A lot of important things have happened on the North Shore this year.
There was an election with three retiring mayors in need of replacing, a monumental moment that could potentially change the fate of our three municipalities forever.
The “housing crisis” continued, with North Van district quashing a proposed affordable housing project, and West Van homeowners revolting against a tax on houses valued at more than $3 million. One West Van real estate agent even suggested that “the NDP should be shot” because of the tax. I’m sure it sounded reasonable at the time.
Someone even came up with the idea of running a priority express bus through West Vancouver. A bus! In West Vancouver! It better have a rack on the front where we can stash our Range Rovers.
That B-Line bus brouhaha sure created a lot of buzz. But wouldn’t it be neat to know exactly which North Shore stories generated the most interest this year? What did we care the most about? Housing? Election? Bus?!?
Well, wonder no more. Through the miracle of modern technology, we can tell you which stories were the most read of the year, at least in the digital world. Google Analytics compiles click data for us (when they are not busy reading your diary), and here I present to you a breakdown of the Top 10 most-viewed stories on the North Shore News website this year.
Let’s start by noting No. 4, 7, and 8, three sad stories of assaults or deaths. Tragedy often unites us in empathy, curiosity and grief, and can also spur on the community to provide support for those affected. That's all the comment I'll make on those. That being said, here's the list, in reverse order. The most-read stories of 2018:
10. Realtor Found Guilty of Unprofessional Conduct
Well, this one was truly a shocker. Shooting an entire political party is one thing, but who would have thought that someone who stands to make tens of thousands of dollars on a single transaction would ever engage in any chicanery to seal the deal? I expect we will never have another story like this again.
9. Real Estate Agent Handed Year-long Suspension
Oh. Hmmm. Is every one of these most-clicked stories going to be about a different real estate agent? And if all the real estate agents are in jail, can I finally buy a house on the North Shore for less than a billion dollars?
Note to real estate agents: If you do something bad and end up in the North Shore News, the people are going to click like crazy. Then you’ll be ruined! There’ll be nothing to comfort you except for your massive house, and your backup house, and your shadow flip house, and your Tesla, and your yacht, and your Porsche, and your butler. Ruined, I tells ya! You’ve been warned.
8. Worker dies from fall on North Vancouver construction site
7. North Vancouver cyclist dies in early morning crash
6. Helium Balloon Causes Massive Power Outage
Now we’re getting to some important news – this balloon story really blew up. It was investigative journalism at its best, as our crack news team made sure North Shore folks weren’t left in the dark on this one. They chased this story for hours, minutes even, and made sure to confirm that it was helium and not just a bunch of hot air.
5. ‘Superyacht’ Attessa IV Involved in Fatal Collision
Now we’re really hitting close to home. A big boat that sometimes docks here was involved in a collision in which one person on another boat died, somewhere vaguely near San Diego. We finally got to use the North Shore News hovercraft.
4. Teen jailed just two weeks for violent sex assault
3. Airbnb Host Fined Thousands for Illegal Hostel
Now this was a weird one, and the result of some legitimate news-team digging (which is still going on, by the way). Kudos to everyone involved, except for the woman who set up a hostel in her three-bedroom townhouse, welcoming more than a dozen guests per night. It was a real slap in the face to all the other hard-working North Shore homeowners who run respectable and appropriately sized illegal Airbnb suites.
2. Netflix Series Casts Doubt on Teens’ Murder Convictions
This was a story written 15 months ago about a crime committed more than 20 years ago. So obviously it was the second most-read story of the year. It is an intriguing tale: people are still arguing over the convictions of former North Shore teenagers Atif Rafay and Sebastian Burns, who are both serving multiple life sentences in U.S. prisons for the brutal triple slaying of Rafay’s mother, father and autistic sister. File this one under Netflix and clicks.
And here we are, at No. 1. Is it the election? The housing? The bus? What?!?!?!
1. Condo Owner Can Keep His Dog, Tribunal Rules
Oh? A North Van condo owner barking back against a doggo eviction notice was the most-read story of the year? Well, it was well written and came with an adorable photo. And it does fit into the official holy trinity of North Shore News stories: bears, dogs, trees. The mind reels thinking about how many clicks this would have received if a real estate agent threatened to shoot this pooch, and then someone made a Netflix series about it.
Forget your elections and B-Line buses. This place is for the dogs. Here’s to more great stories in 2019!
Andy Prest is the sports editor for the North Shore News and writes a biweekly humour/lifestyle column. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
