Alternatives to overdevelopment offered

I sympathize with the Lincroft section of Middletown residents who are appalled by the development of their area that is bringing unwanted traffic. The answer? Realize first that we are living in a plutocracy and not a democracy. If this were a democracy, a sufficient number of petitioners could require the local government to put the issue of further area development on the ballot. In a plutocracy, the only way you are going to thwart growth is the way in which civil rights were achieved by blacks in the south — through massive protests designed to get the attention of both media and politicians. Remember, despite what they tell you, politicians favor growth because it increases their power, and their most important contributors are ... guess who? The media obviously favors growth, because more population means more business, and more business means more advertising lineage. "Lincrofters," you’re on your own; nobody represents you.

Today, most "new economy" companies could locate anywhere. For example, instead of Middletown, AT&T might have expanded into the "rust belt" of western Pennsylvania, where they would have been welcome and where they would not have imposed a lower quality of life on the entire area. What is really needed is a nonpartisan master growth plan for the entire United States, which takes into account projected population growth, water, gas and electric supply, "green space," land allocation for housing and other resources. Under such a plan, if rationally determined, I am confident that Lincroft would already have long since have been declared "full," and not open to further development.

Irwin J. Kappes

Middletown