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On great employers, mountain bikes, mountain bears and alternative approvals

Jobs, jobs, jobs!!! Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life. — Confucius The on-going letters that whine about working in the Sea to Sky corridor are annoying. Here is one to say "thanks" to my employers...

Jobs, jobs, jobs!!!

Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.

— Confucius

The on-going letters that whine about working in the Sea to Sky corridor are annoying. Here is one to say "thanks" to my employers... three to be exact.

I am a regular tourist town habitant that works a lot to afford a great lifestyle. I worked three jobs in Banff for a few years and am doing the same here. Switching towns didn't cut deeper into my pocket book but it put a bigger smile on my face and some great new friends’ (who aren’t so transient) phone numbers in my phone.

I teach part-time with the Howe Sound School District Monday to Friday in Squamish (a nice little two hours of commuting each day), 3-5 nights at a fantastic restaurant, Thai One On. Finally, I work casually for Fairmont Chateau Whistler. It is a lot, but I enjoy working hard, I pay for my toys and my lifestyle on my own and I still get out snowboarding or on my bike 2-3 days a week.

Often I hear and read about how crappy employers are in the corridor. Maybe I have lucked out three times in a row, but I haven’t won the 649 yet, so I figure that luck isn’t on my side.

Hats off and big thank-yous to these great employers and all the great managers and staff that I work for. Everyone is continually making this the best place on earth to live!

If you don't like your job you don't strike. You just go in every day and do it really half-assed. That's the American way.

— Homer Simpson

Mandy Kinzel

Whistler

HR solutions coming forward

Finding solutions to the HR shortage in the tourism sector is top of mind of many people in the Sea to Sky. This month Leadership Sea to Sky invited the public as well as a cross-selection of stakeholders from the Sea to Sky corridor to brainstorm on short- and long-term solutions. To one of the sessions only employees were invited. The comment we heard over and over again was that, yes, housing and affordability are big issues. However, more than wages and costs of living, the issue most important for the focus group was that the number one reason for staying with a company is respect: When they feel valued and cared for, employees are less inclined to wander off.

This focus group session was held for four hours – a long time to volunteer for on a hockey night and a beautiful summer evening. When we approached Nesters to support this event, Bruce Stewart was immediately on site. Thanks to his generosity, focus group participants were recognized with gift vouchers from Nesters. Thank you, Bruce for caring for Whistler’s employees. Once again, you demonstrated your community spirit.

Don’t forget: Everyone is asked to participate in the survey on finding solutions to the HR shortage in the tourism sector. Just go to www.whistlerchamber.com.

Mechthild Facundo

Leadership Sea to Sky

Whistler Chamber of Commerce

Bikers committed to environment

In response to Mike Vandeman's letter in the June 22 Letters section (Bikes not so benign), it's unfortunate that Mr. Vandeman chose to send such a negative letter during the week that Whistler hosted the IMBA Summit/World Mountain Bike Conference. Mr. Vandeman makes all kinds of assertions about the evils of mountain biking (a campaign he's been waging for quite some time), but his arguments don't hold water. The vast majority of mountain bikers are highly committed to protecting the environment.

At the Summit/Conference, more than 400 delegates from 15 nations gathered to discuss strategies for combining outdoor recreation with environmental sustainability. Mountain biking is a wonderful way for people to explore the natural world and to form a lasting bond with the land. All recreational activities have some impact, but these can be mitigated with proper trail design (Whistler has excellent trail systems) and regular maintenance (mountain bike clubs like the Whistler Off Road Cycling Association log thousands of hours of volunteer trail work every year).

The Summit/Conference was a positive-minded, solutions-oriented event – it's too bad Mr. Vandeman refuses to see the benefits mountain biking provides.

Mark Eller

IMBA Communications Manager

Boulder, Colorado

The future is here

RE: Bikes not so benign (Pique letters June 22)

First of all, it doesn't matter that you are a PhD unless your PhD is in the subject that you are talking about.

Secondly, there is a reason the conference is being held in Whistler, B.C., it's because the future of mountain biking lies here from both a business standpoint as well as the furthering of sustainable mountain biking.

Third, I invite you to walk fantastic projects like Vancouver’s CBC trail or Whistler’s River Runs Through It and examine how through smart trail building techniques and proper irrigation the trails have become more fun (you probably wouldn't notice that) and have helped sensitive ecosystems to regenerate successfully and flourish. Think boardwalk through marshlands (because you will probably never take me up on the walking of the trails).

And finally, mountain biking is not the next big thing anymore, it's a part of everything from healthy lifestyle choices to civic election platforms (http://www.nsmb.com/shore_news/election_candidates_10_05.php)

Please move up here and become a full time resident or stop writing letters to our editors.

Dave O'Dowd

Bachelor of Arts (no honors)

Whistler

Ride on Whistler

WORCA would like to thank every one of our board members, members and supporters for the incredible spirit and vibe that ran through this place to the tune of shifting gears.

We showed the world what makes this valley a special place to ride a mountain bike with our great bike community. We have created an unmatched trail network and a spirit of co-operation amongst our steakholders, hamburger and veggie-burger holders and invite you all to hoist a cold mug in a toast to a job well done.

Big thanks to the RMOW (Dave, Randy, Keith, Eric), Whistler-Blackcomb (Seb, Charlie, Rob, Jerome), Tourism Whistler (Oliver Flaser) and our friends manning the grill for over 480 burgers, Colin (Riverside Junction Cafe) and Chris (Behind the Grind).

On the beverage front, a big thanks to our friends at Kokanee (Steve) and our friends at the fire department and bylaw who pitched in to help with the incredible start through the village.

After riding Comfortably Numb with Hill Able, IMBA president, on Saturday it was quite clear that Whistler was the best place he has ever been for riding a mountain bike – not just the trails but the community.

Grant Lamont, President

Whistler Off Road Cycling Association

Clean up your act, Spud Valley

Re: Humans Clean up your act...

I would like to express my appreciation of the feature article in the June 15th edition of Pique Newsmagazine. Although there can always be more done I feel that the Municipality of Whistler has done a great job over the 11 years that I have been here to decrease the impact of publicly-used garbage containers in the village boundaries.

Unfortunately the same can not be said for your neighbour up the road. Here in Pemberton we witness bears rummaging through the garbage (regular garbage bin) at the high school routinely. If you walk around Pemberton in the morning you can also notice many of the other bins near town being knocked over. These bins are located both near the schools, near family residences or even at the One Mile Lake beach which many kids and families visit each day. We have all been around here long enough to know what happens when bears get fixed on garbage...

Pemberton, Clean up your act!

Russ Wood

Pemberton

The real action

I never thought I would blow off the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals to go to a council meeting, but as it turned out, that was where the real action was Monday, June 19.

Council received more than 1,800 forms in AAP application, more than twice what was required to send the issue to referendum. Rather than drag the issue out to a referendum at the end of September, they reluctantly voted to put a mercy bullet between its eyes.

This entire thing has to rate as one of the biggest debacles in Whistler history. The money that’s been squandered on this project is appalling. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $400,000 has been spent on fees and accounting expenses connected with the P3 effort, nobody is quite sure what’s going to come of the $100,000 grants awarded to companies bidding on the contract, and who knows what the value of two years worth of staff planning is. Add to that the increased cost of the upgrade. Council voted to go the P3 route in January 2005, and it’s not hard to imagine that the costs have risen 50 per cent or more in that time. The current RMOW estimate is that it costs approximately $250,000 for every month of delay, and now we can revert back to where we were half way through 2004.

Lastly, I have to ask council, both this and the previous, why did you wait so long to take this dog to the public? It’s been clear since almost the beginning that there was a lot of public opposition to the P3, and the fact that it went down so decisively is proof enough of that.

David Buzzard

Whistler

How our garden grows

The Friends of the Whistler Public Library would like to thank everyone who helped make our second annual Plant Sale fundraiser a huge success, including the members of the Whistler Garden Club who collaborated in this effort, all the keen gardeners who donated plants, and the volunteers who helped set up, sell plants and who shared their knowledge. Special thanks go out to Alison Hunter and Gary Pringle for table-hauling duty and to Trilogy for allowing us to hold the sale in Marketplace parking lot.

We were fortunate to have the help of Paul Beswetherick and also the Whistler Golf Club in obtaining lots of bulbs to sell, and Rob Williamson at Carney's to give us a good deal on composted soil products. Finally, a big thank you and hugs from all of us go to Lil and Howard Goldsmid for collecting and bunching hundreds of bulbs. A sharing of resources, enthusiasm and knowledge made this a great community event. Till next June, happy gardening!

Christy Auer

Whistler