is widespread speculation that Australians were specifically targeted, although that can't be proven. News here is totally dominated by the event and we are expecting a final death toll of around 200.

Many thousands of young Aussies, of exactly the calibre who flock to Whistler on an annual basis, were holidaying in Bali – especially sporting teams who were taking an end of season celebratory holiday. Young, vibrant beautiful people, those who have survived bear the most horrific scars imaginable, both physical and emotional.

The stories emerging from this tragedy are gut-wrenching.

One year, one month and one day after the attacks on the World Trade Centre, Australians suffered our own September 11. And we thought it could never happen to us.

Sandy Yates

Sydney, Australia