Respect and responsibility in our parks
In this day and age, certainly human beings all need to be flexible and willing to adapt in order to "get along".
In response to the two letters in last week's Pique questioning the problems at our public parks, I feel compelled to make the following comments.
Firstly, it is not a case of the vocal minority having a detrimental effect on the "silent majority". In fact, the silent ones are the families at the park, many of whom are offended by the loud, obnoxious behaviour of the people who are openly drinking and drunk at the park.
Many people are afraid to speak up because of the offensiveness of these individuals. I spoke with and watched three families leave Rainbow Park in the course of 30 minutes on Aug. 4. Two families were visiting from out of town and were in disbelief at what they saw. I asked them to write council to provide more input for discussion on finding ways "to all just get along". Getting along is a two way street.
Secondly, when I read letters that ask the public to ignore and accept illegal behaviour in public places in broad daylight I personally have to question the values of that individual. There are many retorts to such a suggestion, but I save my energy to discuss the matter with those who are respectful of others and supportive of building a community that can be enjoyed by all.
Dawn Weberg-Titus
Whistler
This may come as some surprise to some of the Nita Lake opponents, but the primary strategy of the Nita Lake project group was to be completely open, transparent, honest and above board with what we are proposing.
Over the past two years we have made a very deliberate effort to communicate our intentions to the entire community and seek their input. People lead busy lives so this took some effort, but we succeeded. We took our project to the people on numerous occasions. We hosted public events, spoke with several community groups, invited ourselves for coffee, answered inquiries, conducted scientific polling, held focus groups, and publicly placed our development program in the media and directly in front of the people.
We participated in the community sustainability process. We sought out what values are important to Whistler residents. We asked for feedback. We listened very carefully. We responded and we made changes.
We went out of our way to be as thorough and complete as we could. We were pleasantly surprised with the high level of public participation provided by Whistler residents. The development program and associated amenities are very much community centred and reflect the wishes of Whistler residents. At all times we endeavoured to honour the public democratic process.
Nobody cast concerns that they had been left out or that they were somehow disenfranchised. The regrettable part of Ms. Goodall and Mr. Lambert’s opposition to the Nita Lake project is the timing. When opponents enter a well-publicized debate late in the process, strike out with emotion, and are quick to seek a legal recourse, they can cast a dark shadow over the "due process" that they too have some responsibility in seeing succeed.
In these circumstances, chaos can replace healthy dialogue as a method of deliberating on important matters. The use of words like "bribery" and "sweeteners" to describe the community amenities program insinuates that something was underhanded and crafted for personal gain at the expense of others. Nothing could be further from the truth in this instance.
It was not our intention to participate in an emotionally charged process of gathering names of supporters and notes to make a favourable impression on council. However, a misleading ad and poster campaign forced our hand. We asked those who supported our project to speak up. For the record (contrary to what Ms. Goodall reported), the official tally of submissions to council was 294 in support of Nita Lake and 117 were opposed.
Throughout the course of the planning process, Mr. Haibeck did hire a number of consultants to work with him on the Nita Lake project. Most of them are local Whistler residents who have a desire to see the community develop and succeed in the best manner possible. Their work reflects the sensitivity they have for good planning, a healthy environment and a prosperous economic outlook. Collectively, they set themselves a very high professional standard and are justifiably proud of results they have achieved. This was a team effort crafted with full public participation.
Whistler is a world-class resort. It is in the business of attracting tourists. Whistler is primarily known as a ski resort but a long-term goal has been to attract more visitors during the off winter seasons. Cruise ship passengers are a natural market in this regard. Over one million cruise ship passengers visit Vancouver each year. Cruise ship passengers love rail excursions. Whistler is tailor-made for them. It behooves us to capture a bigger share of that market.
Therefore it was distressing to see Ms. Goodall put down the cruise ship industry and describe it as being "tacky". Every town and city involved with the Alaska cruises loves what the industry has done for them. The only thing that is tacky at the moment is our current rail station. It is anything but a proper welcome for visitors coming to Whistler by rail. The new rail station/lodge will provide an attractive new gateway for these visitors.
We all want additional parkland and green space. Waterfront parks are very desirable. Various waterfront properties in Whistler, including the Jordan Lodge lands, have been offered to the municipality for park purposes over the years. Some of those lands have been purchased and some have not. The Jordan Lodge lands were not purchased or traded for park purposes. I am sure that given their druthers, the municipality would love to purchase every inch of waterfront land for park purposes. However, the reality of the situation is this is not possible. The Jordan Lodge lands have been privately held for 70-plus years and remain so today.
It may come as a surprise to some, but developers too have feelings. After expending a great deal of genuine effort to reach out to the Whistler community, we regret that the orderly consultation process was disrupted in the end by a small, emotionally-charged group of opponents who chose not to participate earlier as our planning process unfolded.
That said, we acknowledge that they have rights like everyone else. We remain neighbours and wish to move forward with a positive attitude toward all residents. On behalf of the entire Nita Lake development team, we wish to thank everyone for participating in our planning process. We think our project will make a very positive and worthwhile contribution to Whistler.
Peter V. Gordon
Director,
Community Relations
BBQ championships benefit kids
Well once again the community of Whistler and its guests have pulled through to make another important fundraising drive very successful. This past weekend saw the Canadian BBQ championships at Dusty’s and in conjunction with this event; Whistler Friends of B.C.’s Children’s Hospital raised funds for the province’s only pediatric specialty hospital.
Over the course of the weekend, our group sold S’mores, took donations, held air hockey and foosball tournaments, and sold "Official Taster" passes to the hundreds of people who flocked to see Canada’s best BBQer’s do there thing. In total $1,890.60 was raised over the weekend.
All monies from this event will go directly to the Intensive Care Unit of B.C.’s Children’s Hospital, a ward that treats thousands of B.C.’s sick and injured kids each year.
This enormous success would not have been achieved without the numerous volunteers who donated their precious time over a holiday weekend; all of whom we are unable to name here. However special thanks goes out to Paul Street, Kathy Monk, and Josh Kearns from Dusty’s for inviting us to take the opportunity to raise money for our cause. Thanks must also go out to the Blackcomb Glacier Shop and Kokanee for their donation of prizes for our tournaments, and again to Dusty’s for supplying the items that were sold in the "S’mores" buckets on Saturday night.
Thank you to all the residents and guests of Whistler that made our fundraiser such a success. This was our first event under the Whistler Friends of B.C.’s Children’s Hospital banner, but be sure to watch for more; our next one is planned for early winter.
Dave Clark
Whistler
Olympic housing opportunity
Re: Nita Lake development
Having followed this development with interest and since my last letter to you there are certain other comments I would like to make.
To me it is now pretty clear that the problematic Nita Lake Lodge was approved, on the balance, because of the gift of employee housing. The train station and commuter service has been persistently dangled as a further incentive, but few people really expect it to be commercial. And we also get 25 acres of sensitive wetlands held in a perpetual trust to guard against future development.
By the way, is swampland not the old fashioned term for sensitive wetlands? And what about the remaining 75 acres of swamp/wetlands?
So much has changed since our Olympic bid was a success. Everyone now knows that the Olympics will bring an end to the employee-housing crisis, at least in the long term. We will be building an Olympic Village for the athletes (site yet to be selected) that will subsequently be used as employee housing. Plus the whole Callaghan valley will also be available for us to develop for affordable housing as part of our Olympic Legacy, which is one of the only reasons I support the Olympics.
But we are told we still have a short-term and mid term-problem, though I sometimes wonder – there were 350 rooms for long term rent in this week’s Pique alone!
The short-term problem is going to exist anyway because of construction lead times. The answer to the mid-term problem lies in fast-tracking the building of the Olympic Village and making the affordable lots available as soon as possible to start building some employee housing there straight away.
Instead of approving the Nita Lake Lodge in return for employee housing that we may not need in the longer term, should we not be solving our employee-housing problem using the Olympic opportunity?
Wayne Bennett
Whistler
Who’s watching the water watchers?
I was walking past Tapley’s Pub last week where a gardner for the municipality was washing down the concrete bricks with a high powered hose, sending many litres of water down the steps onto Whistler Way. With the current concerns for water supplies in Greater Vancouver, are we devoid of such concerns or should we watch our water, too? I understand the RMOW enforces sprinkling restrictions throughout the community, but what about their usage?
V. Carrington
Whistler
The Whistler Public Library would like to thank all those that contributed to the success of our recent book sale that raised over $2,356. Thanks to the IGA, the Friends of the Library, the Rotary Club, and other volunteers, and to those that donated to the sale. A special thanks to Jane Reid and David Oakes.
Suzanne Thomas
Whistler Public Library
