From the Bainbridge Island Review, July 30, 2003

WHO'S WHO - Tim Bailey

The first career choice didn't cut it. Neither did urban living in San Francisco's Bay Area. So Tim Bailey and his wife Kitty Garrett packed up their children and moved to Bainbridge in 1990. "I like it here," Bailey says of the island. " I like it here a lot. There are some good, smart people here, and a good feeling."

Not just another refugee from the urban "environment", he now gives his time on the city's Open Space Commission, helping preserve what many islanders say they value most: the sense of ruralness conveyed by tracts of undeveloped forest and fields.

Bailey earned a degree in economics and psychology at Claremont McKenna and an MBA at Cal-Berkeley. But he found a career in organizational developmemt - "redefining management culture" and other '70s-era business hokum - "too centralized and academic. I work better in less structured situations." He was equally nonplussed working as a consultant on computer installations. Bailey moved to commercial real estate, and three years after coming to Bainbridge was recruited by Ed Kushner to the local Windermere office for residential sales.

He became attuned to open space issues while working as seller's agent for Kelly Samson on several developments in the old Port Blakely property at the south end of the island. Discussions with other professionals and potential buyers suggested there was a market for a large lot project - one that came with restrictions on the land to prevent future subdivision.

The result is West Blakely/Tani Creek, which put 16 building lots on about 120 acres and preserved vast tracts of forested land. A public access trail network there will link Fort Ward and Blakely Harbor parks, and other trails on a nearby Samson project, once local public agencies complete the connections at either end. "I got to be focusing more on land than I ever thought I would," Bailey said. "I was exposed to a lot of cool places. There are a lot of places that don't deserve to have (development) happen to them."

But "market-driven open space" will only get the island so far, so Bailey signed on to the campaign committee for the $8 million open space bond levy. When it passed, he was appointed to the seven-member Open Space Commission, to which he has contributed his real estate expertise.

Since then, Bailey and his fellow commissioners have been figuring out how to best spend the public's money. Purchases so far include a dive park on Rockaway Beach; the sprawling beach and upland forest of the Hall property north of the ferry terminal; and several parcels of farmland near Day Road.

Bailey's special interest has been trail connections - looking for parcels and easements that will link parks and open space around the island for hikers and bicyclists. He envisions a day when islanders will be able to take a backpack and "go walkabout" for several days at time."That's how people stay connected with their neighborhood," he said, "walking - not driving through in their cars."

The eternal challenge for the Open Space commission: "So many properties, so little time, so little money." But Bailey is confident that islanders will get the right mix of properties for their $8 million. "It will be nice if when we're done, people look at it and say, "this is good, this what I had in mind."

-Douglas Crist