EDITOR,
Train whistles or not ("Cash needed to silence train whistles: report," Chief, March 9), I marvel at Coun. Ted Prior's proposal to "privatize" what is essentially a district issue, that is, by asking for "strata developments along the tracks to band together to pay for the upgrades." Should dike upgrades to safeguard particularly vulnerable low-lying areas in Brackendale or the next slope stabilization on Skyline Drive or elsewhere in the Highlands perhaps be privatized out of the pockets of homeowners there too? Downtown rejuvenation? Nothing for the district to worry about, let the struggling businesses figure it out themselves; after all, they knew what they got themselves into when they opened their shops there... and while we are at it, why not also privatize our ailing sewage treatment plant and municipal water supply to the highest bidder? I am sorry Ted, but taking your lame argument to its "reductio ad absurdum," it would not leave much for the district government to be responsible for anymore. Other municipal governments have dealt with railway proximity issues successfully, so it should not be beyond Squamish's capabilities to do the same.
Having said that, I agree with those online commentators who say that limited district cash should be allocated first to more urgent infrastructure needs. Nevertheless, I would also like readers to consider that it was not just purchasers in new strata developments along the tracks who "should have known," as many state, but even more so the district, which approved those projects and ought to have known better about potential proximity issues when you mix residential with industrial. (Oceanfront lands, anyone?). I would also like to remind you that the developers of these projects, and by extension their purchasers, paid hefty Development Cost Charges to the district for whatever infrastructure improvements would be required, which should have included railway crossing upgrades.
In the meantime, CN has come a long way since the excessive railway noise issue erupted more than a year ago and deserves credit for having been responsive. I am certain a solution can be found regarding the whistling issue without spending a fortune on it, provided goodwill continues on all sides.
Wolfgang Wittenburg
Squamish
