New PA. Law Coming Up for Vote to Make it Easier to Sell Public Parks & Preserved Lands for Cash

http://conservationadvocate.org/?utm_source=CA+-+Oppose+Cash+for+Parks+Bill&utm_campaign=CA+hb2224&utm_medium=email

http://paconservationadvocate.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/hb2224_analysis_120810.pdf

This bill has already passed the State House and will be voted upon soon in the Senate. Legislators are being told it is simply to clean up procedures for parks when there is not clear title. However, it would make it much much easier for municipalities and counties to sell off parks and other preserved lands for cash, without any review by a judge.

Excerpt:

"The PA Senate is poised to vote on a bill that will allow county and local governments to sell our local parks for easy cash. A vote on the bill could take place the week of September 24. If the bill passes, it goes to Governor Corbett for his signature.

House Bill 2224 puts public land, including much-loved parks, at risk of being sold for short-term gain or on a political whim. It repeals longstanding rules that ensure government cannot sell parks and other greenspaces if the lands benefit the public.

Please tell your Senator to protect our parks and greenspaces by opposing HB 2224. Contact them at their district office THIS WEEK... the bill:

■Violates the trust and good faith of landowners who donated property for a dollar or sold property to the government at a bargain price with assurances that the land would be used for a public purpose.
■Forces generous people to second guess whether to sell their land at a bargain price for a good cause — a new park — because it shows that government is not to be trusted with such gifts.
■Compromises protections provided to family farms by agricultural conservation easements.
■Encourages litigation over what had been settled policy. It discards the fair and balanced process local governments have used since 1959 to determine whether public land can be sold."