Close to 100 Squamish residents turned out this week to hear about how the 2010 Winter Games will impact their community.
The meeting, held at Quest University, was hosted by the 2010 Vancouver Organizing Committee as part of their Game Plan series.
Top of mind for most residents was how they would get around town by car and manage their commutes to Vancouver and Whistler.
Brent Macdonald, who drives to Whistler to work while his wife commutes to Vancouver, is concerned about how they will manage at Games time.
If getting to work means taking a shuttle back and forth, that adds hours to their day, commuting won’t work. Added to that is the worry about how to keep his children safe and occupied meaningfully as schools in Squamish will be closed for one or two weeks during the Games period.
“The big one for us is transportation,” said Macdonald.
“…If we are going to be herded to shuttle buses every day then how many more hours will that add to our day? Combined with the schools being shut down, it’s a challenge.”
He was also concerned about what his town is getting out of the Games.
“…Are we going to be known as the traffic jam place on the highway?” said Macdonald.
“Or are people going to be allowed to stop and see the waterfront and see downtown, or is Squamish just going to be by-passed and if it is then why are we participating at all? There really is no benefit at all if people aren’t going to be able to get off the bus to see it.”
VANOC spokesperson Maureen Douglas told the crowd that it definitely wouldn’t be business as usual for Squamish. But, she said, everyone will be able to get to work and residents will be able to commute both south and north without restrictions and without permits.
However, she said VANOC would share in the coming months the best times to travel to avoid peak load-in and load-out periods.
There will be an enhanced transit system put in place to encourage commuters to get out of their cars and take the bus.
“(Transportation) is a huge challenge at every Games,” said Douglas. “And we are investing a great deal of time into it.”
Speaking before the meeting Douglas also said VANOC’s commitment to Squamish’s success is firm.
“We are very committed in supporting Squamish in its endeavours to find its Games time success and being there to provide suggestions and support as requested,” she said.
“Yes there have been some challenges and some ideas that haven’t been able to work for everyone concerned… and we also have the resource limitations of a budget that has to be very responsibly managed on behalf of the entire country. All of those things are factored into decisions, revisions, and changes in plans. But it doesn’t stop us believing in the success of the Games for every community it is going to flow through, including Squamish.”
But Mayor Ian Sutherland said the community is frustrated with the lack of legacies the Games have delivered so far to his community.
“Generally speaking, Squamish has always been one of the biggest boosters… and I think it is fair to say that there is a bit of dismay in the community that there is not a more active role for us to play in the Games,” said Sutherland, who only learned of the Game Plan meeting from a reporter, on the day it was held.
So far, he said, plans for Squamish have fallen through at
almost every turn.
The town lost a planned passenger ferry terminal for
spectators, hopes to be a cruise ship terminal for media, and a new ice arena,
which would have been used for the Paralympics. This past summer Squamish also
learned that its proposed plans to be a transportation hub at Games time could
not work financially or logistically.
“It is frustrating,” said Sutherland.
“When (Olympic officials) were going after the bid… we had (people) here every week telling us what a great experience it would be for Squamish. It would be our chance to welcome the world, and now we are being given a different message by the current operators of VANOC and it is frustrating.
“I’m frustrated, all members of council are frustrated, the community’s frustrated. At the end of the day we are making the best of it and we will carve our place out but it is certainly not what we were lead to believe a few years ago.”
Squamish lies between Vancouver, which is hosting the ice sports, freestyle and snowboarding, and Whistler, which is hosting the alpine, Nordic and sliding events.
While the host communities were still bidding for the Games Squamish named itself the Heart of 2010 and launched a whole campaign around that theme. But when the Games were won in 2003 the excited community was told to abandon their campaign as using “2010” in it was an infringement of Olympic rights.
“We got held up by petty bureaucracy,” said Sutherland of the incident.
“That was just plain foolish. We were the ‘Heart of 2010’ for the two or three years during the bid process and VANOC thought it was the greatest idea they had heard of in their lives, and suddenly they get the Games and we couldn’t use that phrase anymore — that was just silly.
“But at the same time we thought, well, this is just one hiccup and everything else will work as it goes along, not appreciating how many more detours there would be.”
Now, said Sutherland, who is running for the Liberals in the upcoming federal election, the town is looking out for itself first and the Games second.
“I think what we are doing now is trying to take a step back and work through the issues with VANOC the best we can and look out for ourselves,” he said.
But according to Squamish Chamber president Margo Dent there are opportunities associated with the Games for Squamish, and many are very excited about it.
She pointed to the close to 500 people who came out recently for the opening of the 2010 Volunteer Centre in Squamish which will train the 5,000 to 7,000 volunteers needed in Sea to Sky country.
“As far as I am concerned it is exciting,” she said.
“The chamber is looking at what are the opportunities in front of us and how do we make the most of them.
“I think it is really time to say enough that we didn’t get the accommodations on the water, enough of we didn’t get the sledge hockey, that is all the background and the politics and the stuff that we can’t do anything about.
“Today this is us moving forward and we are going to do whatever we can as a chamber to support any of the businesses…”
Game Plan attendees also learned of a brand new way Sea to Sky youth aged 15 to 19 will be able to take part in the Games. VANOC is inviting groups of 10 plus an adult supervisor to apply as volunteers. The skills of the group will be looked at, said Dick Vollett, VANOC’s vice president of Workforce, and the 250 youth chosen will be placed in positions that will be meaningful.
That might mean, for example, that ski club youth may help out at the alpine venue.
Interested youth can find out more at Vancouver2010.com. Once a group is formed send an e-mail to youthparticipation@vancouver2010.com .
