TRENTON – Senator Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, Cumberland and Salem released the following statement today regarding a news conference on SCR-136/ACR-10 – legislation which would allow voters to decide in November whether or not to dedicate $175 million of State sales tax revenue to renew New Jersey’s Garden State Preservation Trust (GSPT):
“Right now we are in a race against time. New Jersey is already the nation’s most densely populated state, and if development continues at its current rate, we will most definitely be the first state in the country to be built out.
“As the GSPT is running dry and future preservation projects are put in jeopardy, we must bring the issue to the voters to let them decide on reauthorizing the Preservation Trust. I’ve heard talk that the State cannot afford to dedicate even a small fraction of our sales tax revenue to renewing the Garden State Preservation Trust, but I say we cannot afford to lose the last of our precious open space.
“It is time for us to take a stand to help preserve our valuable open space throughout the State.”