The Sea to Sky highway and fear of paying more in taxes to cover the cost of an over-budget Winter Olympic Games are the two hot topics at the 2010 Bid Corporation’s new information office.
"The #1 concern is obviously the highway," said 2010 spokeswoman Michele Prenz.
"But as we remind people, it is not our responsibility. It is a provincial concern as to what they do with the highway."
The office, just beside the Brew House restaurant, is open Friday through Tuesday, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. About 50 people a day visit the centre, which has wall-mounted information boards, a computer with access to the 2010 Web site, and a volunteer to answer questions and take suggestions.
In the next few days a big-screen TV, tuned to the Salt Lake Winter Games, will be on as long as the office is open.
About 300 people have signed the guest-book.
Other concerns raised by visitors, mostly locals or people who own second homes in Whistler, include how town-traffic will move during the Games.
The plan so far is to transport visitors by bus to the resort and other venue sites. As many as 600 buses a day would be on the road making local driving and parking all but impossible.
"That was completely the case in both Sydney and Lillehammer and they survived," said Prenz.
"There is also general concern about how (the Games) are going to impact ‘me personally.’ Will it increase my taxes?
"The one thing that we say is that over the years the IOC has really got their act together in terms of supporting the host city, in terms of making the Games as cost effective as possible.
"One of the ways they do that is through renegotiating media and broadcast rights. So sponsorship revenues and opportunities are continuing to grow exponentially for host cities.
"And we are not building from the ground up. We already have many of the facilities."
More information on the legacies for Whistler and the corridor will be available at two open houses hosted by the Resort Municipality of Whistler.
Both will be held in the Maguire room at the conference centre. The first will be on Feb. 20, from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. The second will be on Feb. 23, from 11 am, to 3 p.m.
The ‘Korean Incident’
Vancouver-Whistler’s Olympic bid team were shocked this week during their visit to Salt Lake to see a huge banner proclaiming Korea’s bid for the 2010 Games.
"We were driving Sunday night and were stopped dead in our tracks by this 20 foot by 20 foot. banner for the Korean 2010 bid," said Bid Corporation spokesman Sam Corea from Salt Lake.
"It is not what we are doing. As we have understood the rules, there is to be no major promotion of the 2010 Games."
The International Olympic Committee’s ethic watchdogs are investigating whether South Korea has broken the rules with their huge promotion of its bid for the 2010 Games.
Under the rules applicant cities are not allowed to promote their bid outside their own territory.
There are 31 people from the Vancouver-Whistler bid office and other officials in Salt Lake this week including CEO Jack Poole, Ted Nebbeling, the B.C. minister responsible for the 2010 bid, and Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly.
Things had been quiet at the beginning of the week as Salt Lake got ready to launch their Games.
But by Wednesday barricades were going up, army personnel were checking passports, and the air was filled with anticipation.
Said O’Reilly: "When you talk to the staff that are participating you can kind of feel the excitement.
"They are like us. They want to know what our impressions are of them. And we are saying it looks good."
2010 Hopefuls
Eight cities are bidding for the 2010 Olympic Games. The list became official earlier this week as the deadline for cities to declare their candidacy expired on Tuesday.
As well as Vancouver-Whistler the list includes Andorra la Vella, the capital of the tiny principality of Andorra; Bern, Switzerland; Harbin, China; Jaca, Spain; Pyeongchang, South Korea; Salzburg, Austria, and Sarajevo, Bosnia.
It’s unlikely Harbin will be successful as Beijing has been chosen to host the 2008 Summer Games.
Some of the European candidates such as Berne and Salzburg have a strong chance in the race.
But so does Vancouver-Whistler. The local bid has many of the large infrastructures already in place and some say it might be North America’s turn to host a Winter Games.
Antidotes on Hand
Stockpiles of anthrax-fighting pills and smallpox vaccine have been shipped to Utah so they can be distributed immediately if there is a bio-terrorist attack at the Winter Games.
A complex information network will also be in place so that officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can monitor anything unusual and speed up reaction time.
Organizers are worried that people could be affected then spread out in different directions, making it hard to spot an outbreak or bring it under control.
Grouse Mountain Supports Bid
Grouse Mountain and the 2010 Bid Corporation are exploring ways of working together to win the Winter Games.
"Grouse could be an ideal location for a studio for an international broadcaster during the Games," said Bid CEO Jack Poole.
It would also be a great place to show off the city when the International Olympic Committee’s Evaluation Commission visit inn early 2003.
New Web site on Whistler bid
A new Web site has been launched by a couple of Whistler locals to try and give an unbiased view of the Vancouver Olympic bid and to provide some independent information.
The new site, www.whistlerolympicinfo.com, was established by Van Powel and Troy Assaly. The site asks questions and provides third-party information on the economics, social, business, environmental and political aspects of the 2010 bid. There is also an interactive forum for site visitors to discuss the bid.
