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Ban crossbows

Ban crossbows I believe that crossbows should be banned within the entire RMOW boundary. Crossbows launch bolts that travel almost 100 m/sec or 350 km/hr. They have a range up to 1,000 yards, however the accurate range is only 20-40 yards.

Ban crossbows

I believe that crossbows should be banned within the entire RMOW boundary. Crossbows launch bolts that travel almost 100 m/sec or 350 km/hr. They have a range up to 1,000 yards, however the accurate range is only 20-40 yards. Bolts can penetrate through the siding of a house and will go right through an animal's body - including pets and people. These are not ordinary bows and arrows. Crossbows are highly lethal weapons and should be treated like firearms. If firearms have been banned, then why not crossbows? As a user of trails outside of the proposed boundary, I'm very concerned about safety issues. I feel that there remains a potential for a serious accident or worse, a fatality.

Dawn Johnson

Pemberton

 

Time to plan big

The call for ideas by visiting tourist consultant Steve Thorne, hired to unlock the keys to Whistler's sustainability, provide little to stir the imagination.

Are there not any farsighted people among us with some original ideas?

We are so busy promoting restaurant "specials" and adventure deals, it's becoming a "forest for the trees" mindset, exacerbated by the continuous flogging of Own the Podium.

What we should be doing is establishing repeat concepts... such things as a culinary school with new students coming forward year after year.

Forget about a university. It spells more taxes and hassles over tuition fees. Instead let's harness the plethora of musicians that are attracted to Whistler and foster a summer chamber orchestra.

And how does an "International Iron Man (woman) Competition" sound?

Maybe we can get "horsey" people in Pemberton to initiate an annual horse show for Whistler at the new Grand Park.

Toss in a hospital that could cash in on the new specialty areas, such as the upcoming cures for multiple sclerosis and heart-valve replacement.

And wouldn't it be nice to have a local hospital where your child or grandchild could be born and when she/he is old enough to walk, (you could) take them to the outdoor floodlit ice skating rink?

Whistler hasn't really changed that much in the last 30 years. There is still really only one sidewalk throughout town... the Valley Trail. There are no streetlights in any subdivision, garbage pick-up or home mail delivery. "What are they?" asks my grandson.

We sometimes pooh-pooh Squamish as a less glorious town. But who has a hospital, two universities, sidewalks and seniors' housing?

And if Whistler ever gets around to some seniors' housing, let's do it right... close to amenities, a call for proposals on an all-around shopping facility with a pharmacy, wine and beer (off-) licence, post office and elevator if more than one floor ... covered parking, on-site garbage disposal, a recreational lounge, wheelchair access, restrictive covenants with at least one occupant aged 60 or more, (and) a priority list based on proof of residency in Whistler.

Let's get the non-existent Bank of Montreal or CIBC to step up to the plate with a grand-slam homer, meaning not only opening a branch in Whistler but taking the lead on creative financing.

Let's not rest on our overworked Own the Podium achievement and turn our thoughts to bigger and better lifestyles for whatever we love about Whistler.

Al Eaton

Whistler

 

Turn out the lights

We live in Alpine Meadows. One of the enjoyments of living here is to be away from the light-pollution of the city and experience the pleasure of viewing the night sky.

Today, we no longer enjoy this because of the intense lighting at the Whistler Transit station.

The new Whistler Transit station was built by BC Transit on BC Hydro land where normal regulatory processes were exempt. A responsible Crown corporation and municipality would follow due process, not hide behind exemptions.

Instead a red-listed wetland area was filled in, an eyesore of a steel building was built, insufficient buffering put in place and intense night lighting installed.

A letter was received last week by council from Minister (of Transportation and Infrastructure Shirley) Bond addressing the Mayor's request to expand the use of the Whistler Transit station to "develop new revenue streams."

We understand expansion of the Transit station's use to include private motor vehicle washing, repairs, maintenance, parking and fueling will require rezoning the site which would include an environmental impact assessment, as well as public meetings in which the public can finally voice their concerns.

Quite simply, why can't the majority of these lights be turned off or dimmed at night? For a community striving to be recognized as "green," consideration must be given to the negative carbon footprint these lights produce.

I truly hope mayor and council will begin to make responsible decisions with regards to Whistler Transit.

Hopefully, BC Transit will be required to make significant meaningful changes to the visual impact and nighttime light-pollution so that Whistler can return to the mountain resort-type community where we can enjoy living.

Debbie Malthouse

Whistler

 

Ban biosolids from composter

I am writing to hopefully bring about change in the compost produced at our $1.8 million dollar composting facility.

The compost produced at our facility contains biosolids. "Biosolids" is a fancy name for the remains of the water treatment process. Essentially the water is removed and what remains is sewage sludge or biosolids.

So along with human excrement, biosolids contain whatever else gets flushed down the toilet. It is hard to guess what does get flushed down in an international resort - industrial chemicals, hormones and pharmaceuticals.

Now the biosolids are added to our composter.

Contrary to what we are led to believe, not all toxins are broken down during the composting process. The composting standard does require testing of various substances but there are far too many substances, far too many unknowns, to test them all.

Claims attesting to the safety of products derived from sewage sludge are based on long outdated standards. For more recent info on biosolids visit the websites for the Cornell Waste Management Institute and the Ontario Environmental Network.

Previously, sewage sludge was dumped into our oceans. After vast dead moonscapes were created on the ocean floor this was banned. Because we do not know what else to do with this sludge we are now adding it to our composts and spreading it on our forests, lawns and gardens? Adding sludge to our compost because it is efficient and economical doesn't make sense. The dangers are too risky.

Research has shown that toxic metals and industrial poisons can be transferred from sludge-treated crops into crops.

Lettuce, spinach and other vegetables have all been shown to accumulate metals and other toxins when grown on soils treated with sewage sludge.

In some cases the toxins contaminate the leafy parts of plants purely through volatizing from the sludge! Of course the foods grown in the sludge are not labelled as such in the grocery stores!

I could continue with many other examples of, say, livestock being poisoned after grazing on plants treated with sludge. The evidence is out there. The risks are many - there are also way too many unknown risks.

Under organic standards it is prohibited to use compost that contains biosolids.

Whistler has established itself as a very green community. We are all trying to reduce our footprint, recycle, compost... Is it not possible for us to produce compost without potential hazards?

Carolyn Rodger

Whistler

 

 

A four season international resort we are not!

Previous administrations (1988) as well as more current administrations have allowed themselves to be duped once again by insincere developer/carpet baggers. I refer specifically to the indoor tennis facility "fiasco" that is no more than a broken down embarrassment to all of Whistler.

Whether you like tennis, play tennis or are completely indifferent about tennis in Whistler, please understand that to be considered a world class destination resort it is an absolute must to have an indoor tennis facility that invites our most-needed guests to enjoy as much as they obviously enjoy our world class skiing, riding, restaurants, shopping, entertainment, golf courses, hotels, lodges, bike park and valley trails.

It is an integral part of what we offer our guests and was in fact promised to us in the 80's.

In a nut shell, bed units were traded by you and I to developers for three major projects; the Fairmont Chateau on Blackcomb, the Green Lake Estates real estate development (chalet lots, townhome development) and a World Class, five-Star Hotel/Indoor Tennis/Spa Facility and a two- phase townhome development (Montebello 1 & 2) north of Lorimer Road off Northlands Blvd.

We in return received the Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed Fairmont Chateau Whistler Golf Club (voted highly as a must play course in North America by Conde Nast and Golf Digest ), a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, which has hosted Shell's Wonderful World of Golf and two Skin's Game competitions with world class players such as Jack Nicklaus, Ernie Els, Fred Couples, Stephen Ames, John Daly, Vijay Singh, Greg Norman and Nick Faldo, and a makeshift temporary indoor tennis facility.

The developer of the hotel/tennis facility, Park Georgia, duped the administration of the day into being allowed to build a temporary tennis facility so they could build and sell their Montebello Phase 1 & 2 townhome project, which they did very successfully.

Park Georgia then sold the balance of the land and development rights to the Holborn Group to build the hotel/tennis spa facility that had been promised for the bed units originally.

The Holborn Group after reviewing what they had purchased (a little late in doing their "due diligence"?) approached the RMOW in 2005 for re-zoning.

From that moment on it has been a long, drawn out and expensive work in progress for the RMOW staff, council, mayor and an advocate group of concerned citizens.

It appeared that Whistler would finally get the tennis facility it deserved and paid for in the trade of the 1,200 bed units (along with seniors' housing, a bonus) when both parties essentially agreed to the project and approved a third-reading (2008). Since that time the developer has decided to wait for a better market and not pursue the final fourth-reading, let the existing facility run down, cut the hours of operation, increase the court fees and now suggest that they would like substantial relief from their obligations.

I can tell you that although the Chateau golf course doesn't help the bottom line of the Fairmont Chateau Hotel (runs a loss each year), the hotel continues to live up to its responsibility and to maintain one of North America's premier golf courses.

The Nicklaus North Golf Course maintains a wonderful facility as well, which is played by golfers from all over the world and even includes local's days for playing and dining at reasonable prices.

It seems the Holborn groups of the world provide the financing to make big projects happen but don't seem to want to live up to their purchased obligations.

It seems that our administration has not been able to make them live up to these obligations.

It seems these companies are just too shrewd for our decision makers to handle.

Now I read in the local papers that the mayor not only says the RMOW can't do anything to make the owner keep up appearances while they put off building what was promised for bed units years ago, but suggests that "the tennis club", whoever they are, take over the club from a developer who is loath to even deal with the current administration much less a group of concerned citizens.

Get real Ken, get busy and sort this thing out, we shouldn't tolerate bullying in Whistler!

John McGregor

Whistler

 

Save the tennis club

I am writing this very sadly (because I am concerned) that the owners don't want (the) Whistler Racquet Club to prosper in Whistler. My kids Manroop and Harnoor (have been) playing here for the last four years and they are competing in Tennis BC tournaments.

Marj and Peter are great coaches and they left this club due to the uncooperative attitude of the owners. We miss them a lot.

Kirk is an excellent coach but he has very limited resources left with him. Now the club opens only four hours a day, which is not suitable for most of the players and members. We come all the way from Squamish to practice here. Something needs to be done ASAP to keep this club alive. Thanks.

Navtej Gill

Squamish

 

 

Asphalt file still open

It greatly disappoints me that our current local democratic process has become so heated that the mayor has made such statements as, "you want to find out? Sue us."

Our group's intention (No Asphalt Plant) during this whole process has been to be treated fairly, openly and honestly by the mayor, staff and council.

Instead we have experienced a strong bias toward Alpine Paving during this process and have now experienced the ultimate roadblock to further understanding and clarity with mayor Ken's threat of legal escalation and his comments that the file is closed.

Our group simply wants this business treated as any other in Whistler in regards to zoning bylaws.

How possibly can a file be closed with so many questions unanswered, such as why the plant remains in place when both a 1998 Rezoning Application #272 and most recently a re-zoning application in 2010 to legalize the plant's occupation of the land it currently occupies, failed?

How can a file be closed when a question, asked again last week about CAO Mr. Barratt's May 18 presentation to council, which stated that "in 1997 the owner submitted a letter to find out if he required zoning to operate at the existing site, Mr. Barratt then went on to say "the interpretation of staff of the day was that IP1 permitted the proposed land use."

This statement is significant because after many questions and much investigation this letter and the RMOW's response seems to be the foundation of the argument for the right of the plant to occupy its current location, contrary to municipal bylaws.

The problem is, a submitted Freedom of Information Request on August 4, 2010 requesting this important document and the response from the RMOW to the owner's letter, was that this documentation does not exist.

How could Mr. Barratt make reference to such an important document that does not exist, and when asked about it during the last council meeting neither Mayor Ken nor our CAO Mr. Barratt had an explanation.

What is even more troubling is the distinct possibility this important document might not have been given or been available to be given to the RMOW solicitors as one of the documents they used in forming their opinions, opinions that council holds out as the reason of all reasons for not enforcing the zoning by-laws. Lawyer's opinions are based on the information/documents they are provided, the questions the client asks, and lawyers act on instructions only. If the lawyers haven't received important documents how can they possibly give a sound opinion. Council needs to review all documents that were submitted to the lawyers and compare those documents with the ones the lawyers have on file and focus around the time of the May 7,1997 John Nelson letter to Mayor Hugh O'Reilly.

Our group wants the RMOW to actually enforce their own bylaws and when I was quoted last week saying, "where do I pick up my cheque" it was in reference to the ...  ease (with) which Mr. Silveri entered into an agreement with the RMOW that would pay him $400,000 of taxpayer money, which according to Mayor Ken was necessary to avoid a lawsuit from Mr. Silveri.

We certainly, as taxpayers, do not want to take mayor Ken up on his challenge to sue the RMOW to force it to enforce its own bylaws as taxes are a big enough problem already in Whistler.

If mayor Ken has determined that this file is closed we have to seek out all available options, which may unfortunately include standing in front of a judge.

The mayor may feel he can arbitrarily close this file but the democratic process dictates otherwise and we will not stop until this illegally zoned and polluting business, located right next to a residential neighbourhood, moves to a more suitable site.

Tim Koshul

Whistler

 

Line in the sand

I was really dismayed to see the mayor being called a liar by a Pique columnist, as he also was by a prominent member of the No Asphalt Plant group, which also dismayed me.

You don't get anywhere by calling people names and insulting them in public.

I was also very surprised to see the same columnist retract his statement last week in a very forceful manor. Maybe in a different age, they all could have met at dawn and fought a duel.

It's worthwhile to look back on the issue that brought up this unfortunate exchange. An agreement, couched as a legal settlement, for the RMOW to contribute up to $350,000 to upgrading the Alpine Paving asphalt plant.

Council and staff maintained that the money was going to settle legal costs, and I'm sure the municipal lawyers made the case that paying Alpine Paving not to have them sue the RMOW in the future was nominally a legal cost.

However, even ambiguous phrases have an underlying intent, and last summer while everyone was wondering how Alpine Paving could have amassed such a huge amount of legal costs in a so far non-existent legal case, nobody from the RMOW stepped forward to clarify that what they really meant was that they were paying to upgrade the filtration system on the asphalt plant, not paying legal fees amassed in a bruising court battle.

I can't say if that meets the legal definition of a lie, but then again, I don't live beside a big, stinky, illegal asphalt plant.

The columnist was wrong about another thing; this isn't a fight about asphalt. It's about how the RMOW does business, and how they deal with the residents of Whistler.

How could a business be allowed to operate illegally in a location for almost twenty years, and then be offered a cash incentive to upgrade their zoning to legalize it? The former owners of the W6 gravel pit, where the plant sits, tried to get the same zoning passed 1998, and were stymied when the RMOW required that they replace the old bridge over the Cheakamus River as a community amenity, a million dollar expense.

The flow of information from the RMOW has been misleading, to put it mildly.

The mayor and several municipal councillors have claimed that they can't force the plant to move, and if they try anything, that it will incur great legal liability.

Apparently the municipal lawyers (the same guys who forgot to file the appeal in the Rainbow Lodge case) feel that since Alpine Paving was told they could operate in that location sometime in the mid-1990's by a municipal staff member, that that enshrines them there forever.

This is notwithstanding a 1999 B.C. Court of Appeal case that threw out an almost identical case.

Think about it; if you go to a police station and ask the desk sergeant if it's okay to rob the 7-11 across the street, and he says, "sure, what do I care?" does that make it legal?

Having an asphalt plant in such a densely populated residential area is just wrong on the face of it.

You have to wonder why the RMOW has not only refused to act on (its) by-laws, which even the municipal lawyers agree don't allow for asphalt production on that site, but (has) seemingly defended and encouraged Alpine Paving to stay in that location.

They've claimed that the by-law is ambiguous; it's not. They've claimed they have a legal right to be there; they don't. They claim they don't have the stomach for a legal fight, which the 20-year Rainbow Lodge court case shows to be false.

No Max, this isn't a fight over asphalt; it's a line in the sand.

David Buzzard

Whistler

 

Pay parking

"We are all paying for pay parking," complains Clare Ogilvie in an editorial not worthy of a newspaper as socially progressive as the Pique. Surely Clare must realize that to an even greater extent we must all pay for FREE parking! I think the only mistake that the muni has made is failing to institute pay parking EVERYWHERE in the valley. Abstract environmentalist concern re climate change has evidently been insufficient to encourage motorists to shift to safer, healthier and greener modes of transport. Pay parking is an essential price signal to literally move society in the right direction.

Dr. Thomas DeMarco

Whistler

 

Mt Currie elections deserve more attention

What's the biggest thing going on in the corridor this week?  The Mount Currie Band/Lil'wat Nation Chief and Council elections.

How much coverage did either (newspaper) give to it last week? ZERO!

It is amazing to me that you did not even profile any of the candidates or consider the impact the election could have on the region.

The 13-person Council has significant (and growing) influence. This government has an annual budget of approximately $15-$20 million.

(It) employs over 100 people. (It) owns large private land holdings in the Pemberton Valley and RMOW. (It is) part-owner of the biggest new cultural tourism attraction in Whistler.

(It) provide(s) water for the Pemberton industrial park. (It's) an equal partner in the Winds of Change. (It's) creating new parks and protected areas in the region. (Its) support or non-support can be the deciding factor in a run-of-river project or WB tenure renewal. These are just a few examples.

If you purport to cover issues of importance to residents in the corridor then start covering the politics in Mount Currie as you would other local governments.

Sheldon Tetreault

Pemberton