This week’s Beachcomber marks the end of a busy year for our staff and includes a front-page roundup of what we considered to be our biggest and most difficult stories of the year —ones that will continue to play out in the coming year.

For us, these stories boiled down to ferry woes, teacher investigations, the Seattle Indian Health Board’s arrival on Vashon, elections, and a fire district taxing measure that seemed, this summer, to have the whole town talking.

Sure: The Beachcomber reported many other important stories — including worthy projects connected to Vashon Park District that resulted in the grand opening of the long-awaited Burton Adventure Recreation Center and, of course, a fabulous giant troll that now graces upper Point Robinson Park.

There were also stories detailing both the plans of islanders who are seeking to farm kelp off of Vashon shores, as well as the efforts of other islanders who oppose those aquaculture developments.

We reported newsworthy strides to help cure Vashon’s affordable housing crisis — though this problem is so dire we know much more must be done to solve this existential threat to our community.A community forum on the subject, held in October at Vashon Center for the Arts and attended by State Reps. Emily Alvarado and State Sen. Joe Nguyen, was a start.

Throughout the year, islanders have watched the construction of Island Center Homes on Vashon Highway and 188th Street. This project, long in the works by Vashon HouseHold, will boast 40 units of affordable housing for low-income and at-risk islanders.

Vashon HouseHold also secured 12 additional affordable housing units with its “buyer-friendly” purchase of the Islander Apartments in April — more good news.

And in September, islanders learned that another 40-unit apartment community, Creekside Village on Vashon, will begin construction next year, thanks to the efforts of Vashon’s Shelter America Group.

Other news we reported on this year will continue to play out in 2024, and we’ll keep you posted. That’s what a good local newspaper does, laying down a rough draft of Vashon’s history week after week.

And so, as 2023 comes to a close, we at The Beachcomber want to thank the many community members who made our newspaper possible this year.

Thank you to our talented and intrepid contributors: folks like former editors Leslie Brown and Susan Reimer, historians Bruce Haulman and Terry Donnelly, the many athletic coaches and parents who reported on sports, and many others who helped fill the pages of our paper this year with insight and news. Your invaluable support, once again, has made this paper much more than the sum of its parts.

Thank you to our opinion columnists and every reader who sent in letters to the editor. Your perspectives gave color and urgency to the news of the day. You bravely spoke moral truths that could be hard to hear; you pushed back on prevailing opinions even when it wasn’t popular; and you took the time to recognize and thank islanders who are making an important difference on Vashon.

Thank you to Rick Wallace and the entire team at VashonBePrepared: your contributions to our pages have, week after week, kept our community safer and healthier and more prepared for whatever comes our way.

Thank you to Susan McCabe, who cheers The Beachcomber on week after week, and also helps corral a team of environmental activists to write regular commentaries on behalf of the Whole Vashon Project.

Thank you to The Beachcomber’s former reporter Paul Rowley, who might have moved away to Cleveland but still faithfully keeps islanders informed by skillfully performing a simple but time-consuming technical task: putting all our news stories and obituaries online.

Editor Alex Bruell wants to thank reporter Liz Shepherd, without whom this year he would surely have gone slightly mad.

And Liz Shepherd returns the kudos to Alex, who arrived mid-year to helm the newsroom with skill and grace — had this not happened, she would have gone completely mad.

Finally, our biggest “thank you” goes to our readers. By reading the paper, you help keep yourself and your community engaged and knowledgeable about the triumphs and challenges we face on Vashon-Maury Island.