That being said, I hope they have the sense and acumen to find their own way here someday, if that's what they desire.  Every time I travel, I come home and re-realize that this is one of the most beautiful places on earth and what a privilege it is to live here.  My husband and I speak of retiring to Italy, to Switzerland, but in my heart I know the west coast is where it's at for us.  So maybe our current house will seem too big for us in 10 or 15 years, just as most of the homes on our street have changed hands in the last 20 years, we will say goodbye to ours and let another family enjoy it someday.  At that point, we would love a high-end condo or apartment, either downtown, or in West Vancouver, which leaves us free to travel and enjoy our empty nest.  I would also like to see more senior care facilities that give people the option of maintaining their independance with the comfort of knowing that help is nearby when they need it.  My inlaws have moved into a facility like that in Regina, and it's been wonderful!  When they were thinking about moving in, they were stressed and worried about keeping care their family home, especially in the winter.  Once they made the change, they got their health back, became virtually stress-free and are having a great time being the life of the party, dancing a couple of nights a week, meals as often as they like in the great hall and the option of staying in their apartment when they don't feel social.

 

Another option I don't mind at all is the idea of in-law suites or carriage houses, for both grandparents or for families who want to live together with their kids and grandchildren, but not on top of each other.  In our society, it is difficult when there are great distances between families, and perhaps rather than having nannies, people could consider the old-fashioned concept of keeping the family all in one place to help each other out.

 

What do you think?

I don't think there is any way you can stop a baby from being born, without losing the  mother and the baby, and West Vancouver is both right now, stuck between what it was and what it is becoming.

Ann, you are obviously a long-time resident of West Vancouver.  If you bought your home, say 20 years or more ago, you must be looking at a minimum of $1,000,000 equity at this point.  How much are you prepared to part with as you head into retirement if the kind of personal property restrictions you talk about are put into place?  Besides, in the end it wouldn't change anything. People from all over this shrinking world will still find this area desirable, just as they have for over a century.  In the city of Coronado, near San Diego,  there is rarely a house over 2000 square feet, they are all crammed into postage stamp sized lots, and they are all priced in the stratosphere...it's almost like winning the lottery to be able to buy one...well maybe not these days with the sub-prime disasters in the US.  My point is that when people find an area desirable, it's really hard to stop them from coming, as world history has proven again and again.

Not long ago, we were mainly looking at North American and European migration, with a few exeptions, to our shores.  Now we are a world commodity, and there is a lot of money in the world.

One thing I take exception with is how many times I hear about West Vancouver being an enclave for the rich, almost like being rich is some sort of dirty thing, hence the expression "filthy rich"...There is a perception that "the rich" are different, "the rich" must have done some naughty thing to get so rich. Sure, there's some stinkers out there, but there are stinkers in every walk of life. The fact is that everyone on the North Shore is rich by world standards, which is part of the reason the world's rich want to come here.

We all want our children near us as they go through life...as much as I'm for pushing mine out of the nest when the time is right, I dread the day they go.  Dustin Hoffman, who apparently has 6 children, said "No one ever prepares you for the empty bedrooms." But like my husband's parents, sometimes you have no choice but to watch your children set off in search of a dream.  Maybe that dream will lead them back to West Vancouver, maybe not.  These days there are many people heading back to the prairies to capitalize on the cheaper homes and new jobs in the mining, gas and oil industry...many people who left 20 years ago are going home to a life they never thought would be there for them again.

As to supporting our retirement community, I'm all for that, although even that is undergoing a demographic and lifestyle shift.  People are staying more youthful and healthier longer, and many choose to realize the equity in their family homes, and buy a condo downtown. 

I think if people feel like Ann, we have no choice but to increase density options...cluster housing, coachhouses, condos, duplexes, call them what you will. 

Give families the option of combining their resources to get into the market here, or options of scale.  Denying development never works...when a community stops evolving, it slowly starts to die...think of all the small towns across Canada that are boarded up because they didn't evolve or grow...Detroit USA is the posterchild of what happens when developers lose interest in a town, and it isn't pretty, not that I ever see West Vancouver in that light, but even Whistler was bankrupt not that long ago.  Development= municipal revenue=nice roads and a pretty nice senior centre and all the other amenities we enjoy without taxing residents to death.

One thing I was thinking about was the concept of a property tax equation that would factor in the amount of years you have been in your home, to help seniors who have been here forever to be able to age in place without fear of losing their homes to rising property taxes.  Not that they should be able to not pay them, but perhaps, in the instance of someone who bought their home say 40 years ago for $10,000 and now is facing taxes on a $1,000,000 property, there could be a system where the taxes are deferred until they sell or pass on the property.  Obviously it would be a compicated equation to devise, but maybe someone with more insight than me could add to the idea?

 

A society should be judged on how they treat those whom, for whatever reason, are ill-advantaged to help themselves; the sick, the young, the old, the physically or mentally challenged...I think that West Vancouver is in the enviable position of having enough wealth, both monetarily and talent-based, to be able to find a way to give answers to the question of what to do to house our burgeoning aging population, and if more attention is not paid to this issue, sooner rather than later, the issue will cost much more than it should.

 

In our society, the price we pay for a shrinking world is that parents and children and grandchildren become separated, and as a result, seniors are often left to age alone, with limited resources.  There are also issues of rental housing for abandoned or transitional families, and substance abuse facilities, because to pretend these problems don't exist in West Vancouver is ridiculous. You can't have a balanced and healthy society unless these people are provided for.  Developers should be encouraged with either tax or variance incentives to include provisions in their projects for various factions of the groups I've mentioned, but at least include housing for seniors...say if a high rise is being built, a lower floor could be modified to suit the needs of seniors...less space per unit, easy access...In return the developer gets an extra floor, maybe some other concession from City Hall.  There are many creative ways to approach the equation.

 

I think this forum is an interesting social experiment...getting to know your neighbours without ever meeting them!  I wish more people would sign up and get involved, and maybe it can make a difference in the City Hall's approach to governance, and in our acceptance of and caring about each other.