Corbett to Permanently End All Funding for Local Parks, Open Space, Trails, Farmland Pres

[JPZenger]

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/03/gov_tom_corbett_wants_keystone.html

From Harrisburg Patriot-News

Excerpts:

"PA. voters overwhelmingly supported a fund to help pay for parks, trails and open space in 1993, when they passed a referendum by a ratio of 65 percent to 35 percent. Since then the Keystone Parks, Recreation and Conservation Fund, paid from a share of real estate transfer taxes, has helped more than 3,000 projects in the state, including 73 in Cumberland County, 69 in Dauphin, 42 in Lebanon, 26 in Perry and 120 in York. Baseball fields, trout streams, hiking trails, community pools, bicycle paths, nature centers, scenic views and much more have benefited from the fund.

..Corbett is seeking to permanently get rid of it, sending the money to the general fund budget instead. Activists say it is the largest proposed cut to conservation in the state’s history. In addition, Corbett’s budget proposes diverting $20 million in cigarette sales taxes from the agricultural preservation program, which is in danger of disappearing in two years, Heath said.

The Keystone Fund has been “extraordinarily successful,” according to Quigley. Getting rid of it will decimate not only quality of life but local economies as well, he said. Each dollar of investment leverages an average of $2.38 in local and private investment, Loza said, and the state money jump starts projects that could never happen otherwise. “Unlike a lot of state spending, this creates real, tangible, lasting assets,” he said. “One hundred years from now, the park land will be here.”

Karen Lutz, regional director for the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, said the Keystone Fund has been an important source for protecting lands adjacent to the section of the 2,000-mile trail that winds through Pennsylvania. Last year, the conservancy was able to purchase the 840-acre White Rocks Tract with $1.2 million from the Keystone Fund, matched with federal money. The tract, once slated for a 268-home development, contains one of the state’s most scenic views from the top of a white quartz cliff overlooking the farmlands of Cumberland County and the forests of Perry County."

[TheMastersNemesis]

1. ????????????? What ???????????

HOw did such a jerk get elected? Everyone in Pa can't be asleep.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Does this mean

that money we donate to PA Keystone Wild Resources will be confiscated and turned over to the general fund???

They had to stop the mailed edition of their newsletters, and we can only get it online now----will this disappear? Will the box to donate to them on the income tax form disappear?

Very sad news. Every time I think that this governor cannot be worse, he proves me wrong.

[JPZenger]

4. Different fund

The Wild Resources Fund has been cut, but that is a separate fund from the Keystone fund described above. Most of the proposed studies by the Wild Resources Fund were to study the effects of the gas industry on wildlife. That did not go over well at the Executive Mansion.

[Curmudgeoness]

5. Sigh. Doesn't that just figure!

This man is relentless.

[durablend]

6. No surprise

Just carrying out the GOP's plan to dismantle the country...little by little.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. You left the part out where the country is dismantled

and all the pieces are sold off at bargain basement prices to private industry.

They'll pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

[JPZenger]

8. Column in Lancaster newspaper

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/612568_Will-state-conservation-funding-run-dry-.html

Excerpts:

Will state conservation funding run dry?

Corbett's proposal to eliminate Keystone grant fund would be largest conservation cut in state history. Seed money for local parks, recreation and natural areas could end without a strong pushback from the public. ...He's proposing to eliminate one of the most successful and popular statewide sources of grassroots funding completely and channel it into the general fund from now on. Groups rallying to fight the move are calling it the largest proposed conservation cut in Pennsylvania ever.

...Keystone is the only funding source earmarked specifically to launch these kind of quality-of life projects in communities. The Keystone couldn't have a more broad-based pedigree. It was established in 1993 with an initial $50 million bond referendum approved by a thundering 67 percent of voters. Legislators responded with near-unanimous approval in both houses.

Here in Lancaster County, some $14 million in Keystone grants have launched projects in 22 townships and boroughs. Other recipients have included the county, School District of Lancaster, the Lancaster County Conservation District and the Lancaster County Conservancy land-preservation group. The 68 local projects since 1993 include planning or construction funds for a handful of popular rail-trails, parks with riverfront, historic and community settings, tree plantings in urban areas, linear parks and playgrounds in the midst of neighborhoods and communities. In addition, some 5,404 acres of open space or natural lands have been purchased and protected from development.

The New Holland watershed forests in the Welsh Mountains were saved this way, as will be the vast PPL land hugging the Susquehanna in the River Hills... They've created jobs, improved property values and transformed depressed areas. They've helped against stormwater runoff, flooding and air pollution."

[JPZenger]

9. State funds to develop heritage-based tourism and recreation to be permanently killed

http://www.centralpennbusiness.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120323/FRONTPAGE/120329933/-1/this_weeks_issue/Official:-Budget-plan-to-siphon-tourism-development-money&template=mobileart#.T2xyZ5LOePY.mailto


Excerpts:

"Tourism development efforts typically yield returns of $3 for each dollar invested — or more — and states that cut back see visitor spending head elsewhere, said state Rep. Gordon Denlinger, R-Lancaster County.

The midstate today has an opportunity to leverage its historical, cultural and related assets considering it is a short drive from major metropolitan areas, he said.

Denlinger also said he has been supportive of heritage area funding and worries that if the state's share is cut significantly, the partnerships will begin to unwind. "There is a multiplier effect that I think should be considered in the equation as we work through the budget process," he said.

Recreation at state parks generated more than $1 billion for the state's economy in 2010 and represented a $12 return on each dollar invested, according to a study released by DCNR."