Editor,
I wish to address the Sept. 2 letter to the editor of Squamish District councillor and former Mayor Corinne Lonsdale and to commend her for years of service, her ongoing civic duty and vision, and genuine caring for the welfare of her community.In reference to accomplishments of past councils and District administrations, notwithstanding certain disputes and obstructions which are currently impeding the Garibaldi at Squamish all-season mountain resort development, I assure you that had it not been for the proactive initiatives of past administrations councillor and Mayor Lonsdale was involved in and the community leadership Mayors Tobus and Lonsdale demonstrated cutting through the still ongoing morass of provincial government lands agency irregularities, Garibaldi at Squamish would never have seen the light of day.
Mayor Tobus said it best when, in response to an infamous 1992 column by the Vancouver Sun's Nicole Parton ("Squamish: so much potential, but such a dump"), he stated in a series of three full-page apologetics by Parton that Squamish was sick and tired of merely being "a drive-thru gas and hamburger stop" for visitors to Whistler.
It is as a result of a grassroots community driven process which followed, an initiative energetically continued by Mayor Lonsdale (and legendary, irreplaceable economic development impressario Robert Fine, Community Futures, and responsible longtime citizens of the community), that Squamish began to experience a paradigm socio-economic shift which resulted in the realization and self-confidence that the community, with Garibaldi at Squamish, had more than all the potential and natural resources it needed to become a world class destination we liked to call "ORCONA" - The Outdoor Recreation Capital of North America.
Let's not forget to give credit where credit is due: many thanks.
Wolfgang Richter
Vancouver/Los Angeles
Takes one to know one
Editor,
RE: Jeff Dawson's letter to the editor Sept. 9:
Mr. Dawson, it appears that you have a problem separating fact from fantasy. I didn't take you to task for having viewpoints different from mine. I took you to task for stating, as a fact, that Squamish had experienced "years of misery and neglect and one missed opportunity after another." You never stated that that was your personal opinion until your rebuttal of my letter where you finally had to admit that the views you expressed were only your opinion. You should have done that from the beginning.
In your letter you then state, again as a fact, that "By most any standard, Squamish was not living up to its potential." This is your opinion Mr. Dawson; not a fact and you should be careful to state it as such. Did you have any standards to measure Squamish's performance by? The only standard you have identified in your two letters is one where you determine municipal state of misery/neglect by the manner in which people vote.
Mr. Dawson, you refer to the results of the last municipal election as evidence to justify your contention that Squamish was suffering from years of misery and neglect. Presumably, a change of the people in municipal government equated, by your standard, to misery and neglect being suffered courtesy of the previous administration. If, Mr. Dawson, you had bothered to review the number of incumbents defending their seats in council; you could have determined that only two seats, Raj Kahlon's and Wendy Magee's, were being defended. Indeed, if one factors in that Wendy wasn't even in the country for the campaign and mounted a very tepid effort, it could be argued that, for all intents and purposes, only one seat was being actively defended by an incumbent. In any case, it should be obvious that whether or not Squamish was experiencing "misery and neglect" or rapture for that matter; Council was going to be populated by a majority of new councillors and a new mayor. This being the case, Mr. Dawson, in my opinion, your standard does not carry the veracity you ascribe to it.
There is a vote however, to which, Mr. Dawson, you might wish to apply your standard. This vote had all the current council as sitting members and thus might be more measurable as a reflection of misery, neglect or voter dissatisfaction. I am referring, of course, to the $20-million referendum. If, Mr. Dawson, you were to apply your standard to that result (about 75 per cent against in spite of a massive advertising effort on the part of its proponents), what terms would you use to describe the state of Squamish - miserable? Neglected? Widespread community dissatisfaction? Lack of attention to finances? Uncertainty? Lack of focus? Fear of massive tax increases? Personally, I consider the rejection of the proposal as a statement by the taxpayers as an indication of their unease with the current council's ability to manage the municipal finances. By the way, Mr. Dawson, how much did the municipality spend on that referendum including advertising, brochures and such?
As to strategic planning, Mr. Dawson, by definition planning is a strategic exercise so perhaps we are debating semantics here but, in addition to Official Community Plans (OCP's), past councils have done three year work plans which even by your definition are strategic and pretty much the same thing as your "strategic plan"- isn't that true?
Finally, Mr. Dawson you accuse me of conveniently "leaving out one key word in my text to attempt to try to make a point.' I believe you are referring to the text "All in the vain' where it showed up in print as "All in vain" with "the' being omitted. Actually, Mr. Dawson, I submitted the letter including all the four words but the good folks at The Chief inadvertently left out the "the". It is understandable that you might draw the conclusion that this was done purposely, but it was not The irony here is, Mr. Dawson, that in your second letter you still don't seem to realize that you used the incorrect homophone. You might try using "vein" or "vane". Go ahead, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right.
As to your referral to the old adage "don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant", if that is your opinion of my missive, from the narrative in the two letters you have written, I would have to determine that I am being judged by a peer.
Larry McLennan
Garibaldi Highlands
Editor's note: this is an unedited version of McLennan's letter. A shorter verson was published in the paper copy of The Chief
Oceanfront vision concerns
Editor,
When the District of Squamish received title to the Nexen oceanfront lands, the community was promised many new assets, including among other desiderata space for the theatre, arts and festivals, badly-needed new recreational land, beautiful public vistas from our waterfront and beaches, and easily accessible wind-surfing facilities.
But now that plans are being committed to paper, a funny thing seems to have happened. There are enough rows of townhouses to delight any realtor, and there seems to be a narrow boardwalk running amid ropes and moorings for luxury yachts. However, there is no sign of any space for theatre or the arts, little in the way of public recreational space, and apparently little or no parking for those who might choose to visit the small beach that will be conserved.
I understand that a petition opposing this proposal is currently being circulating in the community, and I would encourage all residents to give it their support. It urges Mr. Mike Chin, C.E.O. of the Squamish Oceanfront Development Corporation, to bring forward a plan more in line with local aspirations before the earth movers of the developers move upon this potential jewel of our community.
Roy Shephard
Squamish
Hurricane highlights significance of dykes
Editor,
Katrina's devastation brings to focus what can happen when a dyking system fails under severe storm conditions. An extensive system of levees (dyking) was built by the US Core of Army Engineers to provide flood protection for the City of New Orleans. The breaches that occurred during the flood must be plugged in order to pump the knee high water covering a city.
Media reports suggest about studies, done in the past, identifying the need to upgrade the flood protection system estimated at approximately $10 billion. These were not implemented due to lack of funding. With the present size of devastation in the loss of life and property (estimated well over $100 billion) one cannot help but pity the fallacy of public decision-making.Many communities in BC rely on dykes for flood protection. Squamish has an extensive system of dykes (approx. 30 km in length) for flood protection.
Many neighbourhoods including Brackendale, lower Highlands, Industrial Park, North yards, Dentville and the Downtown rely on the integrity of these dykes for flood protection.
Squamish went through its own flooding experience in 2003. Thank God the damage was limited in scope. However, deficiencies were identified in our flood protection system. It is absolutely essential that funding priorities be given, both at municipal and provincial levels, to maintain and upgrade this critical infrastructure of flood protection.
Mohammad Afsar, P.Eng
Squamish
Media missing Telus story
Editor,
So what is it with our media these days? Seems they can't tell us enough about somebody's dog who got run over, or report ad nauseam about some dope tunnel from B.C. to Washington State; how about those U.S. medical studies comparing American men who consume hamburgers 10 times a day to American men who don't... who cares, I live in Canada!
But when there is a labour-related story about a major Canadian communications company (Telus - www.telus.com), who is currently involved in a major labour battle with the Telecommunications Worker's Union (TWU - www.twu-canada.ca), that is and will have major consequences for its customers, employees and shareholders, the media seems eerily quiet - unless, of course, the story is sanitized by and/or for Telus, and won't jeopardize the advertising revenue that Telus provides).
A good example of media myopia can be found in The Province a few days ago regarding some alleged splinter group of the TWU (democracytwu) that is calling for a vote on the imposed, non-negotiated contract that Telus demands we accept. The story has a quote from Drew McArthur (Telus spokesperson) saying that the company has wanted this long ago, the article also says Bruce Bell (TWU president) is unavailable for comment (how hard did they really try), and the people responsible for the 'democracytwu' website were unavailable for comment. Funny, if they (democracytwu) weren't available, how did The Province find out about the story in the first place? Did it just land on their desk out of the blue? Smells a little fishy to me
The public has the right to know that Telus has been found guilty on numerous Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) rulings involving unfair labour practices, the public has the right to know that the CIRB (a federal government body) refuses to discipline Telus for those infractions. The public has a right to know that Telus is withholding critical information from the Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regarding service level measurements required by the CRTC to guarantee Canadians a reasonable level of service from their communications providers who still hold a monopoly in a major portion of this country.
The public has the right to know that Telus intends to contract out thousands of Canadian jobs to an Indonesian call centre that Telus has recently purchased. The public has the right to know what is happening in their country and their communities, to know both sides of a dispute that involves all of us when you consider that the services Telus provides, affects us all in one way or another.
The public also expects honest journalistic practices from our media, free from corporate restraints, and free from censorship that would withhold information that affects us all. What has happened to investigative reporting? Does the media check out the facts, or just print what was handed to them by a biased source? Why doesn't the media report the whole story, and let us decide what we should think?
Jim Brown
Bowen Island
Literacy support applauded
Editor,
Once again, we would like to congratulate the people of Squamish for supporting literacy.
Two years have passed since Harry Potter graced our pages and our lives, but the enthusiasm for him certainly has not waned.
Thank you to all those brave and hardy souls who stayed up until midnight to buy the new book (not to mention those who stayed up all night reading it!). Parents, grandparents, siblings, teachers and friends are continuing to enrich the lives of those who have been introduced to or chosen reading as a passion, not just as a necessity as we know, one will never be bored as long as one can read. Thank you, Squamish.
Jane Moloughney And Gang
Mostly Books
