EDITOR,
Well, after two hours of sitting on highway trying to get home from the city and then enduring three days of rude and belligerent young folk with a overinflated sense of self entitlement, we (Squamish) are left holding the bag.
Firstly, the organizers should be sued for the crap job they did with the traffic. The signs and highway divide should have been started as far back as Shannon Falls. Then they created a single lane on the other side of the bridge, which caused traffic to further back up. They should have had the lanes divided on the bottom of the hill. If you weren't in the right lane, you should have had to drive straight through and turn around to get in line again. I heard people that were trying to get up to Whistler for Crankworx said that they would never do this again if the festival was on that weekend.
Secondly, I am calling out the Mayor and council to provide the people of Squamish with hard numbers proving that this festival is an economic benefit to the community. I want to see numbers. Anyone with half a brain could see the only places that were busy were McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Walmart, 7-Eleven and the liquor stores - all that money going into corporate pockets. Were local businesses allowed to set up food or crafts booths at the festival? What kind of outrageous fee did they have to pay?
Thirdly, there were tents in places they shouldn't have been. Where was the district to get these people back to the camping areas where they belong? I went for a walk down by the river and there was a place they were using a bush for toilet. The camping registration should have been started on Wednesday not the day it opens. Campers should be restricted on how much stuff they can bring in per person and be required to leave a deposit for their site and get it back once it's verified it's clean; credit card pre-authorized works for other industries.
Lastly, I was appalled at the attitude and rudeness of some of these people. I walked into 7-Eleven and this male person was shouting at the cashier and started calling the small female behind the till a "f-ing paki" and "brownbagger" and I saw it at other businesses as well.
And we want to expand this event?
Yours wondering if it's all worth it.
Jason Bechard
Squamish
