What a relief it was to read Mary Harbaugh’s Letter to the Editor in today’s Newburyport Daily News. Mary Harbaugh is the chairperson of the Newburyport Open Space Committee. And a very knowledgeable and intelligent woman she is.

The Letter to the Editor corrects a great deal of misinformation that was in the Editorial about Open Space that I found so objectionable — the one that basically said enough with open space (see earlier post.)

I thought I would quote part of Mary Harbaugh’s Letter to the Editor that addresses the 126 acres being considered by the City of Newburyport.

“You take issue with the $392,000 sought by the Open Space Committee for the 126-acre Wet Meadows project in the Common Pasture. (The correct amount is $392,000, not the figure you used; the correct acreage is 126 acres, not the 26 acres you mention.) First, of the $392,000, some $150,000 comes from a prior-year CPA open space allocation; more specifically, from a reimbursement grant. It is “recycled” open space money. That means that our request in current-year CPA funds is really for $242,000. In addition, we and our highly experienced non-profit partners are optimistic that about $200,000 of that will be reimbursed by grants and private fundraising. So at the end of the day, our true current-year CPA open space amount is likely to be about $42,000, including legal fees and other acquisition costs. That’s less – much less – than 10 percent of the total current-year CPA fund.”

(Editor’s note: “You” refers to whoever wrote the Editorial in the Newburyport Daily News. And “CPA” is the Community Preservation Act.)

Mary Eaton
Newburyport