Having heard time and again from Islanders considering relocating due to the urbanization of the Island, and knowing that many people have already done so, we would love to collect those stories here.
Please submit a comment about your own feelings regarding how the Island has lost or is losing something that is special to you and how that has lead you to consider leaving, or resulted in your leaving already. If you can share a story about someone else who has left, we would love to hear that as well.
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Downtown Winslow Today
Blackbird Bakery at Winslow Way and Madrone
Winslow Tomorrow?
A new 55 foot building replaces Blackbird Bakery
A Better Way
Putting height and density behind, and preserving the character and scale of our main street
3 comments:
One of my close friends is a third generation Islander. Unlike many natives their age, her parents had the financial means to stay, but chose instead to move further west off the Island to escape the condos, traffic and loss of character. This despite the fact that most of their children and grandchildren reside here. They aren't the only ones I've heard of leaving because the Island has changed.
I should begin by saying that I am a single parent raising two teens. I make a good middle income so I am way over qualified for any help from any public service agency. At the same time I can’t afford to live here. Were it not for my landlords renting me the house where I live at a below market rate, I would have had to leave the island when I divorced seven years ago. Kudos and praise to them and the few others like them in this community who are not waiting for “someone to do something” about affordable housing but rather are making it happen on their own.
I moved to Bainbridge in the spring of 1989. The Village Shopping Center was still on the developer's drawing board, Bainbridge Gardens was still on the SW corner of High School Road and 305, and the selling prices of homes had not yet hit one million dollars.
What did I value about our community then? We talked to one another even if we didn't know names, we let people in line in traffic (what traffic?), and if we didn't like our neighbors, at least we didn't file lawsuits against them.
Then began the inflation of real estate prices and increasing property taxes. Homes were no longer where we lived and raised our families; they became investments. Buy low, sell high. Motivation for home buying was now greatly influenced by how much we could get for our place when we sold, not so much by embracing the values of the community where our property investment was located.
We began to lose folks in our community who could not afford this new "investment lifestyle" - older members of our community, our parents and mentors who deserved our respect and honor, who were our history; our artists; our single parent families; our teachers; our city workers; our service people; our middle income neighbors; all of whom contributed to the mix and diversity of life on this island.
What do I see now? A dying community and, taking its place, a "lifestyle".
I see developers empowered by our business driven city leaders snatching up property and razing the structures that were there in order to build (more) "mixed use" projects - more condos over retail space. More retail space priced at “outrageous” per square foot for businesses that don’t even exist yet. This stands in the face of development that serves community. Sometimes there is fanfare about the generosity of the developer (who is well compensated) who makes a few units available for affordable housing. These affordable "units" sport one bedroom...not much good for middle income families, i.e. parent(s) with kid(s).
I see mega homes built with mega footprints that suck energy like a Starbuck’s Frappuccino along with their matching SUVs in the driveways. (Let someone else be concerned about the planet.)
I see more and more residents who have no sense or desire to learn what being a member of community is about, what being a steward is. (Remember, we buy our houses now as investments that will be sold for a profit in the not too distant future.)
I see a few random articles in our pc newspaper about studies on affordable housing, BUT NO ACTION. (Let's commission another study!)
I see a community of entitlement in which our high achieving kids are numbing themselves with drugs and alcohol. Sally is going to Sanford next year so everything is okay, right? Don't look too closely at what she is doing with her friends while we vacation in Europe. Don't ask questions and for god's sake don't cancel the vacation. We wring our hands and throw money at "experts" who do "studies" on why our kids are using, but we're often not willing as parents to do the dirty work of getting sober ourselves and making ourselves present to our kids.
I see neighbors suing neighbors for the right to cut down the other's trees to improve the view...when there is a public beach right down the road...when we are already sliding downhill because we've cut so many trees.
I see local mom and pop businesses struggle and close because we drive off island and shop at Wal-Mart.
For now I struggle to stay. In spite of it all, I struggle to stay. This is where I raised my family. That is the beach where my kids and I mucked around for hours at low tide. This is my neighbor whom I've known since I moved here. She’s the artist from whom I took a class. This is the store owner who gave me discounts for my kids’ sport shoes because she knew I was a single parent. He’s that fellow whose name I don’t even know who hugged me when my dog was killed by a car.
I stay out of gratitude – gratitude to the folks on the Land Trust committee and people who do trail work; gratitude to the folks at our island museum and Helpline and PAWS and the Interfaith Council. I stay because of people who work and visit at the senior center. I stay because there are farmers who still till the soil. I stay because of the library and its staff. I stay because the people that own the stores where I shop are my friends. I stay because, much in the spirit of my landlords, Val Tollifson who doesn’t even know me said I could walk on “his” beach any time I wanted to because he believes in sharing the waterfronts of this island. Thank you to all of you. I cherish you and many more.
And finally I stay because my kids go to school here. What will I do when they graduate from high school in a few years? I don’t know. I hope to have a house of my own some day; realistically though, I don’t see how it could be here. On the other hand I am part of this community, home owner or not, and I believe in the stewardship and service of so many people who are also part of this community.
I don’t know if our community will survive the metamorphosis that has taken hold. If it doesn’t, I don’t think there will be a reason to stay.
My family and I moved to Bainbridge Island about 2 years ago. We left the town of Gilbert, Arizona, which USED to be a small town. However, due to mismanagement of land resources and bulging pockets, the small town is gone; the open land is gone; the character of the place is gone. All that remains are strip malls and tiled roofs. I refuse to sit by and watch that happen to this beautiful place! Unlike many who move here, I don't want anything else on this island. Sure it took some getting used to not having Costco and Target right down the street, but I would vehemently oppose any such action for them to call Bainbridge home now. I apologize ahead of time if this sounds rude, but if this wonderful, small town doesn't have what you want in it, then leave or don't make it your home in the first place. There are SO many people who enjoy this place just as it is, or was for that matter. Please don't come here trying to reinstitute the very things you are escaping from. This town we are so fortunate to live in is a rarity. So many of the places across our great country have been "improved" and lost their character and quality of life in the process. Please stop trying to change the island for the better, especially the lovely downtown corridor which has so much more charm than 55 ft tall buildings screaming down at us. If parking is a problem, let's not build a concrete megastructure to house the cars; let's take a bus or walk!
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