Let Us Vote on Open Space

Keep Media Green is launching a campaign to gather 1,000 postcard signatures by Media Borough residents calling on Borough Council to authorize a voter referendum on open space funding. The campaign theme is “Let Us Vote on Open Space,” which will be publicized on 250 yard signs planted by borough residents.

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Background Information

In 2020/2021, the Borough of Media conducted an online public survey on Open Space, Parks, and Recreation in the borough. 796 respondents chose “acquiring and protecting open space” as their TOP priority and responded that they favored “paying more” for preserving open space in Media.

On November 17, 2021, our Media Borough Council unanimously adopted an Open Space Action Plan that recommends investing “$3 to $10 million” over the next three years to acquire and protect open space in Media. KMG was encouraged by Council’s adoption of the Open Space Action Plan with specific dollar amounts because in 2021 the Council had refused to invest in saving the 1.1- acre Centennial Woods at 6th and Centennial Avenue because “there was no money in the budget for that purpose.”

So, KMG offered a solution for budgeting for open space that has been successfully implemented by thousands of communities across the United States. Voter referendums are effective—and popular—mechanisms to fund land conservation projects. Since 1987, voters in 2,624 states, counties, and municipalities across the United States have conducted local open space referendums, generating nearly $76 billion for open space, parks, watersheds, recreation areas, and wildlife preserves for communities across the USA. In January of 2022, Keep Media Green asked Media Borough Council to authorize a voter referendum that would ask Media voters to approve—or reject—a proposition to borrow “$3 to $10 million” to fund open space in our town.

Media Borough Council, led by Council President Brian Hall and Peter Williamson, Chair of the Finance Committee, refused to commit to conducting a voter referendum for open space funding in Media. That’s why KMG has decided to educate and engage 1,000 Media residents to send a simple message to our Borough Council: “Let us Vote on Open Space”

For more background information about open space referenda in the U.S. and Pennsylvania, read this quick overview:

Referendum Overview

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FAQ Let us Vote on Open Space Campaign

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