By a vote of 84 to 16 percent--one of the largest margins of any ballot measure we have helped pass--Newark voters approved the Newark Open Space & Recreation Trust Fund on November 5. The vote

Avery Wham/The Trust for Public Land

dedicates 1 penny per $100 of real property value to maintaining the city's parks and creating new open space, generating $1.1 million a year. Over the past six years under the Booker administration, Newark has invested $20 million in restoring or constructing 17 community parks, playgrounds, and sports fields. "The voters understood that we need to have a sustainable way to protect that investment by having adequate resources to properly maintain parks," said Pamela B. Daniels, chair of Newark Citizens for Open Space, the citizens' campaign to pass the measure. Read more.

On Election Day, Garden State voters once again showed their commitment to funding open space preservation and parks by approving 7 out of 10 town and county ballot measures. Since 1961, 13 of 13 statewide conservation funding ballot measures have passed in New Jersey, most recently a 2009 $400 million open space bond, now fully allocated. Although polling shows that voters would pass a new and sustainable source of statewide funding for farmland, open space, parks, and historic preservation, the legislature has not yet put a measure on the ballot. The Conservation Campaign hosts the legislative advocacy campaign of the NJ Keep It Green coalition to get a sustainable conservation funding referendum on the 2014 ballot. Read more.

Legislation enacted in the summer of 2012 to enhance the Community Preservation Act (CPA) continues to reap results in Massachusetts. Communities that adopt CPA dedicate a voter-approved real property tax surcharge of up to 3 percent to open space conservation, historic preservation, outdoor recreation, and affordable housing. Local funds are augmented by state grants from the CPA Trust Fund, funded by fees collected at the state's Registries of Deeds.

Common Pasture, Newburyport. Photo: Community Preservation Coalition.

Since the passage of amendments designed in part to encourage more communities to participate, seven towns and cities have adopted CPA. Looking towards 2014, Ludlow has already put CPA on the ballot for the spring town election, and many other communities are considering a vote.

In November, fulfilling a promise made by state legislators in 2012, the state announced that it will transfer $25 million from the FY13 budget surplus to the CPA Trust Fund, providing a significant increase in trust fund distribution amounts for CPA communities. The additional funding is for this year only, but legislators indicated that they intend to make the transfer annually. CPA advocates led by the Community Preservation Coalition will return to the State House in January to urge legislators to continue the additional funding. Read more.