To the editor:
Re: "Godzilla invades East Fraserlands," July 3.
The filming of the Godzilla movie created another problem besides nightime helicopter buzzing of residential communities. For weeks this spring, this production was filming at the Highview Lookout on the Cypress Bowl Road. They had a permit allowing three-minute road closures alternating with openings. Personal experience and reports from others indicate they were commonly exceeding the permitted limits.
Remarkably, riding bicycles up the Cypress Bowl Road has become more popular than hiking in the park. Weekends are seeing hundreds of people ride up daily. These closures caused many cyclists, and people driving up to go hiking, to turn around and go back down rather than wait. Most cyclists doing this demanding climb are on timed runs approaching their physical limits. A random stop such as this is very disruptive.
Now, many justify this on the basis of the economic benefit of
the movie industry. This enthusiasm overlooks a few serious questions. One is whether
subsidizing entertainment that many would view as trash is a sensible use of our taxes. Similarly, the money patrons spend to see such movies could be considered waste rather than economic gain. Certainly waking families in the middle of the night and obstructing low-impact recreationists on the single road to a provincial park cannot not be justified by the questionable benefits of Godzilla movies. Steve Grant, Vancouver
