Jean Dvorak, South Brunswick
Imagine my disappointment when I attended a Middlesex County Freeholders’ meeting this summer to find a proposal to cut open space funding by 1 cent. Worse yet, this proposal was put forth by former South Brunswick Councilwoman Carol Barrett.
Nearly every time an open space question shows up on a state, county or township ballot, voters pass it by good margins. It is quite clear that taxpayers throughout New Jersey are ready and willing to spend tax dollars on acquiring and maintaining open space.
Yet, county leaders voted to reduce open space funding at that meeting by a solid majority. What message does this send? Are the taxpayers forgotten entities as the forces of government grind endlessly onward?
Fortunately, in South Brunswick, open space purchases were still in the forefront, with the 188-acre Pulda Farm on Davidson’s Mill Road a shining example of wise uses of open space funding. But, more recently, the mayor and the council have put a hold on open space purchases until the township’s funds are studied more carefully.
More and more studies are proving that open space is one of the wisest purchases a municipality can make. Here in our area, the purchase of farmland parcels like the Pulda Farm is even wiser. Our farmland is some of the richest in the country and we have paved over too much of it with warehouses, strip malls, and parking lots.
Should another good parcel of farmland come up as a critical purchase on our open space list, we cannot afford to ignore it. If there is a way to purchase a dog park, there certainly must be a way to purchase a farm.
Since the money has already been set aside for open space, there’s a time to tighten the purse strings and a time to loosen them.
So let’s count up the dollars and see how we can spend them the way the taxpayers have voted.
Jean E. Dvorak
South Brunswick
Ms. Dvorak is an independent candidate for Township Council.

