EDITOR,
I never thought that I would witness a more poorly organized public relations event than the one I attended put on by Garibaldi at Squamish a few years ago - that is, until I attended the one they put on last Thursday. The promotion for the event that I saw on the Internet promised to tell us how the new proposal was different from the old one. That would have been a good start, since there was so much community opposition to the proposed real estate land grab and particularly the planned development in the vicinity of Cat Lake.
My wife and I went to the meeting eager for the new information. What we got instead was some self-congratulatory droning by a woman who seems to be connected to their marketing and a speech by Wolfgang Richter, their longtime proponent, who rambled on about himself as a dreamer and a visionary. Dog-eared presentation materials that had obviously been resurrected from storage were on display, but they didn't seem to offer any new information. Shortly after the rambler handed the mike back to the droner, my wife and I left. Life is short. And we just don't have time for these people who can't get to the point.
Before we left, we heard the woman presenter tell the audience that resource-based industry in Squamish is now "non-existent." Although she could have made a valid point here about the need for new jobs, she did not make it with this nonsensical hyperbole. I know quite a few people that still make a good living here working in this supposedly "non-existent" industry. I hope that this woman can, in future, learn to look right and left before she crosses the road, as she does not seem to notice the numerous loaded logging trucks roaring down Highway 99.
The thing is that I am actually in favour, in principle, of a ski development on Brohm Ridge. As a backcountry skier, I would love to have better winter access to that area without having to own a snowmobile. But I am not in favour of an enormous real estate land grab. And I have no faith that a group of people that seem unable to organize a public presentation, could ever organize the construction and operation of a ski resort. These people just seem to be oblivious to their image and public sentiment. Or they are in denial. I mean, if anyone in this company had a clue, the first thing that they would do is change their name to get away from that unfortunate, and laughable, acronym: GAS.
I thought that I might get some more info from the company's website, but that doesn't seem to be working.
I did really enjoy the apple strudel, chocolate éclairs, and the fruit custard pies. Congrats to the caterers.
Eduard Fischer
Garibaldi Highlands
