Bowen Island Undercurrent August 12 2016

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FRIDAY AUG 12, 2016 VOL. 42, NO. 78

$1

including GST

Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM

Rough cut

Kat Benards’ take on another season, and fabulous finish, of Men’s Fastpitch

The Olympian

Athlete with Bowen roots participates in her fifth Olympics

Saying goodbye

Bowen Islanders on their way out

Islanders research housing crisis, and solutions MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR

Kids at the Bowen Island Children’s Center (BCC) have been nurturing strawberry plants all summer. This weekend, they’ll be up for sale, by donation, at the Ruddy Potato. Proceeds will go towards the construction of a new playground. From left: Noah, Darwyn, Max and Jack. Meribeth Deen, photo

Islanders point to road safety as barrier to walking MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR

With a laugh and the assurance that she was not hurt, Alice Jennings says it was years ago that she nearly fell off a cliff walking home from work along Dorman Road, but the road itself has changed little. “At our meeting this weekend, people said that pedestrians need to walk against the flow of traffic, but on Dorman road, that means your walking on the edge of a very steep hill,” she says, referring to last weekend’s Integrated Transportation Master Plan (ITMP)neighbourhood meet-up in Queen

Charlotte Heights . “If you’re walking against the flow of traffic and you step aside to let a car pass, you’ll fall off a cliff. A barrier of some kind would be very helpful, I think.” Cindy Nicholson, who lives at the upper-end of Taylor Way, also has concerns about cliffs and safety. “When I’m walking to the Cove, I walk with the flow of traffic not against, otherwise I am walking along the bottom of a cliff,” she says. “As a pedestrian, there is one particular blindspot where I worry that cars will move out of the way when they do see me, then be at risk of running in to oncoming traffic. I don’t feel good about this even when I am driving.”

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How critical is the housing crisis on Bowen Island, and what are the factors contributing to it? Well, as council plugs away on initiatives such as Snug Cove House and the Grafton Lake development, attends webinars and follows procedure, islanders Michael Chapman and Susan Detwiler have set to work researching the situation on their own, and are determined to find solutions. Detwiler moved to Bowen three years ago after selling a small house in Guelph, Ontario. “I had some money from that and wanted to be near my adult-children, who live in Whistler,” says Detweiller, who is a retired professor of Fine Art from the University of Guelph. “When prices started rising this summer, rumours started flying. I wanted to find out what the actual numbers are. Also, I really like this community and would like to stay. I would love to buy a place, but there’s no way I could afford to at current market prices.” She started a Facebook page dedicated to affordable housing on Bowen and put the call out for people to report their situations to her. “I wanted to know everything: how much people are paying, what kind of places they’re living in, how many people are in the house, whether they are single people, couples, families, seniors,” says Detweiller. “Right now, I have preliminary numbers. I have someone who is going to help me crunch all these numbers and sort through them so they are more meaningful at the end of the week, but for now I can tell you that this crisis is affecting people of all ages, who are single, in couples and families. I’ve had 51 responses representing 102 people, give or take a dozen.” Detwiler says the results of generating this list have been disturbing. “I’ve heard about people living month to month who don’t even have the money to move but are being forced to anyway, about two income families that can barely make-it, and people buying houses and renting them out at a higher rate – something that is illegal, but happens anyway. This is about so much more than having to move from your current house. It’s about being dislocated from friends, family, jobs, doctors and people’s entire history.”

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WATERFRONT LIVING ON BOWEN ISLAND

Bowen Island Properties lp

www.bowenislandproperties.ca 604-947-0000

Prices and descriptions of real estate are subject to change without prior notice. E.&O.E.

8 LOW-BANK WATERFRONT HOMES FROM $1.60 MILLION incl GST 3 CLIFF-SIDE WATER-VIEW HOMES FROM $1.09 MILLION incl GST


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