I am writing to support the Pollinator Initiative in Crippen Park on Bowen Island. I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Bowen Island Foundation and our Board has expressed interest in funding this initiative.
There were, not surprisingly, hundreds of people at the celebration of life for Mick Strubin. Bowen Island Fire Chief Brian Biddlecombe said of his friend and fellow firefighter, “Mick was born in West Vancouver in 1944 and retired shortly afterwards”. Funny and true — Mick was a lucky man, able to do pretty much what he wanted in his 68 years on the planet, and along the way he picked up hundreds of friends and admirers.
Mick’s son Christoph noted that his father was known for falling trees, firefighting, sailing and rugby. When we first moved to Bowen more than 30 years ago Mick was the one we called when we needed tree work done. Every year for more than a decade he would come over and take out a tree or two, often taking out fewer than we had initially thought was appropriate. It never seemed that we were hiring Mick to work for us. It always seemed more accurate to say that Mick was coming over for a conversation and would take down some trees, if he thought that made sense. And when he’d finally give us a bill, we always thought it was too little.
Re: Public Hearing, July 9th re: OCP, Steep Slopes, ESA and WASP Bylaws
Dear Mayor Turner and Members of Council:
I write to urge you to postpone consideration of the above bylaws, most particularly Amendment Bylaw No. 299, 2011 (Environmentally Sensitive Development Permit Areas). I do not think the public has been adequately informed or consulted about what you are proposing, and I do not think that your proposals enjoy anything more than the support of a small minority of Bowen Islanders. Perhaps more to the point, the municipality’s publication of details both on its website and in our local newspaper has been very difficult to follow, even for those of us who try to keep up with municipal politics. What we have seen to date is a virtually impenetrable assembly of acronyms, accompanied by substantial amounts of relatively confusing text, and maps detailing environmentally sensitive areas of various kinds — without any significant justification for the locations of these areas.
My wife and I moved to Bowen Island in the spring of 1979, enchanted by the vast green spaces, the swirl of wood smoke on a damp March morning, and the interesting mix of what we would soon describe as hippies and rednecks. There were fewer than 800 full-time residents then, and in most important respects we had all come to Bowen Island to get away from urban life. After all, you don’t move to a small island, accessible only by ferry, for the nightlife and the shopping; most of us are, almost by definition, a little reclusive. We value community, but we also like privacy, quiet and nature, and the lifestyle that these characteristics afford.
In a Sun blog last week Kennedy Stewart described Bowen Island as the most democratic municipality in B.C., citing our high level of voter turnout (it has been declining over the past 15 years) and our information-rich and transparent website (Bowen is chock full of IT experts and communications strategists).
As a 30 year resident of Bowen Island and a former municipal councillor, what seems to me to be of greater relevance is how we have been handling the tough choices that have been placed on our plate. Bowen has grown significantly in the past 30 years. When we moved to the island in 1979 the full-time population was about 700, an interesting mix of hippies and rednecks. Today the full-time population is approaching 4,000 and is also a lot more affluent; the island only has single family homes for sale and the price tag for an entry level home is about $500,000.
I’m not gay and I don’t play soccer, but I have been pleased by the blossoming of gay marriage initiatives and by the fact that increasing numbers of young and old have been drawn to soccer as a recreational activity – to the point that our local community has, with some curmudgeonly exceptions, embraced the reality of synthetic turf, to permit year round participation in a wonderfully healthy activity.
It seems that opposition to the synthetic turf field is very much like opposition to gay rights and gay marriage. In both instances there are claims that the behaviour in question simply isn’t “natural”, and as such, ought to be resisted. Sex between two men or two women is, statistically speaking, outside of pre-existing norms. And a synthetic playing surface is similarly, statistically speaking, outside of pre-existing norms (never mind that plastic has been an integral part of our lives, in other contexts, for decades).
The debate over Cape Roger Curtis appears to be over. In a letter to Council the owners have indicated that they are proceeding to a 10 acre subdivision of the 600 acre property. As they put it, “We have no interest in exploring any rezoning exercise at this time”.
This is no surprise. Mayor Turner and Councillors Hooper and Poole and their most ardent supporters have engaged in a “take no prisoners” approach to the proposal, rejecting any hope that many of us had for collaboration, consultation and compromise. Mayor Turner’s expressed interest in a park appears to have evaporated. Councillor Poole’s language was enlightening: “it’s time to drown this bylaw” she said, in her statement of support for throwing two years of work and almost $3 million down the drain.
Ok, so this isn’t today, but it certainly wasn’t long ago and several feet of snow remain.
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