A letter to our Squamish Council..."This and that"

To all Council members:

A couple of things for your ‘new’ Council:

• Regarding curbside pick-ups of recycling etc. I am reading the latest Squamish Chief Newspaper which has a ‘revised’ page outlining what will be picked up, on what week, for 2019. I note that there is NO Kitchen waste/Garden waste pickup scheduled at any time on a weekly basis. All are bi-weekly.

This is a regression from last year. This is, in spite of recent correspondence between me and you. Last year we enjoyed (at least) weekly pick-ups of Garden waste/ Kitchen waste for most of the  spring/summer months until the end of October. I made a request that weekly pick-up might extend to November 30^th. with the amendment that June and July could be bi- weekly to off-set the cost. YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED. Very sad!

• Regarding the dangerous, ill-planned intersection at Lower Kintyre and The Boulevard, near the roundabout:

This is becoming extremely dangerous. To get out of Kintyre Drive to the Boulevard from 8:00 am to 9:00 am, it is becoming impossible unless you actually break the law and force entry (in other words it has become a “free for all”). With the present trend in development to the east, the situation can only get worse. We need this intersection redesigned. We also need a new access road to the University to reduce the bridge traffic and the feeder traffic mentioned above. This could easily be done by putting a road (a short road) from the Golf-Club to the new development just south of the Quest University.

In addition to this, I would like to comment on your recent statement in the media that you are not happy with the recycling behavior of our citizens regarding recycling in the totes. You state that, because of this laxed behavior, extra cost could be levied to the tax-payer to pay for these lapses, You also mention fines. I say that you should levy the fines, even heavy fines, before you raise the cost to the taxpayer. Do not be squeamish about this! Why should I pay for other’s transgression when you  can remedy it in advance?

I would like your reassurance that you will act according on this. I will await your reply (individually or collectively) before I expand debate on this in our local media.

Respectfully, Dave Colwell, Kintyre Drive , Garibaldi Highlands.