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Nickel and dimed to death

I stopped by the library yesterday, five minutes before closing, and dutifully put a quarter in the meter only to have it rejected. I had to put in 50 cents to even make it print a ticket. For five minutes. I didn't pay.

I stopped by the library yesterday, five minutes before closing, and dutifully put a quarter in the meter only to have it rejected. I had to put in 50 cents to even make it print a ticket. For five minutes.

I didn't pay.

I pay my taxes and I am fed up with being nickel and dimed to death. I am going to start my own personal protest. I will boycott all businesses that require pay parking. I will stop paying for parking. I will contest all parking tickets.

This is called "Civil Disobedience" and has been very effective historically. Anyone want to join me?

Mayor Ken, please get rid of these stupid parking fees before the RMOW kills the vibrancy of the village.

Ruth Buzzard

Whistler

Unsustainable spending

Hmmmmm... most people these days are fully aware that California is going bankrupt... aren't they? So if the world's ninth largest economy can be heading for the crapper, are we really that arrogant to think the same thing couldn't happen to our little hamlet?

A lot of people are getting very nervous about the future of Whistler, but with the rampant spending that is still occurring down at muni hall, the future there must only appear to be smiley faces, sunny skies and waist deep cherry pow. Believe me, I would dearly love to be that optimistic about our future, but I'm afraid I happen to be a realist.

We have to start tightening our purse strings NOW! Please remember Ken et al, bankrupt is not a word usually associated with sustainable!

Harvey Lim

Whistler

The parking experience

In talking with our mayor I discovered that somehow we as a town have gotten into the habit of comparing ourselves and directing our decision making processes with advice from Aspen and Vail. Vail charges for parking and it works OK, they say. Of course they are going to advise us that it's OK, it takes away one more competitive advantage as a resort that we have and lessens the desire for their potential guests to prefer Whistler.

I believe it would be better to find a role model of our own kind. For example Banff, another friendly Canadian resort, prides itself in having free street parking.

Let's even look at our own experiences for advice. More people go to the bank in Marketplace rather than the bank in the village because those businesses were wise enough to join together and pay extra to have free parking.

Our own association, Tourism Whistler, made a huge campaign to have all us businesses - activity operators, hotels, etc. - lower our prices to attract people here once again. Why would we then turn and jack up the prices with parking?

Apparently some believe fewer people will drive and thus reduce our carbon footprint. From what I understand they might just drive further, like to Sun Peaks.

Let's get our heads on straight now, before it's too late. Whistler is about freedom, connecting to nature, playing - and sometimes our friends are tight on cash. Some hotels charge upwards of $30 per night for parking, however we as a resort can still accommodate through our free day lot parking, at least for a few more days. I might have even lived there a while, for free, myself when I first arrived in town.

I seem to remember the last six years of newspaper articles clearly stating that we need to keep our locals in the town to service it and make it attractive as a resort. Don't get me wrong, it was long overdue that it get paved - instead of busting our cars up on those pot holes - but maybe we should just turn down the Christmas tree lights a bit, enjoy that VANOC paid half the bill, let the grass grow another inch around town and enjoy the good people that want to come up that new highway, rich or poor.

I would hate to see the new expensive library sit empty, as a family of four may be unable to afford the parking. Stand strong and say yes to keeping free day lot parking, and yes to maintaining our personal freedom before its gone.

Otherwise please start calling Whistler by a more appropriate name, like Whistler City.

Allan Crawford

Canadian Snowmobile and ATV Adventures

Whistler

Support for pay parking

The Association of Whistler Area Resident for the Environment ( AWARE) would like to express its support for pay parking in Whistler. For many years AWARE has been working to find ways to get people to use their cars less and environmentally preferable modes of transportation more. We have primarily focused on education, but have also taken part in wider discussions about transportation issues in Whistler at both the Whistler 2020 task force level and as part of the Transportation Advisory Group. However, every year the number of cars on Whistler roads increases and many of those trips are made by locals.

At the same time we have seen the province freeze funding for local transit and costs of running the local buses is increasing as the buses age and need to be fixed or replaced. Last year the provincial government did give Whistler more funding and we were able to slightly increase the amount of service. AWARE would like to see this trend of transit expansion continue and to do this we must find alternative ways to fund it.

Free parking seriously skews travel choices toward solo car travel and away from other forms of transportation that require less terminal capacity. Terminal capacity refers to the amount of space required at end of trip (car parking lot versus bus bay or bike rack). Free parking also gives the largest subsidy per kilometre to the shortest vehicle trips - ones where without free parking we would probably walk, cycle, or take the bus.

Currently hundreds of Whistlers transit users are faced with a question each time they want to go into the village: "Am I willing to pay to get there?" By making people who drive pay to come into the village as well, we are starting to make this a more level playing field. For years people have been willing to pay to take the bus into the village and AWARE believes that car users will also get used to this and will return to the village. We understand that businesses are concerned about lost revenue and it is true that it may take some time for people to adjust, so we hope that those people who already come into the village through other means increase their support of locally owned shops during this time period.

Many directors of AWARE drive vehicles and therefore understand the frustration of having to pay more money when using them. However, with issues of habitat loss from road and parking expansion worldwide, and concerns over rising C02 emissions, pay parking is a price we are willing to pay, particularly if it will mean people start driving less and more people considering purchasing a car decide otherwise. If Whistler wants to be a leader in sustainability, we have a long way to go on this issue, especially when towns in Europe are banning cars completely or Bogota, Columbia bans them certain days of the week. Vancouver has recently got into the act, emptying certain streets of vehicles over the summer.

AWARE asks the municipality to require all revenue from pay parking go directly into preferred modes of transportation (with the exception of those funds already earmarked for the debris barrier). Let's start funding our buses, bike trails, and walking paths, subsidizing those who choose environmental modes of transit. We also hope that the dialogue around private automobiles, transportation, and the environment will continue and that the municipality takes time to allow this dialogue while developing ways to better protect the environment we all love.

Sara Jennings,

AWARE President

Sustainability conundrum

It's good news we are so far ahead in the waste management area with our composting etc., but could someone tell me how those of us without cars are supposed to just drop off the compost at the two easily accessible sites.

Just recently without wheels, I haven't yet figured out how to sustainably drop off recycling, and composting.

Joe Filler

Whistler