Head of NJ State Parks Service Calls Damage From Open Space Diversion “Worse than Sandy”

KIG Open Space Campaign Built On Deception and Lies

The Shoes Begin To Drop

” the darkest day I have faced in my professional career”

Back on August 4, 2014, I warned: (see: Public Parks Funding Would Be Slashed To Pay for Open Space Program)

I find it almost incomprehensible that an issue of this magnitude could remain under the radar and not a matter of public debate.

The same day I urged that: (see: Initial Thoughts on the Open Space Vote):

KIG members should be asked the following questions by the press and their members and Foundation backers:

1) what are your plans for replacing the $32 million diverted from parks funding? Will you fight for that money to be restored in next year’s budget?

In an extraordinary move – unprecedented in my 30 year professional experience in NJ environmental affairs – yesterday, the Director of the State Parks Service publicly confirmed that warning.

Mark Texel wrote the following on KIG Facebook page on 11/5/14:

As the Director of the NJ State Park Service now coping with the reality that our entire Parks capital budget will be completely eliminated beginning July 1, 2015 as a result of the YES vote I can say this is the darkest day I have faced in my professional career. Worse than Superstorm Sandy. 440,000+ acres of preserved open space, 52 historic sites, 39 parks — used by 8 million visitors each year — all managed by my agency and now with no funding plan in place for stewardship beginning in just 7 months. This is not a bad reality TV show. This is New Jersey’s Inconvenient Truth hidden from voters throughout this campaign.

In addition to Mr. Texel’s correct observations about the devastating impacts on his State Parks capital budget, he failed to note that the financial problem caused by the open space diversion is even worse –

Texel also has a huge operating deficit as well because 18 parks management staff were funded by CBT and no longer are – that’s at least $1.8 million.

I hope the smug bastards at the Keep It Green Coalition (KIG) read that Texel quote over and over.

I hope they have nightmares about it.

I hope they are proud of the fact that they caused more harm to NJ’s state park system than Superstorm Sandy.

Heckofajob KIG! I’ve completely lost respect for everyone involved in this KIG sham.

The day AFTER the open space ballot question was approved by voters, the Star Ledger yesterday finally covered the substance – however superficially – of the debate on how the open space diversions would impact DEP environmental programs, see:

• NJ open space ballot question passes, but could it hurt environmental programs?

Had we had those stories before August, the Resolution would never have been approved by the Assembly.

With respect to State Parks cuts, the Ledger story actually toned down the criticism by Sam Pesin of Friends of Liberty State Park – here’s what Sam told his members:

The Friends board heard this past weekend from trusted people who are very involved in the state park service that passage of ballot measure 2 will take major funds away from Liberty State Park and other state parks, mainly giving them for open space in suburban and rural areas.

Land trust organizations and other environmentalists who don’t care about state parks or urban areas pushed for this ballot measure to support their mission. The legislation setting up the ballot measure was very deceiving.

That Ledger article has now spawned a raging debate – which should have occurred MONTHS ago when the Resolution was being considered by the Legislature – and, as the facts become known and the lies are exposed, recriminations are starting against the Keep It Green (KIG) Coalition for their deceptive campaign built on flat out lies.

We have tried to get the facts out, so I felt the need to share this story widely.

This spring, we were given assurances by Jeff Tittel that he had an agreement with Assembly leadership that the Assembly would not post the Open Space Resolution, and therefore it was dead.

Given that assurance, I didn’t break a sweat documenting how bad the Senate diversion deal was.

But back on August 4, after the Assembly held their emergency session and approved the measure allowing the question to appear on the November ballot, I immediately began a series of posts here, to get the word out on what the diversion deal would actually do.

• Initial Thoughts on the Open Space Vote

For now, KIG members should be asked the following questions by the press and their members and Foundation backers:

1) what are your plans for replacing the $32 million diverted from parks funding? Will you fight for that money to be restored in next year’s budget?

2) now that you’ve not opposed Gov. Christie $1 billion plus in diversions and actively supported diversion of environmental funds for reasons not approved BY THE VOTERS (which is far worse than a diversion of legislatively appropriated money), how can you ever credibly oppose any future diversions of environmental funds?

3) now that you’ve accepted Gov. Christie’s austerity policy (no new revenues, no taxes, and no new debt) and refused to fight, to educate the public, and to conduct an open public campaign for the need for new revenues, how are you ever going to support funds for things like putting a price on carbon, gas tax, water tax, renewable energy, or financing multi-billion dollar water infrastructure deficits?

4) How can you look a kid from Newark, Jersey City, Paterson, Camden, et al in the eye while you skim off 20% of that money for “Stewardship” schemes that include commercial logging of state lands, and maybe 10% more for your own salaries?

Today is a day that lives in infamy – I am ashamed to be even remotely associated with any of this.

Here’s the rest of them:

• Conservationists Now Join Politicians In Raiding Environmental Funds, Defunding Regulatory Programs, and Attacking DEP as an Institution (8/3/14)
• Public Parks Funding Would Be Slashed To Pay for Open Space Program (8/4/14)
• Orwell Himself Could Not Have Written A Better Press Release (8/5/14)
• CHRISTIE’S TWO-FACES ON OPEN SPACES (9/3/14)
• Christie DEP Praised History Of Voter Approval of Open Space Ballot Questions, While Christie Denounced November Measure (9/3/14)
• Christie Contradictions Could Doom Open Space Ballot Vote (9/18/14)
• An Open Letter to Members of the NJ Conservation Community (10/1/14)
• JERSEY OPEN SPACE MEASURE CANNIBALIZES PARKS & ECO-PROGRAMS (10/6/14)
• Open Space Debate Finally Emerges (10/8/14)
• Head of NJ LCV Attacks DEP – Op-Ed Smears Critics of Open Space Diversion (10/9/14)
• Flying Blind on Open Space – And Lying About It (10/21/14)
• A New Cover Story on the Open Space Diversion of $100 Million Of Environmental Funds (10/22/14)
• Hopewell Is A Poster Child for Why Open Space Diversion is Fatally Flawed (10/23/14)
• Bergen Record Editorial: Vote “NO” on Open Space Ballot Question #2 (10/27/14)
• Do You Support Logging On State Forests and Preserved Lands? – Another Reason To Vote “NO” on Open Space Question #2 (10/28/14)
• Open Space Funding – Holy Grail? Or White Whale? (10/29/24)