It's no wonder the proposed demolition of the Highlands-Sea Bright drawbridge has become such a controversy. That's what you get when the state Department of Transportation (DOT) doesn't even have a policy on what to do when the state's drawbridges get old.

The only policy right now seems to be that we all have to do whatever the transportation commissioner feels like forcing us to do. That's not a policy for a democracy. That's a policy for a dictatorship. We in Sea Bright and Highlands don't like it!

If any state assemblyman gave a hoot about the future of Sea Bright, he or she would sponsor legislation forbidding the DOT from demolishing any drawbridge in the state until the DOT establishes an approved policy on how to address the drawbridges of New Jersey as they get older.

Jim Parla

Highlands