Don’t complain about suburban sprawl; vote for open space

With regard to prudent investing in real estate, a wise man once said, "Land, they ain’t making any more of it." An addendum for modern times might be "and they ain’t giving it away."

Residents who daily witness the growth of Monmouth County continue to lament to newspapers, neighbors and their town officials about the traffic and other byproducts of this "progress." The truism "build it and they will come" continues to fuel new construction throughout our towns. To the extent we live in a capitalist society, landowners have the right to sell to the highest bidder as they ultimately convert their parcels to the perceived best use.

Many recognize the need to act now to protect some portion of our remaining open land simply as a means to balance our losses to date. A comprehensive examination would reveal that we need this preservation soon because the race for open space is winding down, and in some built-out communities the race is over. Slowing down suburban sprawl literally and figuratively gives us breathing room and buys time to put our fundamental priorities in order.

Voting "yes" on Holmdel’s public question to further fund open space acquisition is appropriate, given the current building climate, and allows us to collectively put our money where our mouth is in fairly compensating cooperative landowners.

Wes Fagan

Holmdel