Bandwidth to Whistler grows by factor of 100
WHISTLER, B.C. -- Whistler will be connected with Vancouver with one of the most advanced fiber-optic networks in Canada when the Winter Olympics are held in February. With this new information highway, the Olympics for the first time will be broadcast in high-definition television.
But what will this much wider capacity —100 times the capacity of the previous fiber-optic cable—do for Whistler once the Olympics are over? Pique Newsmagazine declares that high-tech firms are sure to take notice.
Whistler already has a few high-tech firms, including Paradata, which developed credit-card transaction authorization and other financial services. Shannon Susko, who founded the company in 1996, said the expanded capacity, with its built-in redundancy, will be a huge draw to high-tech companies and start-ups.
"Whistler is on the verge of becoming one of the most wired towns on Earth, way out of proportion for its size and designation as a destination resort," concludes the newspaper.
Is there some bounce to resort economies?
JACKSON, Wyo. -- While governments in ski towns plan for continued decline of town revenues, here and there come hopeful signs of economic recovery in the real estate sector.
From Aspen and Vail are reports of a thaw in real estate activity during August. In Durango, real estate agents similarly report a rebound, far more pronounced in single-family homes within the town, as compared to condos or homes in the countryside.
Taking gauge of the real estate market in Jackson Hole, business columnist Jonathan Schechter reports stability, if not exactly a rebound. He says prices are finally coming down. The more interesting question, he says, is why it took so long.
"Things have been so good for so long that many property owners—speculators and long-term owners alike—had come to believe they deserved to make a profit on their property, regardless of what they paid for it or when they bought it. Because changing market conditions didn't affect the sense of entitlement, owners continued to ask prices far higher than buyers were willing to pay. Slowly, painfully, reluctantly, that's finally starting to change, so we're starting to see a bottoming out in the freefall in sales."
Aspen grapples with bear problem
ASPEN, Colo. --By all accounts, the bear problems in Aspen this year took everybody by surprise. The production of berries and nuts had been good. Too, town and county authorities in the last couple of years tightened regulations, demanding that trash containers be bear-proof—not bear resistant, like a plastic can, but bear-proof as in hard steel.
But bears were so frequent in the town that wildlife officers and police found it necessary to kill 19 of them, and transport many others up to several hundred miles away.
More worrisome yet, at least two bears seemed to attack people. Wildlife officers had long predicted that would happen unless people stopped making food available that bears could eat.
From a report in The Aspen Times, it appears that nobody has yet delivered a silver-bullet solution. It has not been for lack of trying. At a recent community meeting, all manner of ideas were presented—including one proposal to consult the Ute Indians, who claimed the Roaring Fork Valley as home until the silver miners arrived about 1880.
A root of the problem is that the Aspen area just has lots of bears. Wildlife officers call it "primo" habitat. Wildlife officers also think that Aspen represents a special problem, because it has so many part-time residents, visitors and non-English speakers.
Whistler expects famine within feast of Olympics
WHISTLER, B.C. -- A statement by Yogi Berra, former catcher for the New York Yankees, comes to mind when reading about the situation in Whistler this coming winter. Asked why he had stopped going to a certain restaurant, Berra supposedly said: "No one goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
That's the fundamental perception that Whistler expects to confront this winter as it co-hosts the Winter Olympics with Vancouver. The resort community expects a 3 percent decline in visitors as crowds stay away for much of the winter, owing to the perception of crowds.
But, there will be crowds—during the Olympics. Because the highway between Whistler and Vancouver will be so congested during February, people who might ordinarily use it to commute to work will be asked to work from home if possible. As well, bus service will be improved. The cost for the two-hour ride will be $35 one way.
Cocaine, heroin remain top drugs in Park City
PARK CITY, Utah -- Police in Park City have arrested and accused a 23-year-old man of trafficking methamphetamines. Agents said they seized a pound of the drug, which has a street value of $19,000. Police Chief Wade Carpenter told The Park Record he was shocked to see that much of the drug, as cocaine and heroin remain the drugs of choice in Park City.
