Everyone's concern
Editor,
The eight-hour closure of the Sea to Sky highway Saturday Feb. 11, has been so self destructive for our morale and economy that I must write about it.
Everyone who has anything to say about this, unite and demand change of these dismal policy and procedures manuals for traffic closures.
The grief and sadness will not become any less for the families by making the road passable by your emergency crew in less than eight hours. Think how much more grief these "how to clean up" rules brought on Saturday afternoon!
Think what an impression of "who cares?" this closure did represent to the thousands of tourists and commuters alike who were completely stuck in buses, limousines and cars to sit this out without toilets, food or water - not even for the babies, diabetics or the sick taken for what may have been a last pleasure ride.
There was the danger of turning around while there are people walking on the road - children climbing in to ravine areas, boys jumping on gravel mountains, and teens making a bonfire in the forest area beside the road.
A bus in front of me contained skiers from Winnipeg with young healthy people for which Whistler is (was?) the attraction and had flown in on the first flight out. No more food on the plane any more, therefore, quickly up to Whistler...
By 8 p.m. this was no longer funny when you have been up since 4 a.m.
Behind me a bus full of Japanese tourists, also just flown in, were sitting there after a long flight.
The weather was beautiful, but by the time the road opened it was dark, consequently they did not see any of the beauty they came to see...."Will not come again". The rich people who took a taxi from the airport, now poor....."No money left for fun". Think of the restaurants in Whistler who cooked dinner for these bus loads...Think of all the missed flights, busloads of them!
Think when an accident happens when the Olympics are on...
This has to change NOW! Fire all the people "in charge" lacking common sense. Emergency crews - I am sure you can do things differently!
Margareth Van Til
Furry Creek
Trashing new garbage totes
Editor,
So what's the deal with these new Carney's totes? I care about the environment and I do recycle everything that I can.
However, there are individual cases where recycling is impossible or near impossible. What if I don't have a car to take my recycling to one of the only two recycling depots in the whole town? What if I'm elderly? What if I have a handicap? Until we have curbside pickup for recycling, I will put whatever I need to in my garbage.
Can we put newspaper with bird and dog poop in there or should that be recycled? Yuck! Are the things we can't put in the garbage just suggestions or are they law? I understand the importance of proper disposal of medical supplies, toxic materials and batteries, etc. However, beyond that, I think Carney's is stepping beyond its rights as a business. It's my understanding that I am not required by law to recycle. They're not giving me any options.
Does this sound confrontational? Well, take another look at that pamphlet they sent out. They should try reading it from my perspective. I'm not buying bear-proof locks at $100 a pop. Replacement at my cost if it's stolen? Whatever!
I would ask that Carney's remember the following: Who paid for these totes? The taxpayers. The totes don't make our jobs easier, just theirs. Did they think they were doing us a favour? I'm all for efficiency, but now I'm in a garbage dictatorship.
Ronaye Daly
Garibaldi Highlands
We do the work
Editor,
Hurrah, for Carney's Waste Systems; he doesn't have to have human aid to dump the garbage totes.
I guess we are not human. I am 70 years old and have a serious lung disease and heart problems. It was hard enough to take my smaller totes to the curb as I have an uphill grade from the garage to the curb. Carney's totes are much larger and heavy when empty.
There are many of us that will have to hire someone to take the totes to the curb. Myself I am on low income, so who is going to pay to have my totes taken to the curb each week?
The covers on my own smaller can seal much better than Carney's new ones and why should I buy the safety locks? Since Carney came up with this idea, then he should supply the locks.
Another thing, there is hardly any garbage that we can put in the new totes. A person has to take the rest of the garbage to the landfill, the big bins or to Carney's disposal. Not all of us have vehicles to take this other stuff to those areas.
Several of us were discussing these new garbage totes and we all believe that more garbage will be dumped just anywhere and attract more bears.
Who is going to pay our compensation if something happens while taking them huge totes?
So we citizens do most of the work and Carney's gets richer.
T. Rodman
Squamish
Curbside recycling is due
Editor,
I challenge Carney's and City Council to put our old garbage cans to use by picking up the recycling. My cans don't fit in my car and I usually take recycling to the bins weekly. Lots of times Carney's bins are overflowing and I return home with some as I don't believe in littering. If we have to pay big city taxes, it would be nice to have at least this one benefit - curbside recycling pickup! Maybe it would provide more jobs, too!
Elaine Kotyk
Squamish
