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Profligate and meaningless

Re: How's this a good deal? and Peter Pan School of Sustainability (Pique letters Aug. 7) Well said to both Jill Almond and Jamie Pike for their respective comments.

Re: How's this a good deal? and Peter Pan School of Sustainability (Pique letters Aug. 7)

Well said to both Jill Almond and Jamie Pike for their respective comments.

With respect to pay parking at other North American ski resorts as the purported justification for its implementation here — who cares? That has to be just about the weakest lemmingoid excuse yet for ripping off the local residents and taxpayers. The simple fact is that the RMOW continues to make ill-conceived, fiscally irresponsible deals that we all are going to have to eventually pony up for. No matter how you choose to spin the per-capita municipal spending numbers, the RMOW comes out as being profligate.

The focus of the upcoming municipal election should be fiscal accountability and responsibility — especially in light of the current and evolving economic climate. Whistler has gone broke before.

And the words sustainable and sustainability have been so overworked that both have transcended their literal meaning and both have assumed mantra like proportions — almost to the extent that their being appended to just about anything suddenly renders the underlying sanctified, even if the underlying has no basis in reason — “yeah so and so says its sustainable so it must be OK.”

Christopher R. Shackleton

Whistler

Responses to budget questions

This council has been criticized for not communicating enough, and particularly regarding the budget. In addition to open houses, our website, council briefs, and a newsletter, we are fortunate to have two excellent local papers as well as television coverage of all council meetings.

Unfortunately, there were technical problems with the camera equipment at the Aug. 5 th council meeting, so the community will not be able to view the discussions around the budget amendment bylaw 1876.

The Pique did report on some very important questions asked by Councillor Wilhelm-Morden, but the responses by staff were not covered in the paper. Since there is no TV coverage of the discussion, I have tried to summarize some of the responses.

(Pique’s report in italics)

Wilhelm-Morden said that the budget amendment now calls for $34 million in capital spending, up $5 million from May when council first approved the five-year financial plan.

That is correct; the budget has increased by $5 million.

This increase is made up of $2.9 million for parkland acquisition, which was approved unanimously by council on July 16, 2007.

$2.6 million moved from 2011 to 2008, the amount did not change, only the timing, thus making 2008 go up, and 2011 go down. This is due to the change in timing of Whistler Celebration Space (formerly Lot1/Lot9).   When you compare the total project budget overall for the full five years, the overall project budget increased slightly ($0.2 million), as stated in the admin report.

And finally, $0.5 million in costs moved out, from 2008 to 2010, for the day lots parking equipment. No change in the budget, only a change in the timing of the project.

Later on, when speaking about the substantial increase in capital spending, Wilhelm Morden added: “It seems to be driven by February 2010, and we should not be doing that. We should be stretching this out and taking a temperate approach. I don’t think we are doing that here.”

The projects that increased between the original bylaw 1848 (April) and the amended bylaw 1876 (August) are the water projects that were awarded by tender at the June 16 Council meeting. The bylaw 1876 amendment is required to meet the following motion of June 16:

Moved by Councillor Forsyth

Seconded by Councillor Lorriman

That Council award the tender for the Lorimer Road Pipeline Project to Sabre Transportation Ltd in the amount of $5,484,554.36; and

That Council award the tender for the Rainbow Park Pump Station to Westpro Constructors Group Ltd in the amount of $4,084,500.00; and further

That Council approve the selection of Dayton & Knight Ltd., Consulting Engineers to provide Construction and Contract Administration Services in the amount of $470,000.00.

Opposed: CouncillorZeidler - the motion carried.

The wastewater treatment plant is the largest capital project by far, and this project has increased from $22 million in 2005 to the current project budget of $51 million, which includes the composter and transfer station.

The councillor also said she was concerned that the revenue for the operating funds has decreased by $400,000, and that consequently expenditures are also up $400,000. “I am not terribly happy about that…. We spent so much time on the budget before, going through it line-by-line, and now we are just adding $400,000 to expenditures.

The interest income budget has decreased $400,000, due to lower reserve balances.

However, expenditures for the general fund are not up $400,000; expenditures are down $378,000, which is why the general fund operating reserve (which is roughly equivalent to ‘net income’ for the general fund) has changed by only $22,000, as stated during the council meeting.

She also pointed out that the budget now calls for $275,000 to be spent on the village “look and feel”

Village look and feel is not a new item; it did exist in the original budget bylaw 1848 ($350,000), and the budget for village “look and feel” has dropped from the original bylaw 1848 ($350,000) to the amended bylaw 1876 (now $275,000). This change was made to split out two projects: Event equipment at $25,000 and Celebration Legacy at $50,000. Village look and feel is funded out of the 4 per cent revenue sharing, which is to be spent on tourism legacy projects.

I have asked staff to post the changes (and explanations) associated with the Five-Year Financial Plan Amendment 2008 – 2012 Bylaw No. 1876, 2008 on the RMOW website.

Bob Lorriman

Councillor

Resort Municipality of Whistler

>Questions, scary answer

With all the recent controversy over a kids go-kart track, the pros and cons of a non-mechanized Canada Day parade, how is it that a hydrogen gasification plant is to be constructed in the middle of the Whistler valley on a red listed wetland?

>If people are concerned about the levels of greenhouse gases that are pumped into the air then where is the outrage over this facility?

Worth consideration is the volatility of compressed gases and the proximity of people. If the recent incident in Toronto has anyone thinking twice about the wisdom of propane storage next door to residential area then we should be asking the question what happens to hydrogen when things go wrong?

We won't like the answer....

S. Anderson

Whistler

Respect for a missing cat

I've been living in Whistler for a little over one year now and throughout this year I've had to look at posters in the bus shelters for lost googles, skis for sale etc. Some of these posters were there for sometimes one week or more.

Recently I was away and my roommate let my cat out in Creekside. Every time I put posters up they get taken down.

My cat, Cain, is very important to my house. He travelled with me from Newfoundland three years ago to Montreal, and now to Whistler.

It surprises me so much that people don't have any compassion and take these posters down and do not have any respect for people trying desperately to find what means the most to them. Please look at the ad posted for Cain and if you have any news about him please contact me. Thank you.

A dog was missing for three weeks and he got to be a lucky one and go home. I want the same for Cain.

Lesley Cantwell

Whistler

Eating it up

Right on ALC commission.

In the past two weeks I have ventured to both of Pemberton’s fine grocers, recipe list in hand, to peruse the second cutting of local free run hay. The resulting search: shocking! One would think that with Pemberton in August, you could eat all the local hay you wanted.

Apparently not. Local hay is in short supply. None of it is on the shelves. Undoubtedly, this shortage is due to the stampede of slack jawed, reality-challenged artists and their rabble, trampling 100 hectares of the only “prime agricultural land” capable of keeping up with the local and worldwide demand for Pemberton second cut hay.

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Kevin ‘Hoss’ Holland

Pemberton

Pemberton Chamber reflects

The dust has settled.

The crowds are gone.

We have our town back.

Now it is time to reflect on the experiences of the last few weeks and measure the impact on our community.

It is the object of the Pemberton & District Chamber of Commerce to promote the Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural, and Welfare of Pemberton and the surrounding areas.

Live Nation has done that for us. With the help and support of the entire community of Pemberton this was accomplished. Providing many jobs for community members, using local businesses for services and infrastructure, purchasing from local farmers and providing the legacy of a Community Foundation are just a few of the tangible examples of what The Pemberton Festival brought to us.

Then there is the priceless media coverage. How do we measure that? The worldwide exposure that some of our neighbouring communities are used to, is welcomed by us.

And the letters received thanking the people of Pemberton for “so generously hosting this weekends music festival,” for our “generosity and patience,” for making visitors “feel welcome and safe,” for “sharing our beautiful piece of the world with others.” We should feel very proud. We know that this is the nature of our community and comes as no surprise to us; however, it is nice to hear it from those who were here.

The Pemberton Festival is a success story. That is how to describe it. There are some obvious technicalities that need to be worked out, but nothing insurmountable. As a Chamber, we invite Live Nation back and encourage them to work with all stakeholders to suggest ways to adapt and make the festival even better. Live Nation and Shane Bourbonnais took a chance on Pemberton and invested significantly in our community. They were the stewards of the land, strived to maintain our values and promoted us by their side from day one.

Obviously for some it was about business and the bottom line. But for so many others this weekend was about the music. The mountains. The people. The experiences. The memories. This weekend was about Pemberton.

Thank you Live Nation. See you next year.

Paul Selina,

President,

Pemberton & District Chamber of Commerce

Pemberton’s ‘Oops’ Trail

I come from a small village in the French Alps where multiple amazing trails are all over the alpine, hills, mountains, crossing countryside, farmlands, going 360 degrees for hundreds of kilometres for the pleasure of recreation users, and the use of farmers.

Workers, horses, cross country-skiers, bikes, hikers, dogs… everyone gets along fairly well. There are no fences or barely any permanent ones and I have rarely seen those “no trespassing” signs… or even better the friendly “keep out” signs.

When I moved to Pemberton in 2000, I was so excited to discover what this amazing valley had to offer in the “trail” department. Surprisingly, I started to scout around and discovered a lot of “Private Property” signs… Welcome to Pemberton… “Keep Out!”

I was flying my paraglider everyday in the summer over the valley and when I was looking down, the mountains, the glaciers, the magic of the place, the peace and the great community appealed me to move to Canada and give up France and Switzerland. I love living here, this is my new village, my new home.

I am very sad to see that those new “fashionable signs” are all over the valley after the busy festival… and that they grow better than pine mushrooms these last few years!

The reason of this letter is to make “angry land owners” realize how trails are important in the community. How can you keep on fighting a narrow minded war by closing the only trail in Pemberton, the Valley Loop Trail? Pemberton is growing, Pemberton is selling lots of real estate, Pemberton itself has no trails left. This is very inviting in the middle of our short summer! Bravo.

I signed up for the PVTA a couple of years ago, trying to help them by clearing my favorite trails and to help them afford new fences, bridges, to make those Pemberton trails better and also horse accessible, as this is what I do as a full time recreation user. I realized step by step that we have to be quite imaginative and brave enough to cross the Lillooet Bridge a lot if we want to really ride some good safe trails and have a change from the Valley Loop Trail. I don’t mind opening and closing fences, I just want to be able to ride!

I am riding my horse now at the Mosquito Lake area and I am so happy to live up there, avoiding the “closures” of the only great flat trail in Pemberton, the Valley Loop Trail. Shame on the history of that little war!

I am supporting farming and I am supporting community recreation users. I really wish those two could get along the way people do in my village in France! Because I am staying here.

Maybe the magicians in the Village of Pemberton have a quick alternative   solution?

Corinne Stoltz

Pemberton

Everyone is concerned

I am hoping that a few more people will realize what the U.S. government is up to, right now.

On Friday, 08.08.08, opening day of the Big Games in China, Georgian troops attacked and killed 10 peacekeeping officers in South Ossetia. Then they killed at least 2,000 civilians (as of Aug. 10). Israel sold the arms to Georgia. The USA trained and now is backing up the Georgian troops. Already the Russians have captured a soldier that they believe to be an American. Also, they have found a U.S. arms cache in Kyrgyzstan. Basically, George W. has declared war on Russia.

On a different note, the USA has sent an unprecedented naval fleet to gather in the Gulf of Hormuz. A lot of these ships are carrying nuclear bombs. Ron Paul said that the Navy already has the green light to attack Iran.

Don’t believe a lunatic like me? Do your own research. But if you stick to Global News, CNN or BBC you will only find out what colour pants Brittany was wearing last night.

And by the way, the U.S. is short $53 trillion for this year’s budget.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, George is watching the beach volleyball in China.

It’s time to party like it’s WWIII… Wake Up!

Pierre Marc Jetté

Whistler