Every time I read or hear about Garibaldi at Squamish (GAS), I'm reminded of the Monty Python "Black Knight" skit from The Holy Grail. You know the one: the Black Knight, while facing King Arthur, has is arms and legs cut off in battle but continues the fight until finally Arthur passes and the Black Knight cries out, "Oh. Oh, I see. Running away, eh? You yellow bastard! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!"Mike Esler, the public face of GAS, reminds me of the Knight. His development, which has been buried and assumed gone countless times over the past 15 years, just keeps coming back, yet Esler seems happily oblivious to it all - "Just a flesh wound!" I imagine him saying at the boardroom table.I do give him full credit for battling on in the face of what must seem like battery of broadswords.It was less than a year ago that Esler said he would pack up his development and leave town if he didn't have the support of the community - a "show-stopper" he called it; and even though that support has never materialized and the opposition has grown, he fights on.After the last environmental assessment setback, Esler's attack retreated into the ad hominem realm with his contention that "the activist groups... are distorting the information." After all, if you can't counter the arguments and concerns of your opponents, then the best strategy is to try to paint your them as a fringe group.But I've got a sneaking suspicion that Esler has information to which the rest of us are not privy. His obstinacy is not simply that people behind the development have more dollars than sense; he must believe that he's got an inside track.He's begun courting the business community with "private gatherings." Meanwhile, every time there's another stumbling block, it seems that council falls over itself to not let this thing die. Most recently, they chose to put a scheduled information session on hold at the request of GAS. The purpose of that public meeting was to gauge public opinion so the district could to take an official position on the project.Excuse me? Council members need more input to develop a public position on a project that's been lingering around for so long as to be almost comical? But the fact is that no council member has yet to make a clear public statement in support of or in opposition to GAS. They simply haven't said what they think.Fortunately it's an election year, and GAS is sure to be an election issue, and it's not unusual in Squamish for elections to swing on one galvanizing issue. GAS may just be this year's.If so, any aspiring council member will likely face a public standing at the bridge stipulating that "none shall pass" without taking a clear position.
