Open Space Ballot Issue

Tomorrow is Election Day, and one of New Jersey's ballot issues for 2007 concerns funding for open space programs (pdf):

GREEN ACRES, FARMLAND, BLUE ACRES, AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION BOND ACT OF 2007
Shall the “Green Acres, Farmland, Blue Acres, and Historic Preservation Bond Act of 2007,” which authorizes the State to issue bonds in the amount of $200 million to provide moneys for (1) the acquisition and development of lands for recreation and conservation purposes, (2) the preservation of farmland for agricultural or horticultural use and production, (3) the acquisition, for recreation and conservation purposes, of properties in the floodways of the Delaware River, Passaic River, and Raritan River, and their tributaries, that are prone to or have incurred flood or storm damage, and (4) funding historic preservation projects; and providing the ways and means to pay the interest on the debt and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof, be approved?

INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT
Approval of this act would authorize $200 million in funding for Green Acres, farmland, Blue Acres, and historic preservation projects through the sale of State general obligation bonds. The Green Acres program preserves open space, including parks, fish and wildlife habitat, flood prone or affected areas, and lands that protect water supplies. It also funds park improvements and facilities. Of the total sum authorized: (1) $109 million will be used for Green Acres; (2) $73 million will be used for farmland preservation purposes; (3) $12 million will be used to fund a new “Blue Acres” program by which the State may purchase from willing sellers, for open space preservation purposes, properties in the Delaware River, Passaic River, and Raritan River basin floodways that are prone to or have incurred flood or storm damage; and (4) $6 million will be used for historic preservation purposes.

Along other benefits, the Green Acres program helps to preserve bird habitat. With so much former agricultural land being turned over to suburban development, the state needs to maintain open space where it continues to exist.