Perils of Parking
I am writing this email because I believe that Whistler could have more effective parking signage in the residential sub-divisions and on the highway.
Tourism Whistler, RMOW, Intrawest and others expend a lot of money, time and effort to attract visitors to Whistler and to help make their stay a memorable one and hope that the visitors return and inform their friends and associates about the joys of Whistler. Yet, so often, a visitor’s impression of Whistler is marred when their vehicle is towed even though they were not made aware of the parking regulations.
If you, as a visitor, had your vehicle ticketed and towed, would you be happy, if where you had parked, there was no sign informing you that you could not park either on the odd numbered side of the street or on the even numbered side of the street between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.? Or worse still when there is and was no sign of snow or impending snowfall in the valley?
Yet several visitors suffer this fate and the resort loses and we all lose. Do we expect these visitors to sing the praises of Whistler or warn people to avoid the resort? Why are the vehicles of visitors towed yet vehicles of locals left unticketed and not towed. If you don’t believe me, take a drive around some sub-divisions during a weekday.
Currently there are small signs displayed at random in the residential sub-divisions. Years ago one was greeted with a large sign at the entrance to the residential sub-divisions, which described, quite clearly, where and when one could and should not park.
Now there are a couple of signs on the highway informing both locals and visitors that winter parking regulations are in effect. These signs communicate as much information as would a sign which stated that Whistler received precipitation in the winter, making no mention of snow.
Would it not be more effective for the signs to state that parking is permitted on residential streets only on the even numbered side of the street, weekends and Monday to Friday between the hours of 5 p.m. and 9 a.m. The sign may also state that parking is not permitted at other times or on the odd numbered side of the street.
The RMOW and Tourism Whistler may develop a better, more appropriate or different way to phrase the above.
Signage has to be clear. Years ago, late in December, I suggested to a young man, who had parked on the odd numbered side of the street in Emerald Estates, that he not park there, on the odd numbered side of the street, as he would likely be towed. He then wanted to know which side of the street he should park on and took umbrage at my retort that there were only two sides to the street.
Keith Fernandes
Whistler
With regret and disgust
I write to you unfortunately with regret and disgust regarding the actions and conduct of some of my "compatriots" from Great Britain. I have returned from a typical, and otherwise enjoyable evening out in Whistler village, but this was tainted by the actions of a large number of people wearing "Great Britain Uphill Slalom Ski Team" sweatshirts. I would wish to assure the residents of Whistler that the "representatives" of my nation, proudly boasting of such, were not as they proclaimed.
In previous years I have raised money for, and assisted with the conduct of the activities of the Great Britain "Uphill Ski Club"/"Backup Trust" which are organisations for the disabled and paraplegic skiers in Britain. Many British tourists seem to feel the urge to make "funny" statements about themselves in the name of going out and getting drunk. I personally earned my Great Britain Jacket the hard way, albeit only for the GBR university team.
I have seen and witnessed the support and high standard of the local BC and national disabled team here in Whistler, along with the support given to them, and have been humbled by this. I intend throughout my season here to assist and learn through the Canadian team in order to further help GBR athletes that I am involved with coaching for the 2010 paralympics games here, and that the local residents will not think less of them from the alleged actions of some stupid drunks that have nothing to do with them
Paul Hothersall
Whistler
With apologies to Dr. Seuss fans everywhere..
What a heart swelling pleasure it was to see Norwegian cross country coach Bjoernar Haakensmoen run to Canadian Sara Renner’s aid with a ski pole when hers snapped during last Tuesday's Olympic team sprint. Renner and teammate Becky Scott were easily on their way to gold when the incident happened. They most certainly owe their silver medal finish to Haakensmoen’s assistance.
Since then, co-Canadian/Norwegian parties have ruled in Torino, the Norwegian Mission has been flooded with Canadian messages of thanks and Sara Renner sent Bjoernar a nice bottle of wine. That’s the kind of story to make one’s heart grow three times its size.
What a contrast is the saga of Olympic freestyle gold medalist Dale Begg-Smith.
Begg-Smith makes a "comfortable living" off the misery of Web Surfers everywhere. He owns a very successful pop-up/pop-under ad company.
He also enjoys a convenient ‘Australian Sport Experience’ that doesn’t require him to submit to stringent Canadian Freestyle Ski Team practice rules. Lately he doesn’t even spend much time at all in Australia as he, by his own admission, "follows the snow". While he deservedly took the gold podium spot (and in doing so bumped off our only hope for a bronze) it was his nonchalance and almost total lack of visible emotion, underscored by his unflappable, smirking interview with the CBC that left me cold. He had an opportunity to be gracious and dismissed it as a (seemingly) waste of his precious time. Make no mistake though; there was a negative consequence for Mr. Begg-Smith. When standing on the podium, receiving his gold medal, the wrong anthem played, the one his Grinchy heart didn't know the words to.
Info source: http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/the-ski-dream-funded-by-a-spam-fortune/2006/02/13/1139679533728.html
On a different note, If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be…. an Austrian misunderstanding.
I wonder if bags of syringes, blood transfusion machines and unlabeled vials of drugs are part of every ski teams kit. I don’t remember seeing any when Peter Mansbridge visited our athletes’ quarters, but maybe they had time to toss them out the window first. Hmmm…there was that secret room he wasn’t allowed to see! The athletes said it contained the Opening Ceremonies uniforms, which were to be a surprise. Oh, I just don’t know anymore!
Austria's ski federation president, Peter Schroecksnadel, was incensed by the continued scrutiny the raids on his team members have caused. "I think they're going too far with the whole thing," Schroecksnadel said. "We won't live with this. We can't have our guys going through this. It's no longer about sport, it's just about rumors."
In the spirit of giving the Austrians the benefit of the doubt, I suggest the following: keep your athletes in the athletes village with everyone else; don’t succumb to "Squalid Crack House Couture" and decorate your accommodations with syringes, tourniquets, cots and blood transfusion machines; just say "no" the next time the evil, banned, Dr. of Doping, Walter Mayer, asks to "crash" for the night; don’t allow your athletes to be litter bugs, big bags of syringes need to go safely into the trash not out the window where some child may find them; and don’t let your athletes go AWOL into-the-night, especially when the police are looking for them, it just sends us all the wrong message.
Adam Protter
These Crazy Days
In these crazy days of invasion and terrorism, media hype and commercialism it's sometimes difficult to see all that's good in life. Well, for some anyway...but not for me. I live in a town of Olympic heroes, super heroes and, my personal favorite, the unsung heroes
On Tuesday, Feb. 21 Stu from Thyssen Krupp Elevator was my unsung hero. After a disastrous day of 'everything happening in threes' I somehow also managed to lock my keys in my car. Without even a second thought Stu came to my rescue. It took him almost 45 minutes but he never gave up. Now, I like to think of myself as a modern, independent woman but I've gotta say, it was pretty nice getting help from a stranger in my time of need.
I hope you enjoyed your beer Stu you definately deserved it. Your face should be next to the word community in the dictionary. You should teach courses on "The Art of Neighbourly Behaviour." Thanks for taking the time. It means more than you know.
Angie Nolan
Whistler
Thank you to X-Life Youth Group founders
A fairly well kept secret in our little community is called The X-Life Youth Group and they put on a fabulous fundraising performance called "Rock n' Roll Angel Show" a few weekends ago at Millenium Place. They have been working together over the past year to raise funds for their "Village of Hope" to help build an orphan village in Uganda and this evening was in honor of that initiative.
All the children practiced so hard and presented two fantastic shows of singing, acting, dancing and music. Themes of concern for all parents such as drugs and drinking, bullying, eating disorders and the incredible wealth of our nation compared to the other 75% of our world's population who suffer in poverty were sensitively touched upon.
I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the kids who performed so wonderfully and to Carmen and Benny for their love, support and friendship to our kids. For the past year, they have welcomed young teens over to their home every Saturday night for games, yummy food, friendship and worship all at their own expense. The kids have also gained the rewarding experience of working hard to raise funds for the under-privileged in our world through bottle drives, garage sales and so on.
Due to the popularity of the Youth Group, now there are 60 members. It has begun to be too big to be held in their homes and I hope they can find a place to continue to gather because it would be sad to see such a beneficial community service go unsupported. Thanks again Benny and Carmen. It is people like you that make our community special.
Michelle Yamamoto
Remembered to say ‘thanks’
I would like to thank the people involved when I hit my head in the Terrain Park on Jan. 11. A month later I still have no recollection of the day, but was able to piece some parts of it together with the help of my mom, and some very kind people from that day.
From what I have been told, I hit the back of my head on a rainbow box and someone called ski patrol. A girl actually stopped other people from going over the box, and she took off my snowboard for me. Two guys came down to Ski Patrol with me, and then later that week came into my workplace and asked if I was okay, but I was still at home. I would also like to thank the doctors and nurses at Whistler Health Care Centre (and apologize for trying to constantly sit up when I was told to lie down).
Liz Sager
Whistler
