The kindness of strangers
Thank you to the gentleman who stopped in his truck to see if my daughter was OK when she fell off her bike on the Valley Trail that runs by the highway just before Emerald on Saturday, Aug. 20th. She sustained a badly skinned knee and various other bumps and bruises but is still in one piece and is alternating between milking the scrape for sympathy and grossing people out with it.
Your concern was much appreciated and I thank you for your kindness!
Melanie Trotto
Whistler
Thanks for going Slow
The organizers of Slow Food Cycle Sunday wish to extend a huge and heartfelt thank you to all the participants, vendors, farm host, and volunteers who made this event such a success. Amazingly, we welcomed almost 400 cyclists!
Thanks as well to all the drivers on the Meadows Road that day for their patience. Conditions were perfect – a sunny, warm morning, and a tail wind in the afternoon to help everyone home. Thank you for helping us celebrate farmland and food in the Pemberton Meadows. See you next year!
Lisa Richardson and Anna Helmer
Pemberton
Low-life bike theives
To the low-life scum who stole my son's mountain bike:
On Saturday, July 30th, my son and several of his friends had their mountain bikes stolen. These boys did not leave their bikes unattended, in fact, they were triple locked and placed in the hotel's "secure" bike storage room. Whoever these creeps are, they know exactly what to look for... high end bikes... expensive bikes... my son's dream bike... a bike he saved two summers for (working an honest job, unlike you scum who have probably never worked an honest day in your lives).
Thanks for ruining these boys’ summers, and thanks for making a group of great guys just that much more cynical. I guess when they can afford to replace their bikes they may think twice about biking in Wonderful Whistler!
Hopefully the people who stole these bikes are able to read!
Peggy Norris-Jones
North Vancouver
Holborn community minded
In May of this year I wrote a letter to the editor titled "Dine and dash development" in regard to the Whistler tennis facility. Since then there has been a lot of effort made by the community and the Holborn Group to fully understand the needs, benefits, and obligations of a Whistler-class facility. The Holborn Group has needed help in understanding Whistler. It is encouraging to see staff, council, community members and the developer working through the preliminary stages of the re-zoning process.
It was suggested to the Holborn Group, at the contentious meeting held at the Coast Hotel, that the first thing they could do to show that they were community minded developers was to give Peter Schelling and Marjorie Blackwood, the tennis pros at the alub, a workable contract. This statement was greeted with spontaneous applause and a standing ovation which lasted for several minutes. I hear that Holborn is taking steps to retain Peter Schelling and Marjorie Blackwood and that there are some encouraging recommendations in the consultant’s report with regard to the Whistler tennis facility. The report will be presented to council on Sept. 6. I look forward to good news regarding our much loved tennis pros and further evidence that the Holborn Group are community minded developers.
Stuart Munro
Whistler
What about our commitment?
I think it is a shame to neglect our unique commitment of hosting a "compact games" for the 2010 Paralympics. It has been my understanding for years that Lots1/9 would be the site of a hockey arena. I always thought it to be a great idea, and that comes from someone who doesn't even play hockey. After some heated debate and weighing the pros and cons I still think it is a great legacy to build a multi-facetted sport complex that can house the Paralympic sledge hockey venue right in the village. That's just my 2 cents worth, spend it how you want.
Tyler Mosher BDEP
Whistler Adaptive Sports Program board member
Canadian 2010 National Development Team for Disabled XC-Skiing & Biathlon
Municipal hall review needed
I am concerned about the current bureaucratic and political state of limbo. Instability is certainly not healthy for the community or its international reputation and confidence. With the premier sports event of the world being hosted in less than five years time, Whistler needs to get its organizational and leadership house in order quickly. Otherwise, its public image could be seriously compromised.
Here is what I would recommend:
A comprehensive external review of city hall is necessary, along with recommendations for practical and specific changes and timelines. This is a normal, prudent, professional process – especially during times of change and increasing demands and expectations. More complex interactions with the public and other stakeholders are also expected. It should include an operational, administrative and organizational review. It should also include a review of leadership, competence, personnel suitability, internal and public accountability, staff morale, communication, internal dynamics, and corporate culture.
There should be wide terms of reference for the external review by a consulting firm with expertise in this area. This should include confidential interviews with current and past staff to encourage candid dialogue, and input from the public and other stakeholders on how city hall could be improved. The public should have an opportunity to provide written and oral input to the consultant – in confidence if need be. People need to feel confident that there would be no risk of retribution.
There should also be a review of the corporate governance model between council and staff. A model was submitted several months ago to council. This was prepared under the direction of the outgoing mayor and the former administrator and recommended by them. The model could work for their styles of operation, but that is academic now. Any recommendations for changes in the bureaucracy should be integrated with a fresh look at the governance model.
Any decision about a new administrator should await the final report and recommendations of the consultant, as this could impact on the qualities and skills selection of administrator. The new administrator should know in advance the context of any new administrative and organizational framework.
The selection of any administrator should await the new council, as they will have to live with the outcome of that decision. Implementing the recommendations of the outside consultant should await the new council for the same reason.
Richard Morwick
Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Speak up for slow food
Glenda Bartosh makes a case for slow food as a tourist draw and one step in the recovery of Whistler’s numbers. It is stated that she once spent three hours over a six-course meal.
I too once enjoyed a multi-course meal over probably four hours. Such lengthy meals can be the result of slow service and dreadful or can be a memorable occasion. What makes such a meal enjoyable apart from good food is good conversation.
My meal was at a nondescript restaurant in a converted wartime building on the Gaspe coast. We sat at a 10’ to 12’ table and while there were often several conversations going on, occasionally the whole table joined in on the point being discussed. It was a lively and diverse discussion that ranged over a whole raft of subjects. It more than anything made the evening.
My point to this is, such a conversation would not be possible in most of Whistler’s restaurants. For some reason the level of music is such in most that you have to shout to even talk to your adjacent neighbour. While this may make for quick stepping waiters/waitresses it leaves me cold. As a result, my wife and I no longer go to Whistler for supper unless it is a very special occasion and we opt for one of a few expensive places. I’m sure that I am not the only one to find the level of noise disagreeable and would like to be able to speak to my dinner companion in a normal tone of voice.
If slow and enjoyable is to be the coming thing then quieter locations will have to be pursued as well.
David Midgley
Pemberton
Complete review of city hall needed
The current situation vis-à-vis the backroom dealings, and associated lack of communication and public involvement in relation to the Paralympic sledge hockey arena, is not an isolated event. Rather, it is a symptom of a much deeper and very serious systemic problem within the bureaucracy at city hall in Whistler.
In the democratic model, the bureaucracy as "public servants," attends to the needs and wishes of the constituents (citizens, taxpayers), in a respectful, objective, professional, positive, and solution-driven fashion. The senior members of the bureaucracy should set the standard of leadership for a high degree of internal and public accountability for the conduct, actions, attitude, and judgment of all municipal staff.
Unfortunately, in my view, the current bureaucratic process in city hall has become so self-serving, biased, and autonomous, that the tail is wagging more than the dog. The problem has grown so large and endemic, that the tail is literally wagging the equivalent of an elephant.
In my observation, there is little or no accountability of public servants within city hall, with all the negative implications that the dynamic entails to the citizens, taxpayers, business owners, and the general public. As a consequence, there is a serious loss of public confidence in, and respect for, the actions of certain public servants, based on feedback that I have received from many people. There are many, many, excellent, professional, and dedicated public servants. Most employees want to work in an environment of leadership that exhibits high and consistent moral standards of ethics, integrity, fairness, and respect for the public, and public process of meaningful involvement. It is de-motivating and stressful to the morale of many employees if the perception is that this style of top-down leadership is lacking.
By means of context, I should mention that I have recently accepted an early retirement package this spring to become an independent consultant. I was a resident of Whistler for 35 years and employee of city hall for 24 years, most recently as Manager of Building Services. My tenure in city hall gave me the opportunity to develop a unique perspective, both as a bureaucrat and taxpayer.
If the situation with the bureaucracy of city hall is as bad as I perceive it to be, simply replacing the mayor and/or administrator or both, will not solve the problem.
What is needed is a very thorough and completely independent investigation and review of the inner workings of city hall by a highly qualified consultant. Input should be invited from the public and former and current public servants – in confidence if requested. The report, findings, and recommendations should first go to council, and then made available to those who pay the bills in Whistler – the taxpayers. No decision about a new administrator should take place until this above process is complete, for obvious reasons.
In my opinion, a complete administrative and organizational review of city hall is urgently needed, in the best interests of the community at large, and those who have dealings with Whistler.
David MacPhail
Sechelt, B.C.
Literacy makes a difference
September 8 is International Literacy Day – a day we celebrate because literacy is at the very root of creating strong nations.
Attaining literacy worldwide remains a huge challenge. More than 100 million children have no access to school. This is equivalent to all the primary school children in Europe and North America combined. And 875 million adults, most of them women, cannot read or write. Families with illiterate mothers are generally larger, have poorer nutrition, poorer health and poorer education levels.
There is hope, however. Collective efforts to improve literacy rates have brought about change, especially for women and girls. UNESCO statistics show that in 1969, the year humans took the first step on the moon, four out of five women in Africa could not read or write. Today that percentage has been halved. Almost 80 per cent of the world's population aged 15 years and over is now literate, including more women than ever before. And in just five years, the world population's illiteracy rate has fallen from 22.4 to 20.3 per cent. If current trends continue, by 2010 the rate should be 16.5 per cent.
The disparity between male and female literacy rates is greatest in Africa. CODE's programs there are striving to break down the obstacles to girls becoming readers. Sometimes all it takes are small thoughtful actions. For example, in Ethiopia libraries are adjusting their hours to accommodate the busy schedules of women and girls. In Tanzania, women teachers – who know local customs and can write from the female viewpoint – are learning to write books for children. And in Senegal, both boys and girls are expected to do chores at school now, giving the girls as much free time to enjoy the library as the boys.
This year, UNESCO's International Reading Association Literacy Prizewinner – for particularly effective contributions to literacy – is CODE's partner in Mozambique, Associação Progresso. CODE has worked with Progresso since 1990. A non-governmental organization, Progresso emphasizes local culture and languages in all its learning materials.
Teachers and students across Canada know about Progresso. Around each Valentine's Day, schools devote many hours to CODE's Project Love, putting together packages of pencils, erasers, rulers and notebooks for children in developing countries. Last year they made up 61,255 kits and filled 641 teacher boxes that were distributed by Progresso to Mozambican schools.
Sometimes donors will ask if literacy programs really have an impact in developing countries. They want to know if their donations – which help CODE ship a half million books a year to the developing world as well as supporting local publishing – actually help children learn to read and write, and if literacy can really help people break out of poverty.
The answer is that literacy changes lives – for the better. Reading and writing isn't a luxury. It's a weapon against poverty, hunger and disease. And, as we celebrate International Literacy Day, it's time for Canadians to answer the call for action and support literacy ventures such as Project Love (www.codecan.org), their local libraries, and the worldwide Make Poverty History Campaign ( www.makepovertyhistory.ca) .
Yvonne Appiah
Executive Director, CODE
Ottawa
Prevention must be the goal
It was with extreme distress and considerable anger that SECS (Squamish Environment Conservation Society) learned of the contamination and resulting major fish kill of the Cheakamus River on Aug. 5th 2005. Enormous effort has been expended by countless volunteers and professionals, governments, not-for-profits, and businesses, over many years, to increase the already severely diminished fish resources in the Cheakamus river system. It is heartbreaking to see all that work and care ruined, probably for many years.
The fish stocks directly or indirectly support important aboriginal and sport fisheries as well as numerous tourism operations. The fish support significant bald eagle populations, they nourish the adjacent floodplain forest, not to mention countless other birds and mammals, to say nothing of the insect and amphibian populations along the river. Fish are a critical part of floodplain ecology. It is hard to wrap one’s mind around the implications of this spill – which will only become evident over time; but, it could have been worse, it might have been a petrochemical product which would persist in the environment for years – perhaps next time it will be worse.
CN has offered to fund restoration efforts and pay compensation to those affected by the incident. But band-aid efforts at restoration and mitigation after an environmental disaster do not go far enough. We need to see a fundamental shift in values so that environmental sustainability becomes a core value which directs the decisions and actions of business, government and citizens.
The movement of goods and people by rail, in general, is more environmentally friendly than the alternatives; however, it is imperative that everything be done to minimize, if not eliminate, train derailments and their devastating consequences.
SECS would like to see the Transportation Departments review and regulate: tank car construction standards, train length, speed, marshaling configurations so as to minimize the possibility of a repeat performance and to minimize the damage when such an event happens again, because it will happen again, whether through negligence, poor management decisions, or natural causes.
SECS would like to see a progressive penalty system for transportation operators, similar to the safe driver insurance programs. While we understand that CN will be involved in the river recovery plan for the Cheakamus, it is important that the cost is not simply written down as the "cost of doing business" but becomes a progressive, significant deterrent for environmentally irresponsible management decisions and an example to other business operators. (The $250,000 offered for restoration of the Cheakamus – less than the cost of a house in Squamish – for a corporation that reported revenues for 2004 in excess of $6.5 billion is totally and absolutely inadequate.) The issue of timely emergency contact for people using and living along the river must be addressed. However, we can’t forget that the animals and the ecological system will not benefit by improved emergency notification. Prevention must be the goal, because, one spill is one too many.
Meg Fellowes
President, Squamish Environment Conservation Society
Share the road
I would like to shed a little light on a subject which concerns most people in our beautiful resort of Whistler: road biking. Whistler is a place where the outdoors is shared with many different people and many ways of transportation. In the last few years the traffic on the highway has increased. I have also noticed an increase of road biking, a sport we should promote as well.
I drive and ride; let me share the perspective of a rider. We all know how annoying it is when those bikers are riding on the left side of the white line, when it’s obvious to drivers that there’s a nice wide shoulder on the right of that line that bikers could use and be safer without interfering with traffic. So why are bikers not using the shoulder? There are a couple of reasons:
No. 1: If the biker is far to the right, most cars will get even closer, especially in corners. If the bike is on the white line or to the left of the line, it becomes more of an obstacle and forces traffic to slow down and move away from the bike.
No. 2: Road bikes have very skinny tires, any debris those tires may hit can potentially cause a flat tire. Those nice shoulders on the right side of the white line are full of debris. In order to avoid flat tires bikers try to ride where there is no debris, on the white line or close to it.
The pavement conditions on the shoulders aren’t always the best (holes, cracks, gravel) especially in those tight corners.
So, who is supposed to clean the highway? The municipality will probably say, "It’s the responsibility of highway maintenance subcontractors." The subcontractors will probably say that isn't part of their contract. So who cleans the shoulders? Tourism Whistler should support that; promote the resort as a good, safe, road biking destination.
Meanwhile, let's be nice to each other. All the vehicles out there, try to move as far away as possible from those bicycles when passing. Big trucks: a friendly, short honk from a distance will warn the bikers and they will probably move to the right to help you pass. Bikers might move onto the lane to avoid obstacles. Being close to them might mean that you go home today, knowing somebody is badly hurt – we are just trying to get from point A to point B.
Please clean the highway.
D. Ebacher
Whistler
We the people…
"We the people are the rightful masters… to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution (government)." Although spoken by Abraham Lincoln, recent letters to the Pique editor have shown residents of Whistler wish to have more say in decisions which affect them on a daily basis. They seem to have realized we must "keep the feet to the fire" of the municipal council, the Vancouver Olympic Committee and developers.
And so it is with a tip of the hat I salute such letters writers who appeared in your Aug. 18 edition, including Robin Brown, Sean McDonald, Adam Smith, Jeff Sanca et al.
Brown was quick to point out that a decision by Nick Davies to run for mayor must be closely examined. He noted that Davies championed a developer rather than the will of the residents in the Nita Lake project, and noted the developer has yet to start on an employee-housing obligation that was supposed to be occupied this summer. Brown also reminded us how Davies wanted to subdivide his own lot to produce a restricted price housing lot with significant financial game to him. Next, he was defending a contractor in the Eva Lake blunder while the municipality, of which he represents, is also a defendant.
McDonald ripped Mayor Hugh O’Reilly for taking the ultimate perk from Intrawest in the form of a position in Hawaii. This, after saying he intended to stay the course through 2010.
Smith makes it quite clear that any newly-elected mayor and council members must be made to understand Whistlerites do not want to sacrifice their quality of life and the local environment by surrendering to the economy and almighty dollar.
Sanca has thrown the first red flag in the rezoning application for the what is called the Rainbow housing project. He is calling for a full public information meeting to explain among other things why municipal authorities refuse to make public a copy of a memorandum of understanding that would eventually see taxpayers money flow back to the developer if he fails to make a profit.
The letters from these individuals indicate we are developing a greater sense of community, which is a healthy sign.
It is also a wonderful gesture that local newspapers provide a forum for open discussion and that their knowledgeable editors and columnists join in the "We the People" approach.
Allan Eaton
Whistler
Great just the way you are
We have just returned from holidays in B.C. where we ran into some significant car trouble coming down the mountain on Highway 99. Our Saab stopped for good right across the street from St. Christopher's Church in Mount Currie. Several people were sitting in the church yard trying to avoid the 35 degree heat. One man immediately offered to drive my husband to the nearest tow truck location. In less than 20 minutes the tow truck arrived and took us and our vehicle to Olemotive Auto garage close by.
Ole and another mechanic were able to look at the car within half an hour and identify the problem quickly. The clutch had gone and it would be days getting parts.
We were expected in Vancouver that evening so Ole called Pat, a local taxi driver. He was able to take us and all our luggage, including a bike, to Whistler to rent a car. The man at Budget Rent a Car was to have gone off work in 10 minutes after we called him, but volunteered to wait until our taxi could get us the 35 km to Whistler. Almost an hour later we arrived; he and our rental car were waiting for us.
We wanted to let you know that we were so appreciative of the willingness of everyone to help a couple of strangers. It doesn't often happen that way in the "Big City." Thanks to everyone and congratulations on your wonderful, friendly beautiful area. As Whistler's growth moves down the hill towards you, we hope you will not change; you're great just the way you are.
We picked up our repaired car on our way home, spent a lovely evening at the Pemberton Valley Lodge and enjoyed delicious food at the Wildwood restaurant before heading back to Calgary. Thanks for the help and the awesome hospitality.
Trish & John Clark
Calgary, Alberta
To the point, please
Re: The facts are… (Pique letters Aug. 25)
Robin Brown stated his personal views and perceptions of Nick Davies's track record and potential as a mayoral candidate in a concise editorial submission (letters Aug. 18). The readers can form their own opinions. Perhaps the content was edited to meet the 250 word maximum policy of Pique Newsmagazine.
Mr. Davies rightfully responded and began by defending the performance and dedication of volunteers and staff of the Whistler Housing Authority. How quickly this deteriorated into a personal defensive oration by Nick Davies outlining his own performance review and his strained relationship with Robin Brown. A simple restatement and clarification of the issues raised by Robin Brown is what I would have expected from an elected councillor who is also seeking the position of mayor. It would have been appropriate to edit Mr. Davies's response down to the 250 word maximum submission and not permit Mr. Davies to expose what is under his tough skin.
Glenn Bayliss
Whistler
The nominees are…
I nominate G.D. Maxwell to run for mayor.
Come on Max, you know the issues, you know the people and you already go to the meetings anyway.
Dawna Astle
Whistler
