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Weekend rowdies warned of zero tolerance

Respect Whistler releases a seris of recommendations

By Alison Taylor

Three weeks before the May long weekend, Whistler has a message to all its partying guests — bad behaviour will not be tolerated in the resort.

“People are going to get the message that you can go to Whistler, you can have a great time but you’re not going to do it at other people’s expense,” said Dennis Hilton, chair of the Respect Whistler Coordinating Committee.

The committee was formed in the wake of last year’s May 24 long weekend, which was characterized by complaints of rowdy, intimidating behaviour from young guests. Examples of groups walking eight across in the village so people had to move out of their way, and the flagrant use of profanity in the village streets prompted complaints from guests and a call to action from resort partners.

More than 100 community members met shortly after the weekend to discuss ways to deal with the problems and Respect Whistler was born.

The group, which is made up of a wide-range of stakeholders, has developed a series of recommendations. The recommendations call for all the resort partners, from hotels and strata condo owners to bars and bylaw services, to work together.

“It seems to me that if every business operates in partnership with every other business then our village, Whistler village, becomes such an attractive place for guests of all ages and of all desires,” said Hilton.

The committee has been working in conjunction with the RCMP and bylaw services.

The RCMP has already sent out the message to schools in the Lower Mainland via the local community policing officers that there is zero tolerance for disruptive behaviour in Whistler.

“Students are certainly having the message delivered to them and as soon as they come into town they will see that reinforced, that we mean business,” said Corporal Steve Wright.

“To back that up, those very same community policing officers, school liaison officers, are coming up to Whistler to work on the weekend to help us identify troublemakers. They will be supplementing our enhanced foot patrols both during the day and at night, which is something that we didn’t have last year.”

There will be random roadblocks on the highway that weekend and an increased police presence.

Roughly 20 additional officers will be called in for Friday and Saturday nights. The bike patrol will be in the village during the day and evening and there will be plainclothes police offers in town, helping identify any troublemakers.

“As long as they behave themselves and abide by the provincial and municipal law then there’s no need for them to come to our attention, but if they do, they’re going to be dealt with,” said Cpl. Wright.

In the past, blame has been placed on hotels and other accommodation providers who slash their prices to entice guests in the shoulder season, making it easy and affordable for young people to come to Whistler en masse.

Committee member Kimberly Hughes, general manager of the Delta Whistler Village Suites, said the committee didn’t discuss pricing. Pricing isn’t an issue, she said, when people cram more than the maximum allowed into each room.

Respect Whistler’s recommendations include a set of draft bylaws to the strata corporations which detail noise regulations, among other things. The recommendations also call for owners of any nightly rental units to provide a 24-hour Whistler contact in case of emergencies or noise violations. As well, they want to ensure guests are of legal age to sign a contract upon check-in and are given the message that disruptive behaviour will not be tolerated.

The committee’s recommendations also include honouring the “Good Neighbour” policy, meaning one business cannot operate at the expense of another business.

Hilton uses the example of the co-operative partnership between the Adara Hotel, where he owns a unit, and Buffalo Bill’s, the nightclub located underneath.

Nightclub owner Joey Gibbons said they have put mechanisms in place to help reduce the noise traveling up to the hotel. The base speakers are now on seismic springs and DJs cannot increase the volume on the sound system past a certain point. In addition, his managers call the hotel twice every night for feedback.

On the flip side hotel guests are now briefed on the nature of the resort, that it’s a place with a vibrant and exciting nightlife.

In the rooms more susceptible to village noise, there are earplugs and a high-tech white noise machine that helps to mask the outside activity.

Now the hotel gets one sound complaint a month on average, which Hilton said was “unheard of before.”

Gibbons said nightclub and bar owners are in regular contact. They will be meeting again before the long weekend.

“We all make sure that we’re not hosting any acts that will attract the people that we don’t want up here,” he said.

But as someone who is in the village at night regularly working, Gibbons said he thinks the resort is safer than it’s ever been before.

“I think we should always be getting together… and discussing ways that we can create a safer village,” he said. “We can always work on how we partner together to be safer, absolutely.”

Respect Whistler is hoping to find a champion to ensure the recommendations are carried forward into the future and the messaging stays consistent over the next decade. It will be presenting the recommendations to various stakeholders in the weeks to come.