Tourist season is coming up, so I think us locals should brush up on our local Bowen facts so that we can offer not only directions, but also interesting conversations to the tourist we encounter on the streets, beaches and shops. Here are a few, courtesy of our community profile:
· Geo-position: 49°23’00” latitude, 123°22’00” longitude.
· 49.94 sq km or 5,260 hectares total area.
· 12 km long and 6 km wide at its widest point.
· 37 km of coastline.
· Highest peak: Mt. Gardner at 719 m/2,500 ft.
· 2nd highest: Mt. Collins at 411 m / 1,350 ft.
· 3rd highest: Mt. Apodaca at 360 m / 1,181 ft.
· Largest lake: Killarney in Crippen Park.
· Other lakes: Grafton, Josephine and Honeymoon.
· Numerous wetlands dot the valleys and lower lying areas.
· 399 hectares in the southeast are protected as an ecological reserve.
· Average annual rainfall: from 150 cm to 180 cm.
And there’s one more, which will answer the question that the tourists will really want to know and it is this:
· The median sale price of homes sold on Bowen Island in the past 12 months is just below $900,000 (according to MLS)
And that’s a proper house that isn’t falling over, was never used as a grow-op and might even have a view… all for under a million, which is super cheap if you’re cashing-in from the third most expensive city in the world.
I state this fact with a sense of dread and trepidation. I am happy to welcome new friends and neighbours to this island despite the fact that their arrival may reduce the number of homes available for current friends and neighbours who happen to be renters. We’re all just looking for a good place to land, and trying to make decisions that ensure our future security. These housing prices though, leave me feeling like a good number of us of us are more insecure than we’d like to think.
According to Statistics Canada, the median family income in Vancouver is a little more than 76,000 (about 2,000 less than the median family income in Canada). Considering our economy is so tied to Vancouver, I think it is safe to assume that the median family income on Bowen is comparable. While of course the gap between cost of housing and income is far bigger in Vancouver, I still feel like a good chunk of us here on Bowen are being stretched and squeezed in ways that are not sustainable.
Add to that the fact that we’re all fundraising for something: pre-schools, playgrounds and bike parks, soon a medical clinic… And we’re all so creative about these things, but the money has to come from somewhere and the sources, it seems to me, are a whole lot shorter than the list of costs we are trying to cover.
I look over at the municipality and I see another household with a long list of necessary improvements that require investment, and just like us, it is squeezing and stretching. Could they make better decisions up there? Sure they could, we all could, but money will still be tight and the list of projects that need doing will remain long. And yes, to see some of the plans for housing become more than plans on paper will help out with housing, but it won’t tackle the inequality that’s feeding the problem.
The costs of housing, transportation, education, food and the rest of it are rising, but our paychecks are not. We’re trying harder and harder to make things work in a world where the numbers just don’t add up, and I can’t help but wonder, how long we can keep going?
When summer comes (it feels right now like it never will) everything will feel a little easier, I know it will. The tourists will walk off the boat and their eyes will sparkle as they fall in love with this place, and we will share our facts with them and tell them the best spots to visit within walking distance and yes of course, the market’s booming here. Our eyes will sparkle too, because we’ll remember how incredibly lucky we are to live here. If we can just keep making it work.
