EDITOR,
Businesses come and go, but the loss of landmarks such as Yiannis and earlier the Bookshelf resonate in the community. Voices are raised for Council "to do something to save downtown" and criticism about the commercial build-up in Garibaldi Estates drawing business away from it reaches a fever pitch.
As much as one part in us may deplore the existence of strip malls and big box stores, let's admit it: We also like their conveniences. If these stores were not present here, local dollars would simply flow to centres on the North Shore or elsewhere in the Lower Mainland, and Squamish would be left with fewer jobs and lower tax revenue.
Rejuvenate downtown? It is time our civic leaders take stock of the assets we already have and begin working with these rather than keep on chasing dreams about Squamish to become a tourist destination, the Oceanfront Lands being our answer to Granville Island, or uttering platitudes like bringing "Jobs, jobs, jobs - not the minimum wage, strip-mall jobs, but jobs that allow people to eat and sleep in this community" as one councillor standing for re-election was recently quoted as saying by The Chief. He might just as well have included the low-pay and seasonal jobs offered by the tourist industry.
By all means keep promoting Squamish as a locale for doing business, but in doing so, be honest about what provided the basis for our past industries and recognize our geographical constraints and limitation as a transportation/transhipment hub as well as the competitive advantages of the Lower Mainland in that field.
I count as one of our important assets the hundreds of residential real estate units for sale in Squamish, some new, with more already approved by previous councils and still on developers' drawing boards. Would it not make sense to pay attention to that real and pending inventory instead of chasing developers in the forlorn hope that one will bet his money on the mirage of the Oceanfront Lands? After all, residential densification in the existing downtown core was encouraged precisely to stimulate commercial activity there. Filling these units would go a long way toward accomplishing that. How should we go about it? I know it is anathema to some: By unashamedly promoting ourselves in the Lower Mainland as the best "bedroom community" in close proximity to Greater Vancouver!
Real estate sales, and correspondingly prices in the Lower Mainland, have barely noticed a dip through the recession, all fuelled by offshore buying, of course. What is on the market there sells within days. We will not attract these more urban buyers, but we should court those, many of them young families, who, because of affordability, have to move farther and farther out into the Fraser Valley.
Do I have to outline our town's advantages for commuting to Greater Vancouver over coming in from say, Langley, Abbotsford or the Maple Ridge area? Do I need to elaborate on the outdoor recreation possibilities directly at our doorstep, the great environment within which to raise a family, the opportunities for active seniors? Is it necessary to point out the presence of the two universities and all that this could entail? What about the additional commuting and congestion on the roads more people would bring? Well, you can't have it both ways, and here is the chance for our civic leaders to lead and embrace the future by designing and promoting a viable transit/commuting link both north and south and within the district.
I wouldn't worry about Squamish becoming even more of a bedroom community than it already is, out of the conviction that it will only be temporary. With new people come new skills and ideas, exchanges between old and new have a tendency to burst accepted boundaries, lead to rejuvenation and ultimately new enterprise and jobs. Remember that Bellevue in Washington State and the Silicon Valley in California were once bedroom communities of larger cities too. Look at them now!
Squamish will come into its own too - not by ill-defined visions from "above," but by the energy and entrepreneurial skills of its people. To quote Ron Anderson, Director of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce from an open letter to members and recently published in The Chief, where he was writing about the wealth of experience and knowledge in this town shared by both old-timers and newcomers, "What a great combination, what strength you would have if you could take all this and work as a single team." Indeed!
Wolfgang Wittenburg
Squamish
