Let us connect the desires of Kitsap residents with the example of life in a neighbor to the north to make a modest point about the coexistence of a good standard of living with a high quality of life.

Those lucky enough to vacation this summer in Vancouver, British Columbia, would notice the energy of its commerce and its people. A place of refuge since Hong Kong’s reversion to China, the city is bursting with dynamism often associated with immigrants establishing a beachhead in a new land. Unlike refugees from Ireland’s potato famine, or homeless refugees from World War II, these immigrants come with two ingredients important to economic development: education and capital.

An immense transfer of wealth accompanies their industriousness and purposefulness. No wonder, then, that colorful midrises and fanciful highrises are mushrooming not only in downtown Vancouver, but throughout British Columbia. Industrial and commercial structures abound. Robson Street — the city’s tourist promenade — is peopled with a majority of Asian faces even during the height of the tourist season. Its beaches and byways reflect the same influx.

This demographic realignment began twenty years ago, but has accelerated in the last decade. A relatively quaint city with a British patina has turned into a cosmopolitan center (or centre, as they would write) with a Chinese tone. If the host of new businesses and commercial structures is to be believed, the diversification of its population is matched by a commensurate diversification of its labor market.

Growth has brought complexity and choice to its population, but does not appear to have had an adverse effect on quality of life. Notably, the preservation of open space and the imposition of land use controls continues to constrain the location and character of growth in a way conducive to a wonderful living environment. Provincial parks abound. Downtown residential areas provide safe pedestrian circulation. Views are preserved. Public access to water proliferates. Now that a long transit strike is over, public transport is excellent. In short, it’s a highly livable and interesting place.

Kitsap County, with its quarter million population and off-the-beaten-path location, is certainly no equal to Vancouver and its economic engine, just as it is no equal to any other major metropolitan center. But the aspirations of its people are not dissimilar: a high quality of life with a high standard of living. This is borne out by the results of a May 2001 survey of Kitsap County citizens done for the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners.

When asked to recommend the county government’s highest priorities for the next five years, high quality government (44 percent) and building a dynamic economy (34 percent) came in as the highest priorities, followed by a safe and healthy community (26 percent), natural beauty (20 percent), transportation (15 percent) and community spirit (7 percent). The survey of 1,500 households had a 13 percent response and is estimated to have a margin of error of plus or minus seven percent.

Perhaps most germane to our economic point, note that the median age of Kitsap residents is 38 years, but the median age of survey respondents fell into the 50 to 59 year age bracket. This suggests that a disproportionate number of the respondents are retired and no longer depend on gainful employment for their welfare. Their interests, arguably, weigh in more heavily on the side of quality of life than on their standard of living. It is therefore likely that building a dynamic economy would have come in even more favorably if the median age of respondents was closer to the median age of our residents. In spite of this probable under-representation of residents in the labor pool, building a dynamic economy came in second at 34 percent — a figure all the more remarkable because this issue was in third place in the previous year’s survey and was then chosen by only 17 percent of the respondents.

Two subplots were also revealed at the same time that the importance of this topic rose from 17 percent to 34 percent. On the one hand, of those who want a dynamic economy, 51 percent noted their dissatisfaction with the pace of recruiting and retaining high quality businesses. On the other hand, the percent of respondents who believe that county government should control or prevent a dynamic economy rose as well; not quite as much as those who want its expansion, but from 17 percent to 24 percent. This latter view may be the converse of concern for natural beauty, which rose from sixth to fourth priority during the same year.

Reading such statistical tea leaves is fraught with peril, but something has clearly happened in the intervening year to raise economic diversification in the consciousness of Kitsap residents. Part of it might be the hint of economic fragility brought about by the bursting dot.com bubble. Part of could be the continuing threat of retrenchment in the defense industry. Part of it, we trust, is the increased visibility of, and public education by, the Kitsap Regional Economic Development Council.

Indeed, much as the incidence of crime tends to rise when better measures of criminal activity are used, we like to think that the incidence of concern about economic vitality and job diversification rises as the topic is raised in various quarters and occasions — including our weekly Monday Morning Over Coffee reports (see www.kitsapedc.org), community group discussions, and in this series of articles. Our recent success in recruiting a sizable number of new jobs to the county may also have highlighted the pent-up demand for more jobs.

All in all, the rising concern for a dynamic economy is heartening to those of us in the trenches, just as the apparent coexistence of both a high quality of life and a high standard of living in the greater Vancouver, B.C. area can give comfort to those who fear that these are incompatible. If you’d like to put your money where your desires are, consider becoming an investor/member of the KREDC by calling 360-377-9499 or visit our web site at www.kitsapedc.org.

(Editor’s Note: Zoltan Szigethy is Executive Director of the Kitsap Regional Economic Development Council. This is the sixth article in a series about the KREDC.).