Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Brew
I didn’t know what FYGM meant until I read this thread. I kind of like “pulling the ladder up behind you” myself.
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Sliver's done a good job of conflating residents and magpie weekenders to try to prove his point. What's missing in his justifications that led to your post is that most people don't have a problem with more people moving to Canmore as residents. Those that come, raise a family, setup a business and participate in the community. It's never been about that, so no, it's not pulling up a ladder once they are in. Since Sliver also took a shot at me being a "new joiner", having been in Calgary since the late 90's. I moved her, got educated, found a job and career, you know, the sorts of things you do when you live in a community.
This position comes from seeing the reasons people came to the mountains vanish as condos that sit empty 80% of the time continue to get built over their favourite trails and wilderness areas. This very type of housing on limited lands ends up reducing the ability of others to move to Canmore and live there. The very thing Sliver rallies on about(elitism blocking anyone form accessing) is what his vacation property is preventing and making unattainable.
Locals have always wanted more full time residents, because they understand bussing in workers from Calgary to McDonalds makes a lot less sense than the community's youth taking their first jobs in the service industry. And parents to setup a contracting company so they don't need to have one come from Calgary or Cochrane. They need residents to run the events that bring people to the community. All the restaurants, sports and coffee shops etc? Not opened by non-residents. There will be fewer of these things that bring tourists in the first place.
And yes, they also increase taxes for residents because you still need to service these places, even if empty and not giving anything back tot he community. For instance, in the 90's Canmore built a new sewage treatment plant. I remember it being a very expensive bullet to eat at the time, but residents were convinced due to the smells. Well now Canmore needs another one because it now needs to handle the surge capacity of the weekenders too. Add in roads, water, snow clearing etc and it does add up to additional costs that wouldn't exist without the empty condos.
If you imagine a town without the condos and just residents, you then see there would be staffing available for more hotels and services for visitors, rooms that have people in them 90% of the time instead of 20%, giving far more people access to Canmore. Oh, and no golf courses taking up vast swaths of land for 4 people at a time to walk on.
Sliver presents a vision he's imprinted of Canmore on himself and what he thinks people want, without ever considering the reality of where his wants lead, and that many locals may actually have some valid points. Not that it matters at this point, the town is well on it's way to a soul-less condo valley.