Drivers will no longer have to play musical chairs with downtown parking spaces every two hours if the board of trustees approves a proposal from mayor Wendell Tripp.

During Tuesday morning's police committee meeting, the mayor asked the members to consider examining the parking problem, which he said boils down to too many cars and too few spaces.

"As our dear friend the late Harold Hollis said, 'You have a physics problem. You can't put 1,000 cars in 400 spaces,"' the mayor said.

Tripp's suggested the village do away with the two-hour limit in the business district (Main and Pioneer Streets) as a trial, but before making his suggestion, the mayor recounted the history of the now disbanded parking committee, which tried for eight years to find a solution to the parking problems in the village.

The committee looked at a number of alternatives, including building a parking garage and switching to paid parking in the Doubleday Field lot. Ultimately the committee decided to disband because there is no solution and they had gone as far as they could, he said.

In fact, he added, it was the proposal of a parking garage which prompted his entrance into local politics after he wrote a letter in opposition to the idea.

"With all that background in mind, I'm raising the question again," Tripp said.

He explained that every year he receives numbers of letters from people across the county complaining about parking tickets, and this year he has had more "pointed" letters from residents and businesspeople.

Committee member Lee Malone is no stranger to the parking issue because her husband Tom served on the parking committee while she worked for the Chamber of Commerce. They too attempted to find a solution to the perennial parking problem.

"The biggest problem on Main Street is that businesspeople park there," Malone said. "Tourists complain about a $10 ticket, but where else are they going to park all day for $10."

"I'm concerned about local people now," Tripp said. "I'm not thinking about summer visitors."

He explained that he was thinking about two groups. The first is the merchants who want parking spaces for their customers and the second is the employees who work in offices that are often located on the second and third floor of downtown buildings.

But Malone countered that if you open up parking on Main Street, customers will still not be able to park because the spaces will taken by shopkeepers and employees.

"What you'll have is a different group complaining," commented police chief Michael Crippen, who added that it would reduce the number of irate people who come to see him every day.

This is the third holiday season the village has suspended two-hour parking on Main and Pioneer Streets in the business district during the holiday season and Malone asked if the mayor thought everyone was happy with it.

"I've had no complaints," Tripp said.

The mayor said he believed it might be worth a year-long trial. "There are a lot of negatives, but if we do it, it will let those advocating it realize there are problems," he said.

The mayor also proposed the possibility of instituting permit parking in the village lot on Lake Street and also in a portion of the Doubleday Field lot for people who work downtown and in the village offices. But he also warned that he could already foresee problems with permit parking.

Tripp and Malone agreed the matter should come before the board of trustee during its meeting Monday night. Any decision about parking changes would have to be approved by the board.

"This is a tough decision," Malone said. "Parking is a Pandora's box and always has been."