On Election Day, New Jersey voters will be asked to consider a constitutional amendment that would provide a dedicated source of funding "$15 million a year until 2015 and $32 million annually beginning in 2016" for maintenance and capital improvements at state parks, historic sites and wildlife areas. Without requiring any new taxes, Public Question 2 would allow revenues already generated through the Corporate Business Tax Fund to be used for maintenance and capital-improvement projects.
Vote "NO" On Public Question # 2 - Use The Corporate Business Tax Fund To Provide Property Tax Relief !
Park Design Unveiled As Part Of Push For Referendum
Posted by The Star-Ledger
October 30, 2006 17:49
As part of a campaign for approval of a referendum to pay for parks, historic sites and wildlife areas, Gov. Jon Corzine today unveiled the tentative design for a new state park in Trenton, New Jersey's first urban state park in 30 years.
But officials concede it will be years before "Capital City State Park" is completed -- and it may never happen if voters defeat the referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot to provide $135 million over the next decade.
Before the park would be completed, Route 29, a busy expressway that runs between the Statehouse complex and the Delaware River, would have to be realigned and downsized. New parking would have to be found for thousands of state employees who would see their lots displaced by the park.
Environmental Protection Deputy Commissioner John S. Watson Jr., who is overseeing the planning, said, "Liberty State Park (the urban state park in Jersey City) is 30 to 40 years old and it's still a work in progress."
Corzine announced professional designers Wallace, Roberts and Todd of Philadelphia as the winners of a national competition to design the park. The firm has been awarded $400,000 from the Garden State Preservation Trust to finalize their work over the next six months.
Corzine has set aside an additional $500,000 for the first phase of construction, which is planned to be completed in multiple phases over several years, but officials do not have a final price tag for the park nor are they able to say when it might be completed. Asked to estimate a final cost, Environmental Protection Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson said, "Easily tens of millions of dollars."
The state also has plans for a multi-million dollar urban state park in Paterson centered around the Great Falls and the city's historic mill district, but Jackson said officials are holding out hope the federal government would take over the project.
On Election Day, New Jersey voters will be asked to consider a constitutional amendment that would provide a dedicated source of funding " $15 million a year until 2015 and $32 million annually beginning in 2016 " for maintenance and capital improvements at state parks, historic sites and wildlife area. Without requiring any new taxes, Public Question 2 would allow revenues already generated through the Corporate Business Tax Fund to be used for maintenance and capital-improvement projects.
Contributed by Tom Hester
© 2006 nj.com. All Rights Reserved.
Send an e-mail message with a link to this article to anyone/everyone in your address book. Click on e-mail [envelope] icon, below |
0 Comments:
Post A Comment