By a 4 to 3 vote, Bloomfield's town council voted down a contoversial proposal to reduce open space funding in the towns 2009 budget. We arrived too late to hear all the heartfelt appeals that residents made at the opening of the meeting, But I was allowed to make the following comments:
First, I'd like to give all of you your due credit for the tough decisions you've had to make to keep this year;s budget increase as low as you have.
Please don't blow it now by repealing the overwhelming vote of our residents to save our open spaces. As I recall, the open space referendum won by a 2 to 1 margin. Where do you get the right to negate these voters.? That's happening a lot these days in third world countries. It shouldn't happen here.
I live close to the formerly Copeck-owned open space that you, Mr. Mayor, once heralded as a pristine wilderness. Last fall, I watched the tractors rip out 2/3 of the trees that made that space magical.
The developer here is apparently asking 659k for slightly larger townhouses in Hasbrook heights. Does anyone know when there's going to be a market for let's just say half million dollar townhouses on a flood plain? As a Realtor, I have my doubts. The larger of the Greenbrook townhouses now sell for around 300k. I know there were lengthy negotiations to save that space with public funding. Apparentlly we didn't have enough funding to save it for our town. Suppose our open space fund had started 9 years earlier -- or even 5 years. That Liongate forest might have remained pristine.
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