It’s been five years since the Driftwood’s publishing date last landed on Dec. 25, meaning we have an opportunity to update our Christmas wish list for Salt Spring.
Santa seems to have had us mostly on his “nice” list since 2019, delivering many of the specifics we’d asked for. Our big-ticket item was a seemingly improbable repaving of Ganges Hill, now underway through the Fulford-Ganges Road Improvement Project –– temporarily snarling traffic from Seaview to Cranberry but amazingly slated for completion next year.
We’d asked for the Wagon Wheel Housing Society’s “Laundr-O-Mat” to find a home and flourish, and indeed it has –– delivering a much-needed service in our community and promoting the end of single-use plastic, all through a social enterprise structure dedicated to raising funds for lower-cost housing.
Our request for earlier springtime line-painting for island roads has been met, somewhat sporadically; but it seems to be on the radar of our Local Community Commission to keep asking, so we’ll tick it off our list as having landed on theirs.
And our evergreen wish for on-time, not-overloaded ferries seems to be in a better place to be fulfilled than it was five years ago –– or at a minimum, it isn’t getting worse, dramatic growth in traffic notwithstanding. The Quinsam may not have the upstairs lounge of the Howe Sound Queen, but it sure beats the Quinitsa.
Sadly, nowhere in that peddler’s sack have we yet found an end to Salt Spring’s affordable housing shortage; as in 2019, we note promising projects on the horizon but continue to wonder whether the earnest, thoughtful efforts of our governing bodies, community organizations and ambitious individuals can hope to keep pace.
But our wishes for more kindness and understanding continue to be granted. More often than ever, islanders have stepped up to keep the charitable spirit of the holidays in their hearts and actions year ‘round. Whether responding to neighbours acutely in need or working to make our community stronger, we’re going to make our wish for the next five years a simple one: more of that, please.