Here we are hurtling headlong through April, and there is no better time than right now for a double-barreled barrage of random musings from this corner of The Chief.
The catalogue of special interest groups fighting for their slice of the pie or piece of turf in the Shining Valley is growing, and so is the ill will between some of those groups. The announcement that the Squamish Off-Road Cycling Association will receive municipal funding for three years was not met with universal public approval. One disgruntled pundit lit up The Chief’s Facebook page with this comment: “So The District of Squamish can fund SORCA but can’t find funds for a new boat launch for the boating community… If you need funding to maintain the trails then maybe you should do a user pay system.”
In general, it appears more than a few organizations are becoming dysfunctional hornets’ nests. Even Quest University is not immune to that affliction. The shuffling of presidents over the past four years and the swirl of lawsuits has all the earmarks of a Squamish version of the classic Whac-A-Mole arcade game.
From bickering strata councils to feuding boards and associations of every stripe, at times the rending of garments and gnashing of teeth is biblical in scope, especially on social media where competing viewpoints invariably become Twitter or Facebook piñatas.
It appears more of us are stressed-out and barking at each other these days. Is that unusual behaviour triggered by over caffeination, or too many close encounters in our newly densified neighbourhoods?
Speaking of barking, a number of heated exchanges have been triggered by some dog owners who figure the whole town and adjacent parks are de facto canine free-range zones. We love our pooches to pieces. And so we should. They give us comfort and companionship when we need it most. But there is a growing divide between owners who leash their pets and clean up after them when required and those who flout the rules with seeming impunity. What’s more, a request to harness their charges can result in an F-sharp major verbal rebuke, followed by a declaration that people who suggest dogs should be leashed are a few fries short of a McHappy meal.
Moving right along here, last summer’s much-publicized rogue camper and derelict vehicle clean-up blitz initiated by the District of Squamish and its public safety affiliates is rapidly receding in the rear-view mirror. It looks like we’re back to square one with a growing problem in need of robust and consistent remediation. A few years ago, while three levels of government dawdled, thumb-twiddled and passed the buck, the Squamish Streamkeepers Society cut to the chase and hauled dilapidated vessels out of our waterways. Will it take a similar civic-minded group to hasten the removal of unsightly abandoned vehicles and get the mess left behind by itinerant campers cleaned up?
