Investors

I ran into some conversation about a ferry from Point Roberts to Bellingham the other day. Seems the B.C. Ferries Corporation (which is a private corporation, much to the chagrin of many residents of the Sunshine Coast) is selling off some older ferries as a result of closing down the Albion ferry in Maple Ridge and of the new very large ferries soon to appear on the coastal ferry routes. Maybe Point Roberts could buy one of those ferries and run a little route back and forth to Bellingham was the idea.

Of course, Bellingham has no particular known interest in running a ferry across that route. And none of the ferries that was advertised could dock at the P.R. marina, but the idea of a ferry is perennial in Point Roberts. All you have to do is bring it up as a topic and people start talking about what a good idea it would be to get somebody to do this project. The somebody might be the state or the county, but the somebody isn’t usually Point Roberts, I have noticed.

So here’s a thought experiment, as the philosophers say: if the people who think it would be a good idea to have say a water-taxi (that could transport perhaps as many as ten foot-passengers/crossing) can raise $1,000 each from five hundred Point Roberts’ residents as investors, then there would be a half-million dollars of investment capital to get something the size of a water taxi going. A half-million would mean, I’m guessing, that it was fairly well capitalized, and the investors could all count on a nice little yearly profit if such a profit chanced to materialize, or some of their money back if it weren’t all needed over a several year period. And the real thought experiment here is whether 500 Point Roberts residents, who stand to benefit by this innovation both practically and financially, would be willing to ante up the investment funds? And if not, how good an idea is it really?

Incidentally, the digitalis/foxglove is blooming all over the place--in our yard, it's over 5 1/2 feet tall. There's a plant that knows how to do its thing.