SAVE CORTES ISLAND !!!! -- Free Cortes Island

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Date Posted: 12:00:30 02/10/08 Sun
Author: Dupree
Subject: SAVE CORTES ISLAND !!!!

Obviously, inexorably Cortes Island will be destroyed by development, industry and tourism. It's unstoppable and inevitable.We tend to look at things in the short-term but the "destruction" (and that is a relative term) happens gradually over decades.
The biggest changes to Cortes occurred with the introduction of regular ferry service and hydro power some 4 decades ago. But recent changes like paved roads, fire protection, credit union, dentist and a full-time doctor have helped to make the island more attractive to other segments of the population. None of thes additions are necessarily "bad" but altogether they make living on the island easier which results in more people. Now we are talking about low-income housing and a senior center. If we want to end up like Saltspring then we should continue adding more services....perhaps a shopping mall, police detatchment, drive-thru restaurants, a rec center, and a world-class golf course. And don't think it can't happen. It's happenned and is happenning elsewhere.
It's a vicious cycle. More development means more demand for jobs, new families, more traffic, again more development and again more jobs....and so on. It adds up to a gradual erosion of the 'Cortes lifestyle.' It's already happenned to a fair extent and in another decade or two.....who knows.
How can this be stopped ? It's complicated. So many things are beyond our control. Industries not even based on Cortes are free to use the island in whatever way they want, clogging up ferries and co-opting pieces of the island for their own profit. Rich people from anywhere on the globe can buy up all the waterfront which they can easily afford and build monster houses which they only use for a few weeks a year. They pay the same ferry rates as fulltime residents and end up driving up taxes and rents for everybody. The difference being that many fulltime residents can barely afford these increases while the rich hardly notice them and would gladly pay more for increased services.
There's clearly something wrong with this picture but the regional director can't do anything because as I said before, all these decisions/policies are political and beyond our control.
So if you want to see what Cortes will be like in a few decades just go to Saltspring. Million dollar homes, high taxes and most of the same services and amenities you'd find in any city suburb. The writing is on the wall and I don't like it one bit but what can we do ???

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Replies:

Re: SAVE CORTES ISLAND !!!! -- Uno Hu, 13:35:52 02/10/08 Sun
- We're Not Alone... -- Dupree, 07:59:48 02/11/08 Mon