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Corporate cat out of the bag Question: How can one retail giant be less "Whistler" than another? Instead of allowing such a horrible store as the dreaded London Drugs to infiltrate our pure, uncorporate town, why don’t we see if some o

Corporate cat out of the bag

Question: How can one retail giant be less "Whistler" than another?

Instead of allowing such a horrible store as the dreaded London Drugs to infiltrate our pure, uncorporate town, why don’t we see if some of our local businesses will take over the Guess and Eddie Bauer stores? Maybe McDonald’s or Subway could make a go of the space. Or wait, we could always use another Starbucks or perhaps a 7-Eleven. If we really wanted to maintain the unique feel to Whistler we should see if KFC wants the space, or Domino’s, or the Gap, or A&W, or Pharmasave for that matter.

The corporate cat was let out of the bag long ago in Whistler so why all of a sudden is London Drugs the boogeyman? It seems strange that we voted yes to bring the Olympics and all the corporate advertising that entails to Whistler but we are having second thoughts about allowing a Canadian-run store to grace our town. How is getting reasonably priced supplies un-Whistler?

When council allowed McDonald’s to come to Whistler we gave up any right to complain about future corporatization in our town. Looks like corporate giants are the only ones who can afford to pay rent here anyway.

Tim Ellis

Pemberton

 

Keep visitors in mind

There are certainly many arguments to be made on both sides of the London Drugs controversy. The one thing, which cannot be debated however, is that there will be a significant increase of retail space in the core of the village.

As reported, London Drugs is proposing a 17,000 sq. ft. store of which only 4,000 sq. ft. will occupy existing commercial space. To put things in perspective, the additional 13,000 sq. ft. equates to adding 20 or so brand new average sized stores to the village.

There are only so many visitor dollars to go around and during these difficult times, one must question the wisdom of further expansion of commercial space. This would inevitably lead to more empty storefronts and undoubtedly have a negative effect on the visitor experience.

We are all blessed to live in this wonderful community and let us not forget who makes that possible.

David Campbell

Whistler

 

Sustainability indeed

I often joke about "the great things" of living in Whistler. I find bargain prices at Urban Fare and Granville Island. I think restaurant prices in Disneyland are reasonable. I don't flinch at the Hilton lounge prices when I travel; they use the same price list as my neighbourhood pub.

In that regard, I was pleased to hear that council is going to pay close attention to public opinion about the latest proposal to exclude London Drugs from Whistler Village. Going along with a blanket 5,000-square-foot size limit for any stores could well do Whistler more harm than good.

Our planners have forecasted a growth in both permanent residents and visitors over the next decade. This is a good thing, as we are in the tourism business. The proposed bylaw would restrict competition and disallow competitive businesses from opening in our community. Current businesses will not be able to expand to meet customer demand. No need to be successful!

Under the proposed bylaw, existing stores over 5,000 square feet would be grandfathered and have a monopoly. Many of these stores are operating well over capacity during peak periods. If we do not expand our retail facilities to meet forecasted demand, will we be providing a poor guest experience to go with our inflated prices?

Existing businesses over 5,000 square feet can expect massive lease increases as there will be no new supply and plenty of demand. Retail prices will rise. This is not caused by greed, but simple supply and demand economics. Is this the affordability strategy recommended by our Sustainability Plan?

Our family already spends considerable sums shopping outside of Whistler. While we would rather shop at home there are differences in pricing and selection that make it easy to justify shopping elsewhere. The proposed bylaw would guarantee higher prices, less selection and reduced competition.

None of this makes sense from a sustainability perspective. We would likely need a wider four-lane highway. Locals and tourists alike would be going south in ever greater numbers for their shopping needs. How many trees do we need to plant to justify the increased carbon emissions? Will an entrepreneur offer shopping charters from our new airport?

Sustainability indeed!

Jim Watts

Whistler

 

Something fishy

RE: Proposed municipal bylaw to limit the size of retail shops in Whistler village

On the shores of Discovery Passage this past long weekend, Richard, the fishing guide, took his knife and split open the belly of a freshly caught 18 lb Chinook. Inside lay several undigested herring. My father, James, later made a comment about the food chain. He smiled, expressing content knowing he had pulled in the big fish.

Is it so simple – survival of the fittest – big fish eat little fish, because if it is the free market it should bring the best for us.

Mike Fanning

InsideWhistler.ca

 

The pending building crisis

A couple of years ago at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Angus Reid gave a chat about what made Whistler successful. He identified a number of factors, including a common cause and purpose, socio economic diversity, business diversity, and the energy and culture of youth.

He also identified two major threats: housing and cynicism. We should heed Mr. Reid’s words. To avoid a prevailing attitude of cynicism, Whistler needs to get some housing projects started ASAP.

There are currently 500 people waitlisted to purchase employee housing. Building 30 units in Function Junction is an obvious choice; it fits the smart growth strategy of having people live close to work. Buses can certainly drive closer to the units, and if Function residents want groceries they can get them in town (Emerald residents do). Or an entrepreneur can open a convenience store. When I served as chair of the APC, there was unanimous support for housing in Function. I recall, "If it creates housing, let’s do it" as being the mantra.

The fact that the provincial government’s Human Resource Strategy describes the shortage of skilled labor as critical should also add to a greater sense of urgency to get housing construction underway quickly. This shortage of labor has the potential to grind construction projects to a snail’s pace. The painfully slow and behind schedule renovations in the village are one symptom of the problem.

Considering the amount of construction that needs to take place over the next five years (the sliding centre, Nordic centre, athletes village and the library), it is now more critical than ever that we begin building housing before it slips down the priority list of projects.

Ralph Forsyth

Whistler

 

Restaurants a sign of times

Re: Hooray for Restaurateurs, by Chris McKinney (Pique letters May 19)

My letter was about Tourism Whistler’s new tag line and the fact that Whistler is an expensive place to live. The facts I used came right from the Pique. I never implied Tourism Whistler has anything to do with the price of bicycles. I worked in the restaurant industry for over 16 years and in Whistler restaurants for seven years. The facts are that some restaurants do close down in the dead season and very few people receive full-time hours at this time. If you really cared about the restaurant workers you might try fighting for higher wages, as most servers are paid below minimum wage. The servers are forced to rely on their customers to supplement their low wages while the restaurateur tries to decide between the new Ferrari or the yacht.

As far as me only thinking about myself and whining. I can only say that all my letters are written in hopes of making positive changes in the community. I choose not to wear rose-coloured glasses and pretend every thing is super when in fact there are serious problems that need to be discussed. The fact that Whistler is pricing itself beyond the reach of the common man and that good people must leave to make a decent life for themselves is one of the most serious problems Whistler faces.

If you want to take your hard earned money you make at the restaurant and spend it on $100 meals, a new bike and golfing that’s your choice. I choose to eat my peanut butter sandwich, go Frisbee golfing and put the rest of my hard earned money in the bank as I plan for my inevitable move away from Whistler.

Tim Gorgichuk

Whistler

 

Time to educate members

Re: Bylaw to change TW board representation defeated by members (Pique, May 5, 2005)

As a board member of Tourism Whistler, I take issue with Diane Mombourquette’s comments about how board of director representation should be decided.

Ms. Mombourquette, a Tourism Whistler staff member, claims that a special resolution put to a vote at the board’s recent annual general meeting – which called for board of director representation to be based on whether a complex is managed by a single manager instead of by ownership – was actually supported by several representatives of about 3,000 Tourism Whistler members.

If that’s the case, then why wasn’t this resolution resoundingly passed instead of being defeated? In other words, why didn’t these people vote?

I agree with Ms. Mombourquette’s assertion that there may be some confusion among members about the proposed change to their representation. However, by announcing that the same resolution will be reintroduced at next year’s Tourism Whistler AGM, she is only adding more confusion to the mix.

Instead of jumping the gun and assuming there is great support for this resolution, I strongly recommend that staff work with its board of directors to properly educate our members about the details and possible ramifications of this special resolution.

It’s not as if we don’t have time for such an undertaking. Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the next AGM a year away?

James T. Allard

Hotel Lodging Director

The sound of business lost

Re: May long weekend

This is addressed not only to your readers but specifically to the members of council and Tourism Whistler. This past May long weekend proved to be just as bad as the previous two or three May long weekends. Where should I start? Obviously the ads in the local papers did nothing to stop the loud, vulgar, rude and sometimes hurtful behaviour of our less than mature crowd.

Once again, as a Whistler homeowner, I ventured up to Whistler with my family, including two young children, to enjoy our annual four-day holiday weekend. But who could enjoy themselves when, starting on the Friday evening, you have the younger crowds walking through the village as if they owned it. The loud, rude, vulgar behaviour of these people is truly putting a damper on the enjoyment of the families who like to come to Whistler. Listening to the comments of some of the visitors, with their children, that aired on the Global TV newscast on Saturday just proves once again that our local council and Tourism Whistler people have no clue how damaging the behaviour of this young crowd is to our beautiful resort.

I fail to understand how a small resort can attract such a bad crowd and there is nothing to stop them. Even with extra police they continue to do what they please. Tell me why they have the right to walk down from the Town Centre into the Marketplace area creating such noise and chaos that it literally wakes you up and keeps you up for hours at a time. I think that as homeowners and taxpayers, we need to stand up and make some noise ourselves.

Based on the comments I overheard from some of the family members on Monday afternoon, this will most likely be the last time they visit Whistler, especially with their children.

The police presence was next to nothing through the Village North area as these crowds passed through with such noise and blatant disregard for other people that it truly was difficult to enjoy a good night’s sleep. Why can't Whistler initiate a noise bylaw with fines to try and stop this? I can't believe that the financial bigwigs can't find it in their budget to have someone patrolling these areas late at night to stop the insanity. I really feel sorry for the people and families who want to come to Whistler to enjoy the good things that it can offer and only end up having to stay in their rooms with their kids so that they aren't subjected to the vulgarity of others.

Please homeowners and taxpayers, stand up and say something before it's too late.

Teresa deSousa

Surrey

 

Crosswalks work in Function

I would like to send a big Thank You to the Public Works staff who made the decision to paint crosswalks on both Alpha Lake Road and Millar Creek Road in Function Junction.

It's just like magic! Now we pedestrians are actually being noticed standing on the side of the road trying to cross the busy traffic. And courteous drivers are even stopping, something that rarely happened before. Usually we have to dash across between moving vehicles.

This is a great start to making the roads safer for workers in Function Junction. If it could be arranged, we would certainly appreciate sidewalks, even on just one side of the street.

Kathy Macalister

Bunbury & Associates

 

Airports need weather information

With all the contentious talk about airports, it seems like the horse is before the cart. Because when it comes to aircraft we have abysmal weather services in the Sea to Sky corridor.

Here is a list of problems in this area with regards to aviation:

1. No pressure data for Pemberton or Squamish: All aircraft require an altimeter setting for determining their height over the ground at each airport. Since pressure changes with height above sea level and from weather systems, an accurate report from any airport is extremely useful, especially in obscured visual conditions.

2. Trees in Whistler around the weather station: The heights of the trees affect the rain gauges. The guidelines on the Environment Canada website state, "The gauge MUST be remote from any object by a distance at least equal to the height of the object. However, the gauge should be located so that it is remote from each object in the area by a distance four times the height of the object."

3. Extremely inaccurate wind recording in Whistler: Not only has the wind vane been below tree level for the last 15 years, but now only instantaneous readings are taken of the wind due to the removal of the graph recorder at the Environment Canada weather plot.

4. Trees will also affect the temperature readings for Whistler. Too much shade will cause under reading of temperatures. Again, the Environment Canada website states "Remote from any tree or building etc., by a distance at least two times the height of the tree or building etc.; for example, the screen should be at least 20 m away from a tree which is 10 m high.".

5. The Whistler weather plot only records during the daytime. Therefore any changes that occur during the evening are left out

6. A METAR (Meteorological Aviation Report) is not available for Pemberton or Squamish, nor is a TAF (Terminal Aerodrome Forecast) available. Whistler does provide METARs, but they are of dubious quality due to the concerns above.

So what can be done to create a friendlier flying atmosphere for the pilots who use the valley?

How about repairing the equipment which is presently missing or broken in all the locations?

How about a manned weather plot in Pemberton? Could Environment Canada move Whistler’s station to Pemberton, and locate it at the airport?

Maybe move one of the four automated Environment Canada weather stations in Whistler to Pemberton, and allow public access, or tie it into Nav. Canada who administer aviation weather reports.

Before we consider planning an airport, we need the accurate information to make any decision about aviation in this area.

Mike Miller

Whistler