It is a shame what happened to Cape May County over the past 20 to 30 years. The county's landscape is littered with housing developments, stores and golf courses that never should have been built. Some of the best farmland south of the canal is now buried under new homes and housing developments we didn't need. Planning boards and politicians were in such a misguided race to get rateables that they allowed land that should have been preserved to be developed. The open space program needs to preserve remaining open spaces before it's too late.