A new year is upon us — and what a year it promises to be.

2024 will be a leap year, featuring a U.S. Presidential election and possible reshuffling of Congressional power. In Washington, we’ll elect a new Governor too — incumbent Jay Inslee has announced he won’t run for re-election.

We’ll doubtlessly continue to see remarkable advances in artificial intelligence and more fluctuations in the economy as the U.S. continues building out of the COVID-19 pandemic and slowly cooling inflation.

And here on Vashon-Maury Island, we think there will be lots of big news, too. So we’re outlining a few predictions and hopes for the next 12 months.

Island travel will evolve

Though we don’t know how it will look exactly, we believe the alarming state of transportation on and off-island will begin to change this year.

That’s in large part due to islanders who have faithfully beaten the drum over the island’s current inadequate ferry service, both through coordinated efforts organized by the Vashon Chamber of Commerce and Ferry Action Committee, and through countless letters and phone calls to state and federal legislators.

Whether full three-boat service at the Triangle Route will return this year is unclear, but we believe political and social pressure on lawmakers and the ferry system will lead to improvements and creative solutions for delays, safety for youth commuters and access for those who rely on the ferries for medical needs.

WSF officials say that new state and federal funding is helping them build reliable staffing and keep ferries repaired.

Additionally, there are organizations such as the Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB), whose leaders say they will develop a reliable transportation answer for those seeking treatment at their upcoming inpatient treatment center.

Vashon will become denser

With 40 units at the Island Center Homes development scheduled to come online this year, and 40 more at Creekside Village beginning construction, we believe Vashon will continue slowly urbanizing near the town core.

Zoning decisions in King County’s proposed Comprehensive Plan affecting Vashon — which has now been revised by Executive Dow Constantine — will also impact the future development of affordable housing on Vashon, and we’ll cover that story as it develops.

We also intend to publish stories advising property owners who want to create more rental opportunities on the island. Hopefully, we can do our part to ease the cost of living, too.

Life will flourish

Above all else, we hope and believe that the beauty of life in and around the island will flourish.

Just last week, intrepid orca researchers Mark and Maya Sears spotted a new calf with J pod — the same pod of critically endangered southern resident orcas that paid a strange and lengthy visit to Quartermaster Harbor in November.

Two other J pod females were also thought to be pregnant this fall, Mark Sears said, though he added that researchers are not sure if that is still the case — southern residents have alarmingly high rates of miscarriage.

And though some orca observers expressed some disappointment after learning that the sex of the calf is male — J Pod desperately needs more breeding females — the birth is still a beautiful and encouraging sign. We’ll hope for the best in terms of more births and the new calf’s continued survival — but also continue to demand long-overdue, decisive action to restore salmon in the Salish Sea.

Meanwhile, local organizations like the Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust and the Vashon Nature Center help ensure we preserve flora and fauna on the island and educate the next generation on the value in doing so.

Encouraging data from the Vashon Nature Center on Vashon’s stream health — reported in this edition of The Beachcomber — reminds us that the good of the streams is the good of the plants, the bugs, the birds, and the mammals. Mindfulness of our roles in keeping the island and the world healthy will keep those indicators in the green.

Meanwhile, the promise of Sea Mar’s new primary care clinic near the town core, investments in urgent care and behavioral care from the Health District, and the hope of healing from the SIHB’s treatment center are each good indicators for human life on the island in 2024, too.

We hope these organizations find nothing but success this year in keeping islanders healthy and happy.