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Same old, same old, castles in the sky, cover girls too risque, radio news, Ashlu worries, and Boot kudos

User fee abusers So apparently our economic outlook is in free fall, the business community is looking for the parachutes, we elect a wholesale change in our council and we get the same old financial plan.

User fee abusers

So apparently our economic outlook is in free fall, the business community is looking for the parachutes, we elect a wholesale change in our council and we get the same old financial plan. No wonder it's so difficult to get any more than the same old crowd out to the polls. Even though this is the only chance we get every three or so years, supposedly to provide an input that can't be completely ignored.

When you see a document like this you really begin to wonder if we shouldn't be electing the administration and department heads instead of a group of councilors that are either being ignored or who apparently have succumbed to the mushroom treatment.

From the perspective of some of those who are trying to provide the activities that people actually come to Whistler for, the situation does indeed seem hopeless. That’s right, most people actually come to Whistler for the "activities". Specifically the "OUTDOOR NATURAL ACTIVITIES", yet not one of these words has ever made it into a "mission statement", a "vision" document, or any of the more ubiquitous "guiding principles" that are supposedly being used as a basis for the governance of this resort. The envious truth that is so hard to admit for everyone in the accommodation, restaurant and souvenir businesses, including all their support services, is that they are actually riding on the coattails of the "activity providers." After all if any or all of these other sectors were substantially reduced, would the rest of our resort actually suffer all that much?

However, if the selection and access-ability of the "activity providers" are substantially reduced then our guests will have substantially fewer reasons to come to Whistler and everyone suffers.

The possible exception is the municipal management who, coincidentally, would just have less work to do, less responsibility, and under the current system hardly any concerns regarding a personal loss of income or job security.

As a resort we must ensure our guests receive the best possible value for outdoor natural activities. These are the most memorable and comparable individual prices and are fundamental to the way our guests recall their experience in Whistler. The value of accommodations, meals, and souvenirs is far less important since the guest has usually accepted the accommodation prices before they arrive and for their other needs they have many choices to find a price range they are comfortable with. A bargain priced, or free, top quality activity, especially for regular participants of that activity, will overcome the value perceptions of many higher overall vacation bills.

We need to stop our municipal management from viewing "outdoor natural activity" participants as a cash source for them to impose taxes on.

Buried deep in the current Draft Five-Year Financial Plan, pages 5.6 & 5.7 describe a "Community Life Tracking Survey", a Feb. 2006 telephone survey of 700 residents and homeowners. There are several concerns with the methods of this survey that apparently asked: "Q.29, Which of the following ways to pay for RMOW service improvements do you prefer?" and "Q.30, If the municipality had a budget shortfall, how would you prefer it be accommodated?"

The obvious choice, to reduce municipal management, legal and consulting costs, was never offered to the survey participants as an option. However, the rather vague option of "Increase user fees and charges" was apparently widely supported and subsequently elaborated on extensively in the staff’s report.

What the municipal staff have completely ignored is the practically non-existent support for the option to "Increase taxes on tourists/tourist dependent businesses". I fail to see the difference between "taxes" and "user fees and charges" since they both refer to the same funds being taken out of our pockets and going into the same municipal coffers. Combining these responses the survey results actually indicate that support for increasing "taxes, user fees and charges" is on anything except tourists and tourist dependent businesses.

We can only hope that some of our councilors will dig out and compare the detailed responses to this interesting little survey and the two previous ones, rather than just relying on the staff’s conclusions that the results are just pretty much the same as before.

Chris Manuel

Whistler

Suck it up

Re: A local view (Pique Letters April 20)

First of all allow me to apologize for this being a week late in responding; it took me a few days to get my thoughts together after reading a letter to the editor a few weeks back by Ms Johnson. Who exactly does Ms Johnson think she is writing into the local editor to complain about the visitor who voiced their concerns about a number of things including feeling ripped off after hearing about local discounts at retailers and restaurants?

It is the mentality and self-centred thinking of Ms Johnson and others who feel they must prove others wrong and get the last word (unfortunately far too many in this community) that keep our visitors at bay and not wanting to come back. In case no one told you when you arrived, this is a Tourist Destination, and with that come tourists who are entitled to their own opinion and maybe at first glance don't understand the garbage containers. It is not your entitlement to react to a visitor in our town this way.

In the ’90s customer service thinking (something that is needed 110 per cent of the time in our community) was driven by a the statement "The customer is always right." Now, well into the new millennium, I can't help but think that the message to service providers, and locals is "Suck it up." Travellers’ expectations rise each and every year, and if we can't embrace that, and appreciate how they support our community then we will lose even the most loyal of Whistler visitors.

Ms Johnson, don't fool yourself, it doesn't matter what you do in this town, but one thing is for sure, without the tourists there would be no town, no jobs, no house for you to rent, and no paycheque for you to live from one to the other on. So you can take your "local view" and shove it, and just remember your S#*t stinks too!

Dave Clark

Whistler

‘We want Whistler to fail’

This is in regards to the letter, What happened to Whistler? (Pique letters April 13). Well I'll tell you what happened to Whistler. Intrawest bought it several years ago and has now out-priced anyone who would actually consider living here. And in return we are given a ski pass and told to suck it up, that we live in the best place in the world.

Well it is the most beautiful castle in the sky I have ever lived in, but that still makes it a total fantasy. With a population of 10,000 people that actually live here and 80,000 people who migrate through, this town is no better than a southern state living off of Mexican workers. I am a migrant worker. I came here because of an idea and I keep coming back because of this. But like a migrant worker, I can't afford to live here, I can't afford to eat here, and I can't even afford to play here anymore. A ski pass is all well and good, but like the right to vote, it doesn't put food on the table.

Now the tourists are starting to notice our apathy. I'm just going to come out and say what a lot of us are starting to think. We want Whistler to fail. There I said it. Like all revolutions that start with a single voice, here is mine. This place stinks. It is full of high-minded people with no grounding in reality.

This sustainability joke must end. This town is built on a garbage dump and it says a lot about this town. Having worked many a job in this town I have seen the true cost of operating a tourist economy, and that is garbage. This town pumps out tons and tons of garbage every hour, which we quietly ship out of town.

We spent millions of hours and dollars on lame meetings and absurd videos that assure the massive influx of migrant workers that there is a place for them. There isn't. Employee housing is a good idea but a reality no one is willing to deliver. Olympic spending has overshadowed utility spending and now everyone entering Whistler sees a sign informing people to boil their drinking water! Some world class resort. That sign has been up for ages. It is even no longer safe to swim in Alta Lake without getting itchy nuts, because the municipality will not provide sewage treatment options for the lakeside houses. Talk about a 'filthy' rich community.

Nowadays any foreign workers coming into this town can quickly see the lie we are all living and start wondering if maybe coming here was a mistake. Yes, no one greets each other on the Valley Trail anymore and the workers sure are looking surly lately. If you were living four to a room and eating Kraft Dinner and peanut butter sandwiches while having this high-handed nonsense forced on you about how wonderful it was to be here, you might become a little cynical too.

So yes, I want this place to fail. I want the snow to dry up and the tourists to stop coming. I could care less what "they" think of Whistler. I have to live here. I want affordable room and board. I want affordable lift tickets and a realistic outlook on the very environment I am living in. I keep coming back here for what Whistler used to be and not for the lies the Ra, Ra, Ra! The group of management robots keep shoving down my throat. Empty promises about a lifestyle that Whistler can no longer deliver.

Andrew Carrigan

Whistler

The cover girl needs to cover up

With every issue of the Pique Newsmagazine what I look forward to seeing the most, is the new creative cover. Hundreds of covers have come and gone showcasing local artists. The cover is not only unique to Pique Newsmagazine, it’s definitely its signature.

With the cover being one of Pique’s best trademarks, there should be more discretion taken with the content displayed. Pique is a family- and community- (including our children) friendly paper, is it not? Considering the paper advertises high school plays and highlight’s children’s upcoming events, Pique editors should be very aware of who reads its paper.

Last week’s cover is mainly the point of my concern.

The silhouette of the naked pole dancer (nipples and all) was highly offensive to my eyes and surely not something that I want to explain to my children as to who or what this woman on the cover is doing. I cast no judgments on how some people want to make a living or how some people want to spend their spare time, but this community of children do not need this kind of erotica printed and put on every corner stand.

I have been a Pique patron for many years and I hope many years to come.

I am proud of the work of the feature artists and the efforts it takes to put such a great paper together, but let’s step it up a notch and keep it rated PG.

Emily Ng

Whistler

Radio clarification

Thanks to The Question and Pique Newsmagazine for their interest in this community project (Radio days ahead, Pique April 27). The Mountain Culture Collective Radio Society would like to clarify a few points from last week’s articles.

From Pique:

• We will broadcast during our Developmental Phase: three days a week, 24 hours a day. The rest of the week from 6 a.m. to midnight.

• Our four nights of different musical genre programming will be Monday Night Rock ’n’ Roll, Tuesday Night Jazz, Wednesday Night World Beat, Thursday Night Reggae.

• The Friday Night Drive Show: attention paid to the flow of incoming traffic will keep Drivin’ Music playing ‘til the northbound rush is over. Then we segue into a Dinner Set for those chillin’ at home, forgoing the village ‘til later. The PG rating comes on as we get sassy towards midnight.

• Kid’s Radio will be Sundays, featuring local experience from our youth, and from both visiting and resident musicians and athletes.

• Homie’s Hour of Fromage will be hosted from our ‘welcoming kitchen’; perhaps the only radio sound stage in a culinary setting. We look forward to hosting our local food wizards. Paul Charron has expressed interest in liasing with his contemporaries. Our board member Bruce Stewart suggested a show based on his strong selection of basic, healthy and easy meals, designed to educate young folk and beginners in the kitchen.

From The Question:

• Spoken word content for a Type B Community Radio Station is mandated to be 25 per cent. We have asked the CRTC to include, the normally excluded, sports and entertainment reporting in the 25 per cent as "Whistler is a town based on ‘sporting endeavours’ and as the only Resort Municipality in Canada, entertainment is the purpose of our community."

• Being a non-profit organization means we must spend our profit each year. Show sponsorship will come from national, international and local companies. We will also make available traditional advertising spots, our goal being to keep these spots to a minimum through connecting sponsors to appropriate shows and time of day programming. Addition funding will be raised through memberships as mandated by CRTC regulations.

• We have moved our Behind the Grind copy of the CRTC application to our friends at Esquires. Thanks to: Alpine Café, Amsterdam Café, Blackcomb Barber Shop at Nesters, Citta’ Bistro, Java at Nesters and the South Side Dinner for making the application available for public viewing.

Programming Hi-lights are available on request: 604-985-4376. All programming ideas are subject to change based on volunteer (your) input. To those of you already thinking of show ideas; musically, as the Program Director, please consider me ignorant of your favourite genre. I look forward to you educating and inspiring me.

(Thanks to Misters Beaudry, Perry, the W1 crew and Mr. Forseth.)

During the TWSSF "Words and Stories" event, Jim McConkey, our own Ace and Stephen Vogler brought our lifestyle and heritage alive. Ivan E. Coyote her smile growing, eyes wide from being told of our plan to re-invent the Radio Play. "We have to talk," she said. (Check her online) Hearing the stories of our fellows/fellowettes and forbears breathed life into a dream of creating aural representations of our crazy adventures. Documentation if you will, Whistler style. All native, Funk and Flash.

P.S. Uncle Larry has a collection of every band with a CD that played Buffalo Bill’s during his tenure. Just imagine.

Come y’all, come y’all, let us open the vaults lay bare the cache, amuse ourselves and share it with the World.

Scott Kittleson

Whistler

So much for democracy

Last week the provincial government introduced Bill 30. You could call it the Ashlu Bill, an amendment to the B.C. Utilities Act.

The people of our region, from Pemberton to Squamish and beyond, exercised their democratic rights in a long public process in 2004-05 through what seemed like endless meetings, which concluded in January 2005 with the public overwhelmingly denying Ledcor the zoning to put a private power house and river diversion in place on the Ashlu. Obviously Ledcor worked in the halls of our government in Victoria, where Bill 30 was born a week ago.

IPPBC is run by Ledcor. They have a lot of these river applications in their pockets under different names. No matter what we said during the Ashlu process Ledcor had a report written, third party of course, saying the opposite. They have limitless cash. Their money shows up all over the place around these private river deals. They say they have gone through all the government red tape. What they said in the closed-door process and what they said to the provincial government to get them to enact Bill 30 is anybody's guess.

In closing I'd like to thank the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District board for issuing broad condemnation of the provincial government’s Bill 30, as did Squamish and Whistler councils. Our national anthem contains the words, "We stand on guard for thee". The Ashlu experience taught the people who learned the details of the water license program to guard against transferring our rivers of endless energy to private hands. Just imagine a kid asking in 2050: Why did you transfer the rivers away?

Tom Rankin

20 Mile Ranch

Memories to Boot

Thanks to the Boot management and the authorities for letting us bend some rules and close the joint down in the manner in which it deserved – full on!

Friday’s performance by the Beer Band and the vibe in the crowd was epic. Saturday’s event was well organized by many volunteers. It was wonderful to bump into old friends and share stories. The bands were great and it was nice to let my kids experience a piece of Whistler’s history.

It’s reassuring to know the one thing they can never tear down is the ability for this town to throw a successful party! The significance of it all has barely sunk in. I was having too much fun to be sad about its closing. Thanks for so many years of good times and for leaving me with fond memories.

Mike Roger

Birken/Whistler

Soccer players pitch in

Why don't Whistler owners and tenants take more pride in the cleanliness of their properties?

In the course of supervising our Youth Soccer Club members participating in the Community Pitch-In Day this past weekend, I was astounded by the amount of garbage littering the properties in the Creekside area.

Our well-heeled visitors emerging from the train station soon and making their way along Lake Placid Road to Franz's Trail will indeed be awed by their first impressions of Whistler, and not for the right reasons!

To the soccer kids' great credit in the driving rain, they extended their litter pick-up past the road and onto private property; the vacant lot next to NSCU's planned new building generated two garbage bags worth of plunder.

Let's all "Pitch-In" and keep Whistler attractive!

Peter Shrimpton

Whistler Youth Soccer Club