ie evelopment along Howe Sound corridor draws local! residents YOU'RE MOVING to Squamish?" he reaction of family and friends to Me news that we planned to sell our Worth Vancouver townhouse, buy a gouse in Squamish and commute, was gniversal incredulity. ntributing Writer + No matier how many times people drive rough it on the way to Whistler to ski or If, there’s a longstanding Vancouver notion Bat Squamish may not be the end of the world, but you can definitely sec it from ere. What you can actually see from our living om windows in the Garibaldi Highlands is a conversation-stopping panorama that begins mt Howe Sound and finally merges with the Mfinite in the spectacular rugged fastness of Tantalus Range. Skeptical visitors, stunned by the sight of it. Garibaldi and Diamond Head in winter ites as they drive in, have a tendency to d at those windows, gaping like boated d. It is very gratifying . I know how they feel. After living here for year, I still stand there every morming with ny coffee, hoping that if I’m dreaming I yon't wake up. The hardest thing to see is what is “hidden goal-posts” of interest rates and Vancouver real estate prices, we canvassed the small towns of the interior, but most of them were a long haul between jobs and family. It was almost an accident, coming back from a once-a-year lunch date in Whistler that we found ourselves reading the focal real estate papers over coffee in the Macdonaid’s parking lot. Mt. Garibaldi hovered like a mirage above the neon-spandexed climbers dotting the Smoke Bluffs. I'd been holding out for some- place where world-class skiing and climbing were close at hang. “Well,” Her Nibs said, with typical under- statement, “We can afford it.” She gestured at the stuff tourist and adven- turer dreams are made of. Talk about scales falling from your eyes. We could afford it. Though house prices in Squamish rose faster than anywhere in the Lower Mainland this year (an astronomical 26% between November '92 and November *93), the general rule of thumb is to knock about $100,000 off the price of an equivalent North Vancouver residence. The average price of a North Vancouver house in February °94 was $347,300. That kind of change buys top-of-the-line brand new near-mansions in the upper Highlands here. “So, you finally figured it out,” our friend and real estate agent, Daniella Williamson smirked when we announced our discovery. She'd lived in Squamish for two years, com- muting to manage restaurants for A&W Foods while husband James was an accoun- tant at Woodfibre. “To always asking people whe are look- ing further and further out in the Fraser Valley, ‘Have you ever considered Squamish?” “They look at me like Pm crazy at first, but they start thinking about the 30 minute drive to Whistler and the difference between spending an hour looking at Howe Sound and an hour grinding through traffic on the Trans- Cunada from the Vailey. “Forget the scenery for a minute,” she told us, “I know from experience what a nice town Squamish is. Good schools, lots of recreational facilities and friendly people.” She had that right. New homeowners spend an awful lot of time in hardware stores, but how often do they get recognized on the second visit and have things explained, demonstrated and partially assembled for them in downtown supermarket-style opera- tions? I'm still splitting my hardware dollar between Home Hardware and Raj’s True Value Hardware because of the assistance and advice [ got from both that first month. Quality of life isn’t measured in picture windows, hot tubs and built in food proces- sors. It's a lot of small things, like Peter Emerick of The Frame Shop working over- time to get a Jast minute Christmas gift " framed when downtown framing shops were lined up to the doors and shaking their heads. Or finding fresh young persnips for « holi- day recipe iz the local Super Valu, owned by ex-North Vancouver homeboy Don Harris, when all I could find in the city were thick woody stumps. All small things jike rediscovering Thor Froslev's Brackendale Art Gallery, still crazy after 20 years, and going to concerts there. Going on the Squamish Estuary Conservation Society's Valentine's Day bird-walk and see- ing the clusive trumpeter swans. Pulling off the road to gawk up at a hundred or so Bald Eagles wheeling overhead at the Checkeye River bridge. Little things, like having your mail sent General Delivery and the post office ladies remembering your name. At Christmas, they apologized for not having sorted the day's mail; they were all at the counter all day, helping people get their parcels mailed on time. To someone who is used to seeing one wicket open, a lineup of 50 people and a dozen postal employees chatting in the back- ground, this is a near-religious revelation. We also have neighbors. Remember them? People who lived next door or nearby and actually knew you and cared about you? They bring crocks of homemade wine to potluck dinners, keep an eye on your house p plain sight.” Caught between the “moving PES RES SS SES ESE # Population: Approximately 12,000, but expanding rapidly as more peopie from the Lower Mainland take the town. up on its “Come Grow With Us” slogan. _ Approximately one-third cem- amute to Vancouver, one-third are employed in forest industries and ithe remainder are employed in Squamish or Whistler service industries. Distance to major metropolitan centers: ... 60 km. @ Vancouver . 129 km. & Victoria Britannia Beach Lions Bay @ Edmontor ...... 1,216 km. Horseshoe Bay Transportaiion: Rail: BC Rail passenger service (phone 984-5246) Bus: Maverick Coach Lines (phone 255-1171) Sea: Government Wharf on Howe Sound Air: Squamish Municipal Airport. (See: controversial topics) B Regular local bus service. Extensive vanpool/carpool networks for commuters. @ Hwy. 99, aka “The Sea to Sky Highway”, aka “The Squamish Highway”: bad reputation due mostly to overstim- ulated skiers and overdriving tourists. Suggestions floated by television journalists about an inevitable” widening to four lanes are received with chuck- les by Ministry of Highways. The amount of vertical rock ‘involved suggests a Coquihalla-size bill. Capilano Highway Services does excellent work clearing and sanding in winter. Do you think TV violence should be banned in British Columbia? Helen Turner North Vancouver District Yes. If people wish to view vio- lence, they can view videos and not BY " ; expose it to children. HEADERS VOICE 8 Pemberton $a (Population: 12,000} I ee eo EET 1 Media/Coramunications: The Squamish Chief. Good readable weekly newspaper with strong local issues and outdoors emphasis. Publishes Tuesdays. More subdued without contributions from irascible local author, J. Michael Yates. Mountain FM. 107.1 FM. Mostly MOR (middle of- the road) playlist. Piped into every store, cafe, mall and gas bar in town, so you sometimes feel you're being stalked by Michael Bolton. Works both ways: excellent noon-hour talk-radio show “Mountain Monitor” becomes a de facto “town meeting” every weekday. Lively morning “roll call” and reg- ular commuter road and ski reports. TV: The usual! channels on cable, plus Cable 10Mocal access. Mostly community bulletin-buard. Local programming just beginning. Televises Squamish and Whistler council meetings, Cyclones hockey games etc. Postal Service: Post offices in Squamish, Garibaldi UAMIS yy fee NEWS graphic Robyn grown Highlands and Brackendale. 1%- to two-year wait for a P.O. box. Outpost mailboxes ($60 per annum) at Highlands Mall are taking up some of the slack. (see controversial topics.) Business Services: _ Two firms in town offer full range of business/office ser- vices. Recreational facilities: Unlimited: Garibaldi Provincial Park is the town’s back- yard for hiking, mountaineering, backcountry ski-touring. Smoke Bluffs and Stawamus Chief are international rock- climbing destinations. World-class windsurfing at the estuary sandspit; best See Squamish page 4 blow nortk of the Columbia Gorge. River, lake and saltchuck fishing. Canoeing and kayaking. Worlds largest population of bald eagles that winter in the estuary, along with trumpeter swans, alpine and estuarine birdlife. New Aquatic Centre. Popular soccer, hockey and baseball leagues. Also curling, squash and golf. Howe Sound Cyclones; Royal City men’s league hockey; underattended but a great night out with high-scoring scrappy live action that reminds you how exciting the national game used to be before television and corporate money took over. Current Topics Guaranteed to Get You Into a Scrap in Any Bar or Cafe: The Spotted Owl. The bird nobody has seen and every- body has an opinion on. Focus of the logging versus recre- ation/conservation debate. Evidence of same in the Squamish-Pemberton-Lillooet corridor has put a wild hair in the shorts of the forest indus- try and local and provincial politicians. The Turbo-prop Aircraft. Less elusive birds than the Spotted Owl, but U.S. firm Cascadia Air’s proposal to schedule regular flights from Seattle to Squamish Airport at Brackendale is seen by many as a direct threat to the now world’s largest winter bald eagle population. As well as a lot of unnecessary noise whose only purpose is to give wealthy American skiers faster and cheaper access to Whistler while whatever profits accrue literally “go south.” Neighborhood Supermailboxes. Those who want them, want them just around the comer in front of somebody else’s house, where discarded junk mail and juvenile vandals won’t wind up on their front Jawn. A not-to-be-sneezed-at advantage of getting your mail c/o General Delivery is that the flyers that form the bulk of junk mail clogging urban recycling depots are piled at the post office counter, not inflicted on you. You take them only if you want them. That, pbus the idea of putting the wonderful local post office employees out of a job, is enough to turn me into a rabid reactionary. Bring back home delivery and lower the unemployment roils. Pat Cattermole North Vancouver District Definitely. I just can not see any good coming out of (viewing) TV violence. Brent Humphreys North Vancouver I think your question is fanciful because TV is an internationa] medium. I say get the CRTC to ban the violence. NORTH VANCOUVER District Councillor Erie Crist recently proposed that the federal and provincial governments enact legislation prohibiting TV violence. Crist said parents often don’t have time or energy to moniter every second their children spend watching TV. He rejected the notion that parents are solely responsible for any violence children see on TV. Dan Sinclair West Vancouver If it wasn’t for TV violence, there wouldn't be any of this ongoing, glorified 10 guy2 against one, stab- bing hirn with a knife.