The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) dealt another blow to Squamish this week by confirming that it won't go ahead with a proposed Squamish passenger ferry marina, as stated in the bid book, to help transport the hordes of visitors expected during the 2010 Olympics.
VANOC will most likely rely on a fleet of 750 busses to transport spectators from Vancouver to Whistler and back, according to the Sea to Sky director of community relations and operations Maureen Douglas.
"We've known for a little while," she said. "It's the most efficient and it's the most affordable way to transport people from Vancouver to Whistler."
But simply watching bus after bus go by is unacceptable, said Mayor Ian Sutherland.
"They promised we would not be just seeing busses go by on the highway and we're going to make sure that doesn't happen," he said.
The decision to drop the ferry came when VANOC found it difficult to find a partner to build a ferry marina. And once the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told VANOC they'd like to see a decrease in the size of their venues, which would mean smaller hordes of visitors and less pressure on transportation, busses made more sense, said Douglas.
"It's a worldwide television event, but they keep looking at a reduction of your spectator numbers to allow for the better movement of people, for less pressure on the community infrastructure you're dealing with," she said. "So that created a condition where we could look at what it does to motor coach transportation."
But VANOC's confirmation that it was dropping the ferry so soon after announcing that the hoped for Paralympic arena would go to Whistler renewed Suther-land's anger and disappointment.
"Squamish as a community is tired to keep hearing from VANOC why they can't do what they say they're going to do," said Sutherland. "You have to remember that Greg Gardner and Bob Brant and the Chamber task force put hours and hours and hours into boosting the Olympics long before anyone else in BC was, other than perhaps Vancouver. This is a slap in the face to Greg and Bob and everyone who worked so hard on it."
Douglas said that VANOC wants to keep the good relationship it has with Squamish, but Sutherland points to numerous factors that have contributed to that relationship's deterioration.
"The fact that they made an announcement (regarding the Paralympic arena) at the Chamber luncheon without telling us about it first," he said. "The fact that there are no tangible benefits so far out of the 2010 Olympics, that they broke their word. They said the book was the bible and it would be followed if they received the bid. Frankly as a community we're losing a whole lot of confidence with what VANOC tells us."
Douglas said changes to the bid book are common at all Olympic Game venues, but VANOC's plans remain nonetheless "very close to the plans that are laid out in the book."
Douglas said that Squamish would still benefit greatly from the thousands of media and visitors who will not merely focus on Whistler, but see the corridor as "one big place." And she continues to encourage Squamish to discover ways to capitalize on 2010 in a way Sutherland said he finds insulting.
"I was offended by the comment by Maureen Douglas and her colleagues that Squamish better start doing things to get ready for 2010," he said. "Squamish has been doing things longer than anybody else has been. It comes to the point where we need some cooperation from VANOC, and Maureen's job is supposed to be the coordinator for the corridor, but in her comments in the press it's 'me' and 'them'. 'Them' being Squamish."
The transportation issue won't be finalized until the Torino, Italy Olympics are concluded to allow VANOC to apply lessons learned there to 2010. But VANOC does know its top priority is to manage the crush of people travelling the highway during the early morning.
It is most likely that anyone travelling from Vancouver to Whistler will have to board a bus and Squamish residents will receive a permit to travel the highway. It's also likely that Whistler employees living in Squamish will be transported to work. There will also be security checks along the [email protected]
