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Out of touch

I am astonished that the town council of Whistler is so out of touch with the community and clients over the pay parking issue.

I am astonished that the town council of Whistler is so out of touch with the community and clients over the pay parking issue.

Isn't it obvious that the vast majority of the population of Whistler and its work force do not want paid parking in the day lots? On top of that, the "parking council" will most likely always recommend in favour of paid parking when all parties on the board may have a vested interest in charging for parking - with board members from RMOW (the council wants the pay parking) and the two from Whistler Blackcomb (who just happen to have the contract to clean and maintain the day lots).

So until they appoint other business and community members to the board things will probably stay the same.

It is time for the dictatorship of Mayor Ken Melamed and council to listen to the population of Whistler on parking issues as well as any other issues that the people deemsunnecessary.

Chris Hartley

Pemberton

 

Avvy gear stolen

On May1 my only brother, Leo (47) died while heli-guiding, falling into a crevasse in Atlin.

I rushed to Atlin (even though I was) in the middle of moving, leaving most (of my) belongings in the storage lockers. Upon returning from an emotional week up north, I found the storage lockers in my building completely vandalized and burglarized.

This pushed me over the edge and I'm grateful to all (who were) there for me. To the RCMP/Ambulance (Nadine!) and Fern at the clinic - thank-you so much!

(To) John, Junichi, Darryl, Robert, Atsu, Neil (who helped me) move - thanks. To Susan, Colin, Frankie, my friend Patricia who came from Germany and Ken, Debbie, Peter, Heather, thanks.

My grandfather once said: "Life will beat you down so much that you'll fit into a matchbox." Well, from that matchbox, I want to thank you all including those I may have forgotten to mention.
Things were stolen - I am asking the community of Whistler to be on the look out (for them). Amongst several avalanche transceivers (two of them BCA Trackers) was a precious MAMMUT PULSE, with the unique feature of showing a "smiley" just for a few seconds when booting up. A Swiss engineer programmed it just for me. No other transceiver in Canada will have that! Also, my brand new blue ABS Guiding Pack (30 l) is missing, and packs, snowshoes and so on... If somebody is trying to sell those things they are my work tools!
I'm going back up to Atlin now to help the wonderful people of Atlin with their grief and to close a chapter of a beautiful life.
Thank you Whistler for helping me so!

Helene Steiner

Whistler

Save a bear

OK. So summer is rolling in slowly and bear sightings on the road are getting more and more common every day. Again, a new wave of tourists is starting to come into town, stopping on their way up to take a closer look at the bears.

First of all, it is dangerous for the other drivers on the road and as we learned in the past, those situations can trigger bear attacks on humans and bears' lives are lost (because of this).

So people - use your common sense! And for us locals who know and work directly with the public, take the opportunity to educate your customers. Save a life. Save a bear life.

Claude Bourret

Squamish

 

Book sale success

The Giant Used Book Sale on the May long weekend brought in the usual keen book buyers who spent a total of $4,341.00 for their summer reading. The sale was put on by the Friends of the Whistler Public Library and all funds will go towards library needs.

Huge "thank yous" go out to all who made the sale possible, starting with IGA Marketplace for allowing the sale to take place in front of the store. Kudos to Nesters Market and TD Canada Trust for being collection depots and the Pique and Question for getting the word out.  It could not be done without you!
Many volunteers help sort, transport and sell at the sale. Thanks go out to them all: Jesse Pendygrasse, Judy Spence, Maureen Chaddock, Alison Hunter, Harlene Walker, Stephanie Sloan, Stephanie Murray, Lauren Stara, Jacqui Tyler, Sally Reid, Margi McGraw, Danielle Patterson, Sandy Eplett, Allyn Pringle, Pina Belperio, and the guys: Len Van Leeuwen, Garry Clifford, Bill Janyk, George Struck, and Rick and Andy Reid. The book donations from Armchair Books and the hot tea brought round in the middle of the sale from David's Tea were also much appreciated.   
Whistler is full of readers who generously donate their books, resulting in a great selection for those who come, buy, and donate so generously as well. Thank you all and happy summer reading!
Jane Reid

Whistler

More transit needed

Whistler and Squamish have done little to encourage use of public transit. Those who call Whistler home don't use transit. The people on transit are the seasonal workers, who generally don't have cars.

Mostly, transit in Whistler is a public subsidy to the businesses that employ the seasonal workers. The options, however, are no seasonal workers or a few thousand more cars in town.

Whistler's Five-Year Transit Business Plan (2007) outlines several goals and approaches to the future. One goal is to emulate other popular ski resort towns, which provide free transit and pay parking. The largest obstacle to this goal is that other areas have spent decades creating transportation systems that don't rely on cars. These options didn't happen overnight and they required the cooperation of municipal, regional, state/provincial and federal governments.

Within Whistler and Squamish, people without cars have made do with the existing transit systems. Most of those who call Whistler and Squamish home don't see transit working for them.

In Whistler the north/south disconnect is a big issue. There are essentially only two stops in the Village, Village gate and the Bus Loop. Those aren't the places locals with families want to go. Waiting at the Bus Loop to get kids from Creekside to Meadow Park isn't going to happen.

In the past few years Whistler spent a fortune on its transit system. There has been no significant change in service levels and fares have gone up twenty five percent. The bottle-necks and obstacles remain.

Pay parking is a long overdue way to fund transit service and make individual cars less attractive. There are several problems though. It's too late, the fees are too high and transit isn't yet an option.

Pay parking should have been introduced at least a decade ago. At first it should have been at a revenue neutral level, bringing the message that parking spots don't grow on trees. The fortune spent on transit should have been used to make transit more attractive to the people paying for it before parking fees went up.

The three municipalities in the corridor should urge the Regional District and the Province to encourage transit for commuting, shopping, medical and government services within the corridor.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 commuters work in Whistler. People from Whistler and Pemberton shop in Squamish and use government and medical services in Squamish. Many of the dead trees along the Sea to Sky Highway are caused by local people meeting local needs.

Groups like AWARE in Whistler and Squamish CAN are limited in the change that they can bring about without the cooperation of all levels of government. People should join and encourage these groups. They provide a collective voice for the community.

A growing number of private bus companies are providing transportation from various locations in Metro Vancouver to Whistler. Most don't provide stops in other communities or between other communities. If private carriers can make a profit carrying people on the highway, they should be encouraged.

In light of the continuing problems trying to implement transit within the corridor one has to wonder if it might not be in better hands in the private sector. A subsidy might be necessary as an incentive but, private carriers would look to find where people want to go and when. They see the benefits in advertising. Maybe the best solution to Public Transit is to take it out of public hands.

To add your comments, visit Pemberton Whistler Squamish Bus on Facebook.

Murray Gamble

Squamish

 

Remember your riders

Bus drivers, please, if you will, I beg a moment of your time. This is meant as a courtesy, not a knock.

Many of you do your jobs with the utmost diligence and friendliness, this is for the not so many.

Being a transit driver is just another job, granted, but as you are working for/with the public, there are certain implications that arise. Among said implications, safety is paramount and is, therefore, the driving force behind most of the proceeding hints:

Speed: making "good time" makes no sense. You are paid to be at a certain place at a certain time and the schedule allows enough time for you to be there driving at the posted speed. If the schedule does not allow enough time, driving faster is not the answer, talking to your manager is.

You are entrusted with the lives of many citizens and the fractions of minutes saved on each journey aren't worth their safety.

Schedule: if in doubt, be a minute late rather than early.

While a minute's wait at a bus stop may seem like a small margin for you, the "butterfly effect" that can precipitate, for someone who needs to catch the bus, can quickly add up to a large margin.

Speed 2.0 (Comfort as a passenger): speed bumps are not ramps and roads are not banked. Maybe you do not realize it because you are sitting at the front of the bus, which is more balanced, or because you so often drive that you do not know the feeling of being a passenger.

The bus is awkwardly weighted so negotiating turns and speed bumps as if you were in an automobile doesn't make for a comfortable ride. It is not comfortable getting airborne, which you may not notice due to instinctual bracing for the upcoming road and that fancy bouncy seat you have.

Do what you need to do, listen to Bob Marley, or breathe deeply or whatever it takes but before your shift calm yourself and please remember that you have jobs because of the people who take the bus; keep them happy and you will, in turn, set yourself free.

Andreas Be

Whistler

Destination Resort

So much has already been written about this pay parking fiasco that I don't know if I have much to add, but I felt I had to add my outrage to the public voice.

The other day my wife and I were out doing chores when at the last minute we decided on a walk around Lost Lake. After a beautiful walk we continued on into the village for a coffee. We then did a bit of shopping and finally decided upon lunch in the village as well.

That will NOT happen with pay parking and that money will not flow into the business in Whistler. It will also drastically curtail events we attend like matinees during the film festival.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. We are a DESTINATION resort. We need and want as many people in the village as possible and we want, no, need, to make it as easy as possible. Many of us have written and said that we would support a MINOR increase in taxes and business as well could support a minor increase to offer our customers and locales free, or if you will, subsidized parking.

The current plan drives people away from the village and soon it will drive business away. Pretty soon with no business and no visitors we will finally achieve what it appears council wants... the greenest and quietest DESTINATION resort in the world.

I look forward to Max's party on June 4... it's time to take back OUR village.

Rick Doucette

Whistler

Re-think plan

It is largely understood throughout the community of Whistler that the decision to make the Village Day Lots 1-5 pay parking was implemented as a result of a need and a desire for the RMOW to generate revenue. Communication from the municipality has emphasized secondary reasons for pay parking policies that align with Whistler's commitment to sustainability such as encouraging alternative modes of transportation, reducing greenhouse gases and funding transit.

However, it is undeniable that decision makers at the RMOW see the day lots as a viable revenue source that can and will make up for shortfalls in the current budget incurred as a result of over-spending in excess of Whistler's generous tax base.

Elected representatives and RMOW staff have repeatedly made the statement "there is no such thing as free parking" to further the case that parking should be user pay instead of funded by the taxpayer.

While it is true that parking isn't "free," there are associated maintenance and operational costs. It is also true that absolutely every aspect of the public realm is also perceived as "free" but in reality is a cost to the municipality.  Parks, roads, the wide array of planting beds, trees, street lights, patios, valley trail etc. all have maintenance and sometimes operational costs that are covered by taxes. As a resort municipality, a tremendous amount of revenue and labor is invested in making our community attractive and memorable for visitors, including an entire department at the RMOW dedicated to "Resort Experience". Clearly, it is necessary for the RMOW to spend money to provide services and experiences that are perceived as "free."

From a visitor's perspective, and from the perspective of small business owners in the village, free parking - or at the very least reasonably priced parking - should be a priority service for RMOW to provide to guests as it is the first thing they experience as they enter the resort. When a visitor is confronted with a hefty daily parking rate before even stepping foot into the village - especially in the summer - it sends the message that Whistler is expensive and exclusive. This goes directly against one of the key messages communicated locally, regionally and internationally by Tourism Whistler: Whistler is affordable and good value.

Summer and winter visitors to Whistler have limited transportation alternatives and I would hazard a guess that many visitors to Whistler from the Vancouver or Seattle area use transit every day at home and own a car or are part of a car co-op exclusively to visit places like Whistler on the weekends. These people have a choice to come to Whistler or to spend their weekends in many of the other regional tourist destinations or ski resorts.

I am deeply concerned that the summer rate of $13.75 a day will discourage many people from coming to Whistler and will at the very least send a strong message that Whistler is a place where visitors are gouged and prices are unreasonable.

The visitor experience should not be sacrificed as a result of the RMOW's fiscal irresponsibility. Every single member of this community relies on the economy generated by the people who choose to come to this town to spend money.

It is my view that the RMOW's current plan is too focused on changing the behavior of the local residents and employees and has failed to consider what impact the new parking policy will have on visitors in this town.

I'd like to suggest a number of actions that could improve current pay parking plan for the village day lots:

Stop spending : DO NOT PAVE LOT 5.  DO NOT BUILD THE TRANSIT/END OF TRIP FACILITY. Let's make do with what we have to reduce spending. Charging $2.25 an hour or $13.75 a day to park in Lot 5 is nothing short of outrageous. Lot 5 is over 1,000 meters to Mountain Square and is needed in winter to build "Mount Nelson," the snow dump from the parking lots. If Lot 5 is paved, toxins accumulated in Mt. Nelson will run-off directly into the Fitzsimmons Creek and snow dump trucks will cause unnecessary damage to the asphalt. The 350 parking spaces in Lot 5 should be available to users of Lost Lake Park in the summer and winter and its proximity to the village make fees unreasonable.

Reduce the daily and hourly parking rates : mayor, councillors, members of the parking committee: $2.25/hr and $13.75/day is TOO MUCH. I believe a reasonable rate for parking in the day lots is $1/hr and $5/day. With these rates, you could actually see the lots full and revenue coming in while at the current rates, there will be few who choose to pay.

Don't wait for a year : a year is far too long to watch this new policy negatively impact small business, mar Whistler's reputation as an affordable resort and inconvenience visitors. Please make amendments to the plan as soon as possible.

Don't charge for overnight parking : It is unfathomable to me that the parking committee, in good conscience, would decide on a policy that creates a disincentive for leaving one's car overnight and taking a cab home instead of drinking and driving. Dollar signs do not justify the potential impacts to public safety in this town.

Emily Mann

Whistler

 

Pay parking's the ticket!

Thank you for the pay parking lots. I wish to say "Thank You" to all those involved in the decision to charge for parking in Whistler Village.

Whistler locals and visitors were in need of another excuse not to come into the village and support local business. It just makes sense for council to discourage potential customers from having a nice meal in one of the many fine restaurants, to have that broken bike fixed by one of the local bike shops, or to simply spend an afternoon walking down the cobblestones to sight see and shop.

Hopefully we are finally rid of those pesky Vancouver families who thought that driving to Whistler was nice way to spend the day. Maybe they will find another place to spend the day with their kids buying ice cream and souvenirs.

Maybe there will be (smaller) lift lines at the mountain bike park as a weekend of biking in Whistler just got more expensive.

Pay parking also helps the local work force. We all know that most staff in Whistler is grossly overpaid and the cost of living is ridiculously cheap so we SHOULD penalize them for working five days a week.

I am also certain that most workers who drive in from Pemberton or Squamish would love to ride their bikes to Whistler on B.C.'s safest biking highway. All they needed was a pay parking excuse and a much earlier alarm clock time.

Let's face it locals and visitors constantly coming into the village was getting out of hand. All that shopping, eating in restaurants, drinking coffees, getting haircuts or catching yoga sessions. Something had to be done and it looks like the RMOW has got our backs.

The parking plan seems to be working. Just look to the empty parking lots to see the customers and visitors who are NOT there.

Simply listen to the locals and the visitors as they talk about how they avoid coming into the village unless absolutely necessary because of the parking situation.

The timing was perfect for the implementation of  pay-parking. It was becoming a little too easy to run a successful business in Whistler this year with the booming world economy, the amazingly high U.S. dollar, the incredibly low commercial rent rates, and an over abundance of affordable housing for staff.

Thank you council members. We won't forget this when it's time to vote again. Sarcastically,

Kevan Kobayashi

Whistler

 

It's not just the day lots

Today I went to pay for my next two months of monthly parking in the Whistler Conference Centre. A luxury some may think, but after many years of parking in the day lots watching my car getting parking dent after parking dent, I felt it made sense. No more snow scraping either.

The cost used to be $58+HST/month, about $64 total, within my price range, just. The current parking rates rise has put this up to $85+HST/month (ie:$95)!

That is the same cost as the commercial parking operations in town and an increase of $30/month. No local or employee discount here.

For those who don't know, the conference centre parking is pretty much a ghost town now. I believe the monthly parking was full/sold out for only two or three months this year. The rest of the time it was virtually empty.

It's obvious at $64, it was too high to fill, why do you think increasing the price is going to make it more utilized?

I believe, for many the price-point for parking here has been reached and exceeded, effectively turning the conference centre into an empty parking lot. You are overpricing your services to the point where they will be no longer used.

I can't think of a worse way to utilize a resource. What a waste. Please reconsider the pricing here and let us, the community, make use of this utility.

Erin Day

Whistler

 

 

Re-think plan

Apologies to Jan Jansen and the RMOW for not sharing your latest "vision" for the Great Social Experiment here in Whistler, under the guise of reducing GHG's which in turn saves the planet.

IF that were a priority then we would not have gone down the path taken on transit. What actually happened was to embrace the most costly, inefficient mode possible. Three levels of government committed $100 million to the H2 program alone. Let's not forget an exponential amount of NatGas is used in manufacturing H2. Make no mistake there are NO savings in GHG emissions if that is any concern.

Whistler taxpayers' portion is $28.5 million of this. For that amount of money there could be a valley-wide free transit system using NatGas, negating the need for parking revenue to pay for it.

Another obvious decision would have been to locate our newest high density neighborhoods closer to the village core. If Cheakamus Crossing was located at a ski-out, serviced by W/B lift system then we would realize reduced need for personal vehicle use and costly transit service.

The market housing located at such a location would be very desirable and sold long ago. A conscious decision was made to not go this route and these same decision makers are now telling us we have to pay for it.
Keeping in mind the recent upgrades to HWY 99 and the provincial government commitment to the Gateway project Whistler as a resort has no option other than to embrace rubber tire regional tourism as it's core clientele.

Analogies to what Paris or London has done regarding automobile use are moot. We are a small town connected to our market by long distances. This propensity to apply big city planning to a small town is by definition completely unaffordable.

For the sake of village businesses I hope the RMOW re-thinks this decision. Parking in lots 6, 7, 8 is not an option during the summer.
Raising the fear of commercialization for lots 1 through 5 by private business seems odd. Is that not what Creekside currently is?
No more taxpayer money should go toward this program. Come next November I would give it a 98 per cent chance of being eliminated.
Steve Anderson

Whistler

 

Re-evaluate payparking

At what point does the RMOW step back and re-evaluate the pay parking for what it actually is?

It's a ridiculously misguided money-grab. Since day one of the pay parking going into effect we have been fed numbers to try and prove to us that it has been a success.

The numbers tell us that pay parking as a whole has been a positive thing for the village (really?). However, common sense, open eyes and a little logic are all it takes to realize that it very much has not been. To those of us who were here prior to last winter it's not hard to remember a time when, on any given day, the day lots were FULL.

I'm not talking about just Lots 4 and 5, either. I mean, all of them!

As a result of people actually using these lots it was not hard to notice a rather drastic difference in the number of people throughout the Village Stroll as well compared to what we see now.

As mentioned by many people in last weeks "letters to the editor", it is quite obvious to anyone living here that the pay parking income is mainly coming from the meters, NOT the parking lots themselves as we are being led to believe.

How the incredibly negative effects of pay parking were overlooked, and continue to be overlooked is beyond me.

As a person employed within the Hotel industry it has become an embarrassment to try to explain, and somehow justify to visitors the fee on it's own, let alone the actual dollar figure attached to it.

To think that $13 a day does not serve as a deterrent to those thinking about coming for only a day or two is to be very closed minded. On it's own $13 isn't that significant. Yet if you begin to factor in the cost of lift tickets, food, gas to get here, lodging while here, rentals for many, and then top all that off with a pay parking charge for everyday of the visit, then it starts to become a real issue.

It has been hailed time and time again as an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of our town. Yet monthly passes are non-transferrable, meaning no sharing car-pools, proving once again that reducing our carbon footprint has NOTHING to do with it.

As someone who has lived in the Creekside area for a number of years it is also very easy to see how pay parking in the village has changed the lives of many living in that area.

Prior to pay parking Creekside Gondola, in a sense was the "locals gondola," sure there were plenty of tourists there on any given day.

However, given the location and where it dropped you at the top it was rather empty compared to the Whistler Gondola in the village. Now it has become common to find the lift line at Creekside Gondola, on any weekend, backed up to (if not over) the bridge over the road.

It's not an amazing new zone opening on that side of the mountain that has brought this change. Not at all. Rather, it's people doing everything they can to avoid pay parking.

As mentioned by so many already, it's time our council starts to think of the people they represent rather than just how they can tax/charge residents/visitors in order to cover their own outlandish spending habits.

People are being forced out of this town as a result of the lack of jobs at the moment. That has become very obvious over the last six to eight months.

Why then is the RMOW council doing everything it can to make sure that the numbers of people visiting the village only continues to drop? Which will surely transfer into lost jobs. How many more times will long term owners of stores/shops throughout the village need to stand up to show their opposition of pay parking before somebody at the RMOW starts to care? With the way things are going now, and the number of storeowners who have spoken up, it's only a matter of time before we start to lose stores/shops that have been here for quite some time.

Colin Kennedy

Whistler