Bob Kronbauer. Photo Dan Toulgoet
After 12 years of running 麻豆传媒映画 while living in this city, as of today, I鈥檓 no longer a resident of it. I鈥檓 now a daily commuter to our office in Mount Pleasant.
But this is not one of those 鈥淒ear Vancouver鈥� letters.
You know the ones: someone will move away, and instead of going quietly, they鈥檒l pen an opus telling the city that it can effectively go to hell.
Generally made up of equal parts self-pity and self-indulgence, they鈥檙e sometimes shared widely on social media and are occasionally even picked up by local news outlets.
The story of my family鈥檚 decision to buy affordable property in closer proximity to our relatives, nature and a backyard is unremarkable. It鈥檚 the age-old tale of a move to the 鈥榖urbs. The main reason I鈥檓 sharing it with you here is that our publication is committed to being transparent with our readers.
I thought you should know.
Over the past two years, my wife, son and I have three times been forced to move out of rental properties within the catchment of our kid鈥檚 school in Vancouver. We settled into places that we鈥檇 hoped to be living in until he graduated high school but were quickly forced out by landlords moving into or flipping the properties. Three times. The most recent being a "flip" of the suites around ours into Airbnbs, which we didn't want to live with.
Having had enough of the unstable rental market, we didn鈥檛 think investing in the city was smart (sorry realtors!), so we wound up looking for and finding property further afield.
Now we live in a city that鈥檚 commuting distance from the V.I.A. office.
Living in a bedroom community doesn鈥檛 change the fact that I love 麻豆传媒映画and will continue to celebrate it. I choose to work here, heading up this publication that brings its readers 鈥� locals and non-locals alike 鈥� closer to the city. I鈥檒l still spend more waking hours here than anywhere else.
And this isn鈥檛 鈥淏ob鈥檚 Bloggity Adventures In Vancouver.鈥� I鈥檓 just the guy who started it, who has institutional knowledge of the place and continues to pull some of the bigger levers.
V.I.A. is a now-grownup lifestyle and news publication with a growing staff of reporters, salespeople, tech folks, designers, accountants and management who also love this place.
I look forward to another 12 years and more with V.I.A., keeping you in the know of the important news going on in your city while also making sure you鈥檙e reminded of how great it is.
Thanks for reading.
