The Whistler Podcast

Episode 1: Whistler, we have a podcast (with Michele Comeau)

September 11, 2019 Mayor Jack Crompton with special guest RMOW Manager of Communications, Michele Comeau Season 1 Episode 1
The Whistler Podcast
Episode 1: Whistler, we have a podcast (with Michele Comeau)
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

The Whistler Podcast kicks off with special guest, Manager of Communications at the RMOW, Michele Comeau. Mayor Crompton and Michele talk about a variety of topics ranging from lowering speed limits in residential neighbourhoods to why The Whistler Podcast is an important addition to the RMOW’s engagement strategy. 

Narrator:   0:02
The Whistler podcast. Candid conversations about everything Whistler. With host, Mayor Jack Crompton.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   0:10
I'm Mayor Jack Crompton and I hope you had a terrific summer. It's exciting to be here in the Mountain FM studios in the heart of Whistler Village, to record our very first Whistler podcast. Ah, I couldn't be more excited to get to work on something I've been dreaming about for a while. Our guest today has been an active member of the Whistler scene for a long time. She led the communications effort for Tourism Whistler for a long time, she was critical to the success of the 2010 Olympic Games. She's been an incredible help to me personally, as I figure out what it means to communicate as mayor of Whistler. I'm happy to have as my first guest on the Whistler Podcast–Manager of Communications of the Resort Municipality of Whistler–thanks for joining me, Michele Comeau.

Michele Comeau:   0:59
Thanks so much for having me. It's great.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   1:01
Yeah, I was, um as we sat down to get to work on the podcast, I thought one of the most interesting things that we could chat to people about is why Whistler? Why? Why do you live here? What makes you love this place and stick around?

Michele Comeau:   1:17
Well, I've been in Whistler for about 20 years now, and first and foremost the mountains and are our wilderness backyard is really? Yeah. The top thing for me having the trails and the peaks and the lakes and the forests literally at our doorstep is just amazing. Even after 20 years, every day. I appreciate that. Um, I also think, um, thinking about you know, what makes Whistler special, and I think one of the things it always comes back to for me is our pioneering spirit as a community and the way that we do things in Whistler. We push the limits. We strive for big things, big dreams and doing things differently. And I think that's always set Whistler apart and has always been something that I've loved about Whistler. And yeah, I think we've got an edge. We've got a resiliency and kind of an energy that a lot of places don't have. And so I think that's that's unique about Whistler. You know, whether it was, you know, building some of the originals summer resort experiences way back when–you know 100 years ago–or building a huge, amazing ski resort in the big mountain wilderness–that's now very different today–or bringing the Winter Games here. Um, they're big ideas and Whistler's up for the challenge so that pioneering spirit is really part of a special part of this place.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   2:45
It's the first I've heard it referred to as a pioneering experience. I've always referred to it as people choose to live here like you don't talk to many people who, uh, say, you know, I just ended up here for no reason. No, I I want to be a part of what's happening in the mountains. Pioneering experience–it's a good way to put it. Yeah, well, the way we're going to format the podcast is the first, um, half,  we're going to talk about current events, what's happening in town, local government, and then the second half we hope to dig into some topics in more depth. So why don't we just get right into local chatter? I was struck this morning as I was listening to CBC that the writ has dropped; leadership federally will be changing very shortly. We have a new COO at Whistler Blackcomb that's coming in soon at the RMOW. We'll be hiring a new CAO very shortly. So I was struck that there is change afoot in the leadership in our community, and I I want to put out there and say, what are your thoughts on the writ and the changes in leadership in our in our community?

Michele Comeau:   3:51
Yeah, it's really interesting that those three things are actually on our plate today. And I was struck this morning, too, with the federal announcement, and, uh, I guess it's back to school. It's changes in the air, and it'll be really interesting to see how all three of those go, um, on Whistler Blackcomb, you know, Whistler Blackcomb really has always bean such a core part of our community and life blood of Whistler. And, you know, I think whoever is at the helm there will, you know, they have so many different things they need to connect with–their staff, the community, the head office in Vail–and it'll be interesting to see Geoff come into that role and

Mayor Jack Crompton:   4:34
Yeah the new guy is Geoff Buchheister, which is an interesting name, it's all ages. Buchheister. I sent him a Facebook friend request, So I'm I'm waiting to see. He hasn't responded yet, but I'm sure he will at some point soon. I think he gets here mid–October, I've  heard

Michele Comeau:   4:52
Yeah, or maybe even earlier. So that it'll be exciting. 

Mayor Jack Crompton:   4:56
So Pete Sonntag is taking on a regional role. He moves back to Broomfield and he will still have oversight on Whistler Blackcomb as far as I understand?  So Jeff will report to Pete, which is interesting. It it feels a little bit like, we're maybe a little bit further, even from Vail then we've been before. But someone who has some experience with with Whistler and has lived here will now be in Colorado, understands who we are and maybe can, uh, you know, share a little bit of what Whistler is back to the mothership. So it's interesting changes.

Michele Comeau:   5:30
I think that's a really important point that he's gonna be back. They're bringing his experiences from a couple of years here. It's pretty powerful.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   5:38
I think I've always thought was a really needs a strong relationship with Vail. In my opinion, one of the most important ways that we build that strong relationship is candor, is saying to Vail what is important to us. And sometimes that's not an easy conversation. It's a it's a tougher conversation. But, um, Whistler is unique, and we like to think of ourselves as unique. Um, and when those conversations get to the kind of root of why we think of ourselves as different, I think that we have good conversations with Vail. I think one of the goals I really have as Mayor is is to not shy away from those difficult conversations when the opportunity presents itself. So it's interesting changes, interesting changes. For sure we are further from the Dave and Doug show then we have been in the past, which I always like to see Doug Forseth walking around town and say "You did a wonderful job running this ski resort." So our next topic that I wanted to get into is lowering the residential speed limits to 30 kilometers an hour. Um, the, uh, this...Have you... I've wanted to ask about your driving and my driving and talk about that. Have you driven 50 kilometers an hour through a residential neighborhood?

Michele Comeau:   7:02
I have in some cases...

Mayor Jack Crompton:   7:04
And lately? Do you remember what it was like?

Mayor Jack Crompton:   7:08
Yes, it feels fast, actually

Mayor Jack Crompton:   7:11
Feels so fast. I did it today and I thought, "this is unsafe". Legal, but unsafe. So I'm struck that when we think about downgrading the speed limit, it takes just to drive through neighborhoods to kind of understand exactly what this is asking. And, um, it's an interesting conversation with 80 letters in our last council package from the residents of Nicklaus North. Um, what your thoughts are your thoughts on 50 kilometers, 40 kilometers, 30 kilometers? How fast should people drive through neighborhoods?

Michele Comeau:   7:43
Well, I think it's really interesting that through this discussion it became apparent that there's a standard for municipalities and it's 50. It's not just in Whistler it's a standard around the British from British Columbia, maybe beyond. And, uh, so I was kind of surprised to learn that, but it's interesting, and I think maybe one size doesn't fit all some in some neighborhoods, maybe 50 is correct and the best and feels good, and is the right speed. But in other neighborhoods, it could be lowered I think, and the pilot project that we have going on in Function Junction, I think people have responded really positively so far. We'll see how that goes.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   8:25
Yeah, this all stemmed for me from, ah Councillor Jen Ford going to a conference in Surrey called Vision Zero that talks about how communities across the world– started in Sweden–can increase road safety, and it's a lot of infrastructure changes; the way roads are built, the way sidewalks are constructed. But one of the major pieces that she brought back was an encouragement to lower speed limits to 30 kilometres in all residential neighborhoods. And it's picking up steam in other communities. Vancouver has talked a lot about wanting to do the same thing. The challenge they have is, because they don't have one entrance and exit to every neighborhood in Vancouver, and it's on a grid, that would mean signage cost would be out of control in the City of Vancouver. And so they've asked the Province to downgrade that standard that you talk of from 50 to 30. I think that your point about a pilot program in Function is interesting, and I'm hopeful that we get there sooner rather than later. But I'm willing to wait to, have the Province pay. If that opportunity presents itself.  Um, okay, moving on to this week in housing–a topic that I want to kind of bring to the table each week– Council finally got our first look at the Vail dormitory at our last council meeting, Glacier 8, which was extremely exciting. Any initial reaction from you on Glacier 8?

Michele Comeau:   9:47
Well, I think it's just great to see it come forward. As we all know, housing is one of our top priorities and having Vail come forward with a new dormitory–which they announced some time ago–and have it actually come forward to council as an official rezoning project which says "this is happening, it's moving forward" is super exciting. And it's great to see a private company come to the table with a solution for their staff or part of their staff. And it'll be interesting to see some of the other projects coming forward as well. It's it's really great news.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   10:18
Yeah, it's it's it's a big project, and we just gave it, um, permission to proceed. So that means that hopefully the rezoning process will move fairly quickly and they can have shovels in the ground next year. It'll make a big difference. I never had the joy of living in staff housing, did you?

Michele Comeau:   0:00
I did not. 

Mayor Jack Crompton:   10:58
You did not, alright. My first housing experience in Whistler was in a sauna under a set of stairs in Alpine, which was an adventure, to say the least, but but not staff housing. How you about you, what was your first place?

Mayor Jack Crompton:   10:58
My first place in Whistler was a ground floor suite in a houseTapley's, which, was awesome. Yeah, it was a great.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   10:58
Luxury, luxury. Um, great. On to the Whistler Library. This week, Brandon Barrett wrote an article in the Pique that I had everybody talking me. Everyone I've talked to has been, um, uh, excited about and one of the pieces that stuck out to me was his...he wrote the feature which talked about libraries globally and the impact of this library here. And then he followed up with a op ed love letter to the Whistler library, which I thought was neat too. Did you get a chance to read it?

Michele Comeau:   11:30
I did. I read both, and, uh, thought it was fantastic. It was a really interesting twist on libraries and really brought to life what we see in our library everyday, and it's it's it's the it's the communities living room and I think a lot of people call it that and use it that way. And it. It's great to hear his perspective on how it really impacts people's lives here and visitors lives.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   11:57
It was such a controversial start to the library, and it was a...it was something that was politically so hot for so long. Ah, and now it's, you know, one of the most loved and most well used buildings in our community. We're so much better for having it there. Yeah, I was really struck by the comments around sort of evening, the playing field giving people who don't have access to a living spaces opportunity to have beautiful living spaces and access to resources that they might not have otherwise. It's a real, ah, community building facility, and I hadn't seen it that way before reading Brandon's letter. I'd always seen it is a place that I go to get books or movies, and it's a kind of real transactional place. I would walk in, I'd grab my stuff and I'd leave rather than I would go, and I would have access to living spaces. And I think that that's such a beautiful insight.

Michele Comeau:   12:54
Yeah, the experiential part of it in that living room sentiment is, I think it's really important. And that's probably the biggest shift in libraries. You're, you know, you're kind of original idea of a place where you do a transaction or take out a book to today, it's a place you go and hang out. Maybe you read a book, maybe plug in your computer, do an assignment. There's talk of whatever having  3D printers in libraries. And and there's a lot of educational opportunities through the through the library and free education that people can have access to. There's all kinds of, um, community events that take place there, partnering with nonprofits and the community and such. So, yeah, it's a place for thought, leadership in discussions and conversations.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   13:35
Yeah, I agree. Well done. Well done on him.

Narrator:   13:39
You are  listening to the Whistler Podcast. Candid conversations on current events, local government, everything Whistler.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   13:46
Okay, so, uh, those were some sort of current event-y things that are happening in town. We're moving now into the second half of our conversation. I want to talk today about podcasting. Why are we doing this? Um, what is a podcast for Whistler? Why would we do this? And I just want to start and ask you about communications. What does the RMOW care about as it communicates to our community? Um, what do you want to get across to people? Um, what are the formats that we use? Um, tell me about communications.

Michele Comeau:   14:25
Okay. Well, first and foremost, I think communications for any organization is an extension of the work of that organization. And for me, for the municipality, that's a really important point, because I think our role as the municipality is really we're stewards of this place–this very special place–and it's a really important role, and I'm honored to be part of that. Um, so with that in mind, I think, you know, good communications considers a lot of different factors. Things like different people like to receive information in different ways, at different times, through different channels. And even there's different types of information that people want to receive. And, um, also with the way people want to engage with us, there's different ways that different people have different preferences. Um, some people want to get really engaged, and other people just want to know that the job's getting done and they don't have to worry about it too much. So keeping all of those things in mind is really important, because a lot of different ways to share information and engage with people. Um, I always find every year when we get the results from the Community Life Survey super interesting because we ask people those types of questions and and, uh, they tell us what they would they want to hear and how they want to engage with us and even how they want to receive administrative services and that type of things. It's quite interesting. Um, one of the things that we've seen change over recent years is, of course, no surprise that people want more things digitally, whether it's more social media or mor enewsletters or website or even um, receiving services online or being able to do more transactions online. I found that really interesting, but what's also interesting is people still want to have conversations. They still want to go to open houses and have one-on-one conversations, and they still love the local media. Um, but having said all of that, podcasting is something that we haven't done before.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   16:31
And are you a consumer of podcasts yourself?

Michele Comeau:   16:34
I am not, actually. I have to admit–full disclosure–I'm not a podcast junkie, yet.  

Mayor Jack Crompton:   16:43
I am, so that's good one of us is.  

Michele Comeau:   16:45
Yeah, um, but so I think podcasts...it's gonna be really interesting to do this. And I have to give you credit for the idea. I think there's been a lot of really interesting successes out there with podcasts and a different way to have a conversation with people and engage and share information. What were some of the podcast that you love? 

Mayor Jack Crompton:   17:08
Um, well they're, well, they're Freakonomics is done by...is phenomenal. It looks at, um, sort of the hidden side of economics and talks a lot about city building and and what it means to, uh, kind of take a different look at things. I love Freakonomics. Canada Land is an interesting podcast that I've just started listening to that, um, just talks about all things Canada and is sort of interested in politics. Got, um, current events, all kinds of things. I listen to the Economist every day,  which I find fascinating and really anything political for me. I spend a lot of my time when I'm riding my bike listening to people talk about where Canada is going, where the UK is going. Lately, he's been spending a lot of time listening to BBC broadcast lately about the proroguing of Parliament and Brexit and what's happening over there. Um, I guess my hope with what we do here at The Whistler Podcast, is that we give a venue to  have those conversations that might feel a little bit uncomfortable when you originally put them out there, because it's the stuff that people are talking about...the conversation we had earlier about. I hope the second half of this podcast is those type of things that when you're at a dinner party, it draws a crowd and people want to participate in that conversation, and they want to hear each other's thoughts, those times at dinner parties, when we really start getting into a discussion of the things that we care about in the community we care about, I hope that's what sort of frames the podcast. That we have those opportunities to have those conversations that matter to us. Ah, and I hope this becomes a venue for that.

Michele Comeau:   18:50
Absolutely. I think it's, um it's a different way to have a conversation and hopefully, you know, people...it's more accessible to people. It's one of those another one of those channels where people can listen to it whenever they want, wherever they want. They could be doing something else while they listen to it, riding their bike or or what have you. So I think a lot, a lot of value. And, yeah, it's a different format, its  an ability to have a candid conversation about what people are talking about in the community.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   19:21
I was reading an article about, um, how why podcasts die and apparently seven podcasts is where you know, most bad podcasts end up, you know–so we have to get to at least 10.  

Michele Comeau:   19:36
Okay!

Mayor Jack Crompton:   19:37
But it's exciting to think that this will get better; that we'll learn about how to have these conversations well. And I hope our community feels very welcome to send us ideas to, uh, you know, put up their hand and say, I want to participate in that conversation. I have some ideas to share. Um, I'm excited! I'm excited about the fact Whistler changes so fast and there's so many interesting people that go through this place. And there's so many interesting conversations to have, uh, that moving forward from here, there's more to do, more to say, more to more to learn, which– that's what excites me about podcasts. I learned so much just listening to conversations about things people care about, and I hope that we get to do a bunch of that here.  

Michele Comeau:   20:30
Absolutely, I totally agree.

Mayor Jack Crompton:   20:30
So, um, Michelle, thank you for, uh, participating in this first episode. Thank you for the work you do in our community. It's really important work, I think people having the opportunity to understand what their government's doing, how their taxes are spent. It's important work, and you do it so well. I've been so impressed and ever since I've been involved. Um, and I want to thank our listener or more than one to our first podcast. And I look forward to doing many more of these, and I hope you'll come back and talk to me again.

Michele Comeau:   21:09
Thank you very much, Jack. It's been my pleasure.  

Narrator:   21:11
You've been listening to The Whistler Podcast. Candid conversations about everything Whistler. To find out more about The Whistler Podcast, visit whistler.ca/whistlerpodcast. 

Why did the RMOW start a podcast?