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Letters: Tech hub lacks detail; Costs hinder travel; Get facts straight

Tech hub lacks detail All expressions currently in vogue were presented to City of Powell River’s finance committee on Thursday, March 23: incubator, accelerator, technology-related startups, entrepreneurial climate and a detailed building material a

Tech hub lacks detail

All expressions currently in vogue were presented to City of Powell River’s finance committee on Thursday, March 23: incubator, accelerator, technology-related startups, entrepreneurial climate and a detailed building material and labour cost list [“Tech incubator hangs on grant,” March, 29].

The presentation was lacking details on the vital elements of a new startup incubation process, including educational programs, instructors, professors and students, research, academia mentoring, funding and taking research to the market. How these basic required elements would be provided was not detailed. Only the least difficult element was discussed, floor space, which in Powell River is not hard to find.

University of Toronto professor Geoffrey Hinton has been building artificial neural networks since 1970s. In 2013, Google acquired his neural network startup and hired him. He now splits his time between Google and the university.

The point is that education/research elements are critical for new startups and generally occur near major universities, with known hotspots in Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver.

The incubation period for these startups is not days, but years. When various political platforms pick up the concept, the horse has already left the barn.

The proposed Townsite tech hub is not a project I would support with my tax dollars. The proposal lacks a plan for the critical elements of education, research and funding support.

In addition, I would find it difficult to support the request for $200,000 on the basis of using city funding for private development.

Paul McMahon
Invermere Court

 

Costs hinder travel

My children, who are grown and have their own families, want to come to Powell River and see where I was born and raised. The problem is the cost of having to take ferries to get there [“Ferry report eyes fares,” March 29].

My daughter called to see about fares and found she would have to spend hundreds of dollars just for ferries. Her family is on a budget and that money can go a long way for them. My other children would have to pay the same amount, and my wife and I also, but that would be less because there are only the two of us.

That money could be spent in shops and activities rather than being sucked away by the huge cost of taking a couple of ferries.

Now they are considering another fee increase. Those costs will never go down. There is a group wanting to put a highway across to Squamish. I cannot help but believe that would be a boon to Powell River.

People would be able to come more easily by way of what would surely be one of the most scenic drives one could take, and it would open up a less time-consuming and more economical way for Powell River-ites to travel through the province.

With the current mode of travel, you lose a good part of a day to go about 100 miles. How will we pay for it? The model is already in place if you look at the Coquihalla Highway; it was a toll road. The same can be done on this one, and people would come. There are few places on Earth as gorgeous as the upper Sunshine Coast.

Ferries equal no tourism and choke the economy of the area. We cannot afford it. I wonder how many others there are and how much that number increases as the fees go up?

Michael Clarke
Residence unknown

 

Get facts straight

Due to the Peak’s inability to report facts on the issue with the Savary dog death [“Police arrest man with Savary animal shooting,” March 15], and the one-sided and creative writing of the following issue’s Viewpoint [“Savary Island dog will be missed,” March 22], I decided to write in with the other side of the story.

Not all islanders are outraged by the outcome of this story. There are dozens of incidents with dogs running free and out of control year-round, chasing the deer to their deaths. It is the inconsiderate dog owners who are to blame for not controlling their animals.

Craig Johnson
Sycamore Street