Village Voices | What are your hopes for the New Year?

Orcas Issues debuts a new column for 2020, Village Voices, wherein Minor Lile takes to the streets to hear directly from islanders.

— by Minor Lile, Orcas Issues reporter —

New Year’s Day, January 1, 2020

Outside Darvill’s Bookstore

Nancy: We’ve got to solve the plastics issue. We’ve got to quit making it and we’ve got to quit using it. I don’t know how that’s going to happen with the government and lobbyists, but that’s my hope.

Tyler: Just for things to keep on getting better every day, as a person, as a community and as a country.

Andrew: One of the biggest issues here on Orcas is the whole housing situation. I hope we can figure out some solution for accommodating the visitors that want to come here, but also have enough housing for the people that live here. It affects me because I’m a business owner that relies on tourism, so I like tourism, but I also have employees that need housing, and know friends and community members that need housing, too. So where do we find the middle ground, that balance that’s not too extreme one way or the other?

Outside Enzo’s

Anthony: My hope is that locally we can find some solutions to the housing situation that’s going on here. Also that people can be more sociable with each other and have deeper and more meaningful connections with each other. There are a lot of factions here on the island, even in the arts, so just more connectivity.

Emilie: I would love for there to be a surge of empathy and kindness in the world, both here on Orcas and in my personal life, but even more in the country and the world in general.

Taylor: I’d like to see a shift in prosperity for the lower income people in our country and maybe the world. It’s been talked about for many, many years, but it would be nice if it actually starts to happen.