Please vote No on the "Open Space" referendum

The Open Space fund was created explicitly to buy and preserve open space (for recreational parks, flood mitigation, farmland, wilderness areas and as a limit to development); a purpose that provides both short- and long- term benefits for residents and increased home values. The diversion of these funds to a different purpose is somewhat akin to the raids that companies have made on pension funds. The money can be used to "pretty up" the balance sheet now, but it will mean that a portion of the money is not available later on for its intended purpose.

50% of the fund is already being used to pay down bonds used for initial land purchases. As undeveloped land becomes scarcer, prices will increase. We need to keep the remaining funds ready in order to purchase land as it becomes available, or risk much of it being lost foever. How much buying power would you have if your income was cut 20%?

When the economy gets better (and it will), we'll have the funds needed to develop some of the land for more active recreation and improve existing parks, but we won't be able to buy the open space that is no longer available.
It’s easy to underestimate the value of ‘empty’ land now, but it will be hard to overlook the impact of hundreds more acres of houses, more congested roads, and higher taxes to pay for the increased infrastructure if we don’t take steps now to stop this from happening.

 Please vote “No” so that funding isn’t diverted from this important purpose.