Whatever your position on the traffic hassles associated with the GranFondo event that rolled through Squamish on Saturday (Sept. 10), you've got to admit that having 7,000 cyclists ride through town on a marathon cycling adventure -on a bluebird September day, no less - is great exposure for Squamish and the entire Sea to Sky Corridor. If we're to live up to the title Outdoor Recreation Capital of Canada, after all, we need to embrace opportunities to showcase what our town and the region have to offer, and by all accounts, the 2011 GranFondo certainly delivered in that regard.
Could organizers of the event have done a better job of consulting the community (or at least our elected leaders) and communicating the planned traffic delays and the closure of highway crossings for the event? Absolutely. Could they take steps to provide some direct benefit to the community in addition to benefits that aren't as easy to quantify? Yes, no doubt about it.
Last week, during a District of Squamish council meeting, Coun. Corinne Lonsdale voiced the concern that planning for the GranFondo only hit council chambers a few days before the event - after organizers publicized their transportation plans and the public approached the mayor and council with concerns about it. While we realize the provincial Ministry of Transportation is responsible for issues surrounding our town's primary north-south traffic corridor, simply seeking input from DOS staff on the proposed closures and delays strikes us as inadequate. It seems to this writer that a public open house, a couple of months before the event, would only turn into a shouting match while producing little. But there's undoubtedly a need for more public consultation, and to this writer's mind, DOS staff and GranFondo organizers should have brought the issue before our elected representatives for input, sometime before their August break.
In the meantime, we think the suggestion of Chief reader Marie Wilson ("Give something back, Fondo," Letters) - that race organizers donate $1 from every race entry fee to the local food bank -is a splendid idea. Perhaps organizers should also consider talking to the organizers of a much-loved community event that took place on the same day -the Brackendale Fall Fair - and make a donation to the Brackendale Farmers' Institute. While they're at it, the two groups could try to reach an understanding with Fall Fair organizers on the placement of Fall Fair signs along the highway on the day of the two events. Was it really necessary to remove those signs? As long as they didn't obstruct traffic, probably not.
It's hard to believe someone could be so juvenile as to toss thumb tacks in the racers' path just north of Alice Lake. But it happened. We don't have to tell anyone what could happen under the circumstances, and if it did, we would fully support authorities' efforts to find and prosecute the person or persons responsible.
The place to voice one's displeasure about traffic hassles, after all, is in the Letters to the Editor and online comments, not by taking actions that put others' life and property in danger.
-David Burke
