Thinking of becoming an islander?

Published 1:30 am Monday, January 19, 2026

By Steve Ulvi

Journal contributor

As in many magnetic landscapes in the New West, we are economically stagnant while experiencing steady age and wealth-skewed population growth, a shriveling middle class and government expansion. Exacerbated by a saltwater moat!

So, ecosystems are overexploited and despoiled, then year-round jobs and diversified lifeways dry up, youth leave, retirees throng and parasitic summer overtourism becomes normalized. Form a tourist bureau and energetically promote strapping on a community economic straightjacket!

Saltwater tides, the cacophony of gulls, gauzy fog, occasional snow on cedars and rapturous sunsets evoke the romanticism of a northern coastal seascape. But puffery abounds to create an illusory paradise; self-serving hyperbole of realtors, the Visitors Bureau and creative advertising that prop up the sham of a rural, independent island outpost where hardy traditions and off-beat characters thrive in bucolic scenery.

The remote “island mystique” attracts aggrandizing builds; trophy home investors cynically use our real estate market for investment profit, essentially free-riding, unaffected by our flailing government and anemic, undiversified local economy. The “wealth effect” underperforms here. Summer overtourism has locked us into a multi-decadal affordable housing pit and indentured servant seasonal wages. So, we all spend money on nonprofit safety nets for the negative externalities of low, seasonal wages. In a state with the highest minimum wage in the country.

But there is good news! The ferry system is now so reliably unreliable and spendy that tourism day-tripping may be dampened!

Many of us are trying to cope with being upscaled, permit-choked and overtaxed. Town, County and Port employees lead the number of employed. Imported chocolate, wine and T-shirts prevail. Local products — other than art — are scant. Food carts banned. Earlier leaders chose to be restricted by layered oversight and endless planning under the Growth Management Act to minimize rural development. NIMBY now seems a badge of honor.

We pay premium retail prices for scant choices while exhorted to buy local. You will become a minion of Amazon Prime. Serious car repair, a crapshoot. No grocery competition. $1,000 a constructed square foot is coming! Rely on skilled trades, be ready for unreturned calls. Excavation or big tree removal? Wait in line and tap into your 401K. Require any medical help after hours or weekends? Without an appointment? Then welcome to our gold-plated ER.

The county property tax rate is low, but outlandish builds now raise area valuations by leaps and bounds. Numerous junior taxing districts relentlessly lift levy lids seeking upscale urban perfection, oblivious to cumulative impacts on regular folks. Fresh water is precious and vaguely monitored; hundreds of new wells continue to be drilled. You will regularly dodge vehicles drifting over the double line, risk well-being sharing the road on two wheels and test your avoidance skills with distracted summer hordes and sickly deer.

Septic crap trucked to the mainland is costly sludge! Gas over $5. Electrical rates are set to climb faster than a functional SpaceX rocket. Regularly manicured roadsides. Gardening here is great after spending a fortune on fencing, mounds of freighted compost and mulch and water savings systems.

If you move here, become an engaged islander. Donate time and money, conserve resources, help neighbors, support critical conservation and housing REETs, participate in governance, create sustainable jobs, embrace local tribal renewal and enjoy mingling (and commiserating) with some of the most inspired, creative and interesting residents anywhere.