A message worth hearing once again

Published 4:00 pm Saturday, January 28, 2006

We suppose it’s natural that politicians, once they’re in office, have a certain aversion to identifying problems in their own back yard. Bring something up and the citizens might think it’s your fault, or expect you to do something about it. Far easier to hand out rose-colored glasses and smile.

So some folks went a little sideways when, eight or nine years ago, our previous mayor used his State of the City address to warn constituents against creeping socio-economic homogenization, driven by the increasingly high cost of island living. It was a cautionary message – and a welcome one – unusual coming out of high office, where the reflex seems to be to sit back and take credit for boon times, and gloss over the rest.

It was State of the City time again this week, and the pulpit found another worthy bully – not in the current mayor, but rather in Ed Kushner, local gentleman, sage and doer of many things good. Taking the podium during public comment at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Ed sought to (in his words) “connect the dots” between several community successes, and challenges of still greater magnitude. Kushner, a retired realtor whose Bethany Lutheran Church congregation recently held a forum on affordable housing, called soaring home costs a “crisis” for Bainbridge Island, one that’s steadily stripping away the veneer of community “diversity.”

In the first six months of 2005, Ed noted, just 29 Bainbridge Island homes sold for less than $400,000 – a 43 percent decline from the same period a year earlier. At the same time, home sales in the $600,000 to $800,000 range doubled.

Noting this community’s success with such causes as land preservation – taxpayers supported an $8 million open space bond a few years back, then raised another $8 million through grants and donations to create Pritchard Park – Ed asked whether it might not be time for the city to consider a bond of like amount to address housing needs. Whether the city would use the funds to develop affordable housing or apply it in some other manner, Ed left that for the council and the communiity to ponder and reflect.

It was a message both refreshing and sobering – and timely, as a parallel discussion was held at the Bainbridge Economic Vitality Conference that very morning. Social changes driven by soaring home prices – and, dare we say, home sizes – coupled with the absence of affordable rental units is reshaping this community in ways we can’t yet fully appreciate. It’s not even so much a question of current residents being taxed off the island, as would-be islanders being priced out before they even get over the threshold. Most of us agree that a community is healthier when mid-level professionals and service types – teachers, grocery clerks, cops, baristas, shopkeepers, maybe even journalists – can afford to live where they work. Yet by degrees, their opportunities here are waning.

We don’t think Ed intended to upstage Mayor Kordonowy, whose own State of the City comments (thankfully, more focused than past efforts) were largely devoted to extending a peace pipe to the council. And to the mayor’s credit, the Community Housing Coalition formed during her first term is hard at work, with a public forum on housing issues – with perhaps even some solutions – slated for April. You’ll be reading more on that in the coming weeks.

Good that the pulpit found another worthy bully as we consider the state of our community, reminding us that some of today’s friends and neighbors will be gone tomorrow, and some of tomorrow’s, we won’t even get to meet.