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Great News! ZERO Support for a New Squamish (BC) Mountain Biking Park



 
 
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  #1  
Old June 24th 11, 05:12 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Mike Vandeman[_4_]
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Posts: 1,755
Default Great News! ZERO Support for a New Squamish (BC) Mountain Biking Park

http://www.squamishchief.com/article...biking-support


Council unmoved by mountain biking support

Legacy Funds decision finalized: $500K to turf field, $110K to Nordic
park
Photo by Meagan Robertson/The Chief

About 60 people packed council chambers on Tuesday (June 21) to show
their support for an artificial-turf soccer field and mountain bike
skills park receiving money from Squamish's Legacy Fund.

June 22, 2011

Meagan Robertson


Despite the best efforts of the mountain biking community, District of
Squamish council endorsed the Committee of the Whole (COW)
recommendation to allocate $500,000 to install artificial turf on one
soccer field and $110,000 for a Sports Legacy Park.

The COW recommendation, which allocated no money to the proposed
mountain bike skills park, went public on June 14 and ignited anger,
frustration and criticism in the form of 37 emails, 120 letters, a
petition and a strong show of support at the regular council meeting
on Tuesday (June 21), where the final Legacy Fund decision was made.

David Gillie, president of the Squamish Off Road Cycling Association
(SORCA), SORCA vice-president and Test of Metal organizer Cliff Miller
and trails maintenance director Chris McCrum stood before council to
pledge their support for the mountain bike skills park and ask that
some money be allocated to the worthy and “widely supported” project.

“I'm here to give SORCA's support for the mountain bike skills park.
It was noted last week that there was no support from the mountain
bike community for this skills park and I'd just like to say our 500
members support this,” Gillie said.

He acknowledged the difficult decision council was faced with and
thanked council for the $30,000 Legacy Fund allocation to SORCA for
the Diamond Head trail project.

“The mountain bike skills park fits in very well with our town and
it's an addition that would be very good for mountain bikers and
cyclists,” he said. “What a skills park does is allows you to hone
your skills and fall in a safe area where you can get help and this is
what we're most concerned with * that our children can ride something
before getting on the trails and possibly getting hurt.

“We're here to support the park and hope that there would be some
allocation or second thought on this process. I don't want to take
away from everyone else but we feel this is a necessity for our town.”

McCrum, who directs the SORCA trail pass program * an initiative to
raise money for trails maintenance * spoke about the importance of
mountain biking in the community. “We've sold over 700 trail passes,
we've had to print more, so it's been a runaway success,” he said.

“Judging by the last weekend as well cycling's a pretty active part of
this community and I find it somewhat unfortunate that it's being
overlooked save for the $30,000 for the Diamond Head trail… I would
hope that perhaps in your deliberations you may allocate some of the
funding to several different causes and not just one large lump sum to
one.”

Squamish Soccer Association (SSA) president Jose Oreamuno, long-time
soccer supporter Paul Christensen and soccer coach Matthew Rollison
spoke in favour of the $500,000 allocation to turf the soccer field.

Resident Gary McFarlane directed his comments specifically to
criticizing the Callaghan Winter Sports Club's (CWSC) plan for a
Sports Legacy Park.

He said the only reason council would support the Sports Legacy Park
would be to create a council legacy, not a community one.

After audience members had a chance to comment, each council member
took a few minutes to address community concerns or misconceptions
from last week's meeting and articulate his or her position.

Coun. Patricia Heintzman made it clear she wanted to vote on the
allocations separately, because although she supported giving the
$500,000 to soccer, she preferred to give the $110,000 to the mountain
bike skills park.

Coun. Corinne Lonsdale clarified that the only reasons she voted
against last week's recommendation was because she wanted to give the
entire $610,000 to the soccer field.

“My heart is still with soccer,” she said, adding that she thought the
Sports Legacy Park was a wonderful dream and that if it fell through,
the money could be allocated to the soccer field instead.

Coun. Bryan Raiser said he supported giving the lion's share of the
money to soccer but he also supported allocating money to the mountain
bike skills park before the Sports Legacy Park.

“We have to make this decision today and I hope when we do, it will
truly reflect our community,” he said.

Coun. Doug Race reiterated his opinion expressed for the past month *
that the decision should not be based on sport popularity, number of
users or number of emails, but on responsible funding principles.

Race's suggestion was to divide the money between the mountain bike
skills park and the Sports Legacy Park and complete two projects
instead of contributing to a project that would require substantial
borrowing and amount to at least a one per cent tax rate increase to
accommodate the field's annual maintenance cost.

He also noted that of all the projects, the turf soccer field has the
shortest lifespan and therefore needs a pricy reserve fund. He said
turfing the fields should be part of the recreation master plan, which
should be ready in the fall of 2012.

Coun. Paul Lalli said he still supported the recommendation from the
Committee of the Whole.

Coun. Rob Kirkham made a point of clarifying his comment about the
Sports Legacy Park and the mountain bike skills park being “untried,
unproven” * a comment that sparked a negative reaction from the
mountain biking crowd.

He said although he supported allocating all the money to the soccer
field because he felt it was a “job halfway done,” he wanted to
incorporate the other two proposals into the recreation master plan.

“I still support putting all the money towards the fields,” he said.
“But I will support the Committee of the Whole motion to finalize this
process as the majority of the funds are headed in the right
direction.”

Lalli moved the recommendation to allocate $500,000 to SSA and
$110,000 to CWSC and Kirkham seconded the motion, but Heintzman again
requested that council deal with the allocations separately.

She said although she would love to see the Sports Legacy Park
materialize in the future, she felt it was still a “pie in the sky”
notion and preferred to allocate the $110,000 to the mountain bike
skills park.

“I would prefer to split the motions and not muddy the water,” she
said.

Her suggested motion was carried, with Gardner opposed.

The new motion on the floor only referred to allocating $500,000 to
SSA, and Lonsdale made a friendly amendment to allocate the entire
$610,000 to the project. Kirkham seconded the motion, saying he “felt
really good about not borrowing the extra $110,000” to complete the
soccer field.

Lalli said he would not support the amendment based on “the integrity
of the process.”

The motion to allocate the entire $610,000 failed with Heintzman,
Raiser, Gardner, Lalli and Race opposed.

The motion to allocate $500,000 to the SSA was carried, with Race
opposed, and the soccer supporters in the room burst into applause.

Heintzman made a motion to allocate the remaining $110,000 to the
mountain bike skills park, saying it was a “better bang for our buck”
and calling the Sports Legacy Park potentially unfeasible and
premature.

“I think one side of me always wanted to support the Nordic proposal
because they were the seed for getting VANOC money,” she said.

“But the more I look into the park, the more I question its
feasibility.”

Raiser seconded the motion.

Gardner spoke strongly against the change and reminded council that he
had been told numerous times that the reason Squamish received the
Legacy Fund money was thanks to the hard work of CWSC volunteers.

“To not allocate some money to them would be a complete injustice,” he
said.

The motion failed with Lonsdale, Gardner, Kirkham, Lalli and Race
opposed and the 30-or-so mountain bikers in the room booed loudly.

Lalli made a motion to allocate the $110,000 to the Sports Legacy
Park, Race seconded it and the motion was carried with Raiser and
Heintzman opposed.

The majority of the crowd left council chambers quickly and
congregated in two groups outside Municipal Hall * the satisfied
soccer supporters on one side and the disappointed mountain bike
supporters on the other.

See next week's Chief for details on the future of the three projects.
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  #2  
Old June 25th 11, 02:08 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Kayak 44
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 74
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On Jun 24, 12:12*pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:
http://www.squamishchief.com/article...101/110629994/...


How was jail?
  #3  
Old June 25th 11, 03:31 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Tºm Shermªn °_°
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 413
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On 6/24/2011 8:08 PM, Kayak 44 wrote:
On Jun 24, 12:12�pm, Mike wrote:
http://www.squamishchief.com/article...101/110629994/...


How was jail?


I think Mikey is in denial about the whole jail, conviction, and
probation experience.

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.
  #4  
Old June 25th 11, 07:09 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Mike Vandeman[_4_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,755
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On Jun 24, 7:31*pm, Tºm Shermªn °_° ""twshermanREMOVE\"@THI
$southslope.net" wrote:
On 6/24/2011 8:08 PM, Kayak 44 wrote:

On Jun 24, 12:12 pm, Mike *wrote:
http://www.squamishchief.com/article...101/110629994/....


How was jail?


I think Mikey is in denial about the whole jail, conviction, and
probation experience.

--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.


No, but you guys are in denial about the fact that I was innocent of
all the charges. An "inconvenient truth", as Al Gore said.
  #5  
Old June 25th 11, 09:56 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Edward Dolan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14,212
Default kayak 44 is a jailhouse bitch

"Kayak 44" wrote in message
...
On Jun 24, 12:12 pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:
http://www.squamishchief.com/article...101/110629994/...


What did Mr. Vandeman write?

How was jail?


Jailhouse bitch Kayak 44, ever the anonymous coward, has spent 20+ years
associating with criminals. He is one himself if truth be told. He knows all
about eating phlegm and semen since he is a homo besides.

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota


  #6  
Old June 26th 11, 03:31 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Opus[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 414
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On Jun 25, 1:09*am, Mike Vandeman wrote:
On Jun 24, 7:31*pm, Tºm Shermªn °_° ""twshermanREMOVE\"@THI
snip

I think Mikey is in denial about the whole jail, conviction, and
probation experience.


--
Tºm Shermªn - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.


No, but you guys are in denial about the fact that I was innocent of
all the charges. An "inconvenient truth", as Al Gore said.


Not innocent, just found not guilty of one of the charges. Had your
postings to USENET been allowed into evidence you would have been
found guilty even on that charge as it would have proved pre-
meditation. You are a convicted criminal...
  #7  
Old June 26th 11, 04:55 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
SMS
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9,477
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On 6/26/2011 7:31 AM, Opus wrote:

Not innocent, just found not guilty of one of the charges.


Actually he was found guilty on three of six misdemeanor charges, and
not guilty of three. The D.A. decided to not retry him on the felony
charge which had already had one mistrial and one hung jury.

Despite the posturing he's now engaging in, he's highly unlikely to
re-offend given the experience of the county jail, and the incredible
expense of going to trial, so the sentence (3 years probation which
includes a ban on being on hiking trails in the East Bay Regional Park
District's (EPRPD) Claremont Canyon Reserve and on UC Berkeley property)
was appropriate. Of course UC could decide to ban him from trails
permanently once the probation expires, they have the authority to ban
anyone they want from their property, not sure about EPRPD though.

See http://peterfrickwright.com/trial/.
  #8  
Old June 27th 11, 05:29 AM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Edward Dolan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 14,212
Default Opus opines

"Opus" wrote in message
...
On Jun 25, 1:09 am, Mike Vandeman wrote:
On Jun 24, 7:31 pm, Tºm Shermªn °_° ""twshermanREMOVE\"@THI
snip

I think Mikey is in denial about the whole jail, conviction, and
probation experience.


No, but you guys are in denial about the fact that I was innocent of
all the charges. An "inconvenient truth", as Al Gore said.


Not innocent, just found not guilty of one of the charges. Had your

postings to USENET been allowed into evidence you would have been
found guilty even on that charge as it would have proved pre-
meditation. You are a convicted criminal...

Opus, did anyone ever tell you that you are an idiot! What the hell does
posting on Usenet have to do with anything? Pre-meditation indeed!

You are a convicted idiot!

--
Ed Dolan the Great - Minnesota
aka
Saint Edward the Great - Order of the Perpetual Sorrows - Minnesota


  #9  
Old June 27th 11, 02:44 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Puppet_Sock
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 40
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On Jun 25, 2:09*am, Mike Vandeman wrote:
[snip]
No, but you guys are in denial about the fact that I was innocent of
all the charges. An "inconvenient truth", as Al Gore said.


Once more the half truth. Exactly three out of six charges.
Socks
  #10  
Old June 27th 11, 10:46 PM posted to alt.mountain-bike,rec.bicycles.soc,rec.backcountry,ca.environment,sci.environment
Brad Anders
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 759
Default Great News! ZERO Support for washed-up criminal

On Jun 24, 11:09*pm, Mike Vandeman wrote:

No, but you guys are in denial about the fact that I was innocent of
all the charges. An "inconvenient truth", as Al Gore said.


If you were "innocent of all the charges", why were you given
probation?
 




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