‘Open Space’ Travesty Says It All
Aug. 11
By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Everything that drives me crazy about Trenton played out in last week’s passage of a new “Open Space” measure, Save Jerseyans, setting up a ballot question for the November election and another expenditure which we can ill-afford.
Bad logic. Reckless spending. And a little good old fashioned horse trading?
In case you’re not aware of the background information, SCR-84 results in a proposed constitutional amendment on New Jersey’s next general election ballot which, if approved by the voters, dedicates $150 million per year for open space conservation over 30 years. That’s a roughly $4 billion investment at a time when our government just declined to make an additional, pre-planned $2.4 billion payment towards our chronically underfunded pension system.
And it doesn’t make much sense, does it? At least not right now regardless of how you feel about open space land preservation. But it’s part of a disturbing trend where our legislators shirk their responsibility to make tough decisions by passing reckless constitutional amendment proposals that are designed, at least in part, to boost Election Day turnout. Last year’s minimum wage question and 2012′s higher education Big Labor stimulus package were apparently just the beginning.
Set aside for a moment your conceptions of what government should do or what you know it can afford. Personally, I think open space is great idea as a general concept. Government should use smart zoning and general funds to create parks and prevent our entire state from resembling that planet-sized capital city from the Star Wars movies.
What you may not know is that New Jersey taxpayers have already preserved an area of land, inside our state’ boundaries, that’s approximately the same size as Delaware – almost 2,000 square miles.
– See more at: https://savejersey.com/2014/08/open-space-bail-reform-new-jersey/#sthash.zCmy7klW.dpuf
