Mark Takefman wants to offer visitors tours of the village this summer in a small fleet of pedal-powered rickshaws.

Takefman said the vehicle he has in mind is a three-wheeler with a fiberglass passenger cab and canvas canopy. The pedal-powered cabs have 21-speed drivetrain, headlights, brake lights and turnsignals, can carry 400 pounds of passengers and easily attain speeds of 15 to 20 miles per hour without straining the driver.

The pedal-powered cabs, often referred to generically by the trade name, Pedicab, are used in many metropolitan areas, including New York, Denver and Spokane, but are perhaps better known in Europe and Asia where they are a common form of tranportation.

Takefman said he hopes to be able to offer jobs to students to earn college money and plans to hire them to pilot the Pedicabs. The students would also provide narration for tours which may, for instance, feature architectural or historic highlights of the village.

His aim is not provide a taxi service in the village, but he said that if a Pedicab is available and a person wanted a ride to specific destination, they would provide it.

"I primarily see it used for touring," he said.

He also wants to offer the community a quality sustainable tourist service business.

"Our idea of sustainable means that we will develop a local business whose economic success will be recycled back into the community, as well as, being environmentally responsible," he said.

Takefman said he has worked out an an arrangment with David Ryther of Velosophy bike shop on Railroad Avenue to maintain the fleet and possibly use his location as the hub of operations. Takefman said all the vehicles will be equipped with two-way radio communications. Riders will be able to call to arrange tours and Pedicabs could be dispatched from Railroad Avenue location.

Ryther said he thought Takefman's plan for Glimmerglass Pedicabs was a "neat idea."

The bike shop owner said he was familiar with Pedicabs operating in New York and believes they could work in Cooperstown.

And like all human-powered vehicles, the Pedicabs are pollution-free. "I think Cooperstown is already plagued with petroleum-driven vehicles," he said, adding that too often rather than encouraging alternatives to automoblies, people simply change to make accomodations for all the traffic.

"Pedicabs are a legitimate alternative to the problems created by traffic," he said. "It's a positive step for Cooperstown."

The cabs will offer summer employment to students and at a rate of pay higher than is normally associated with short-term seasonal employment, Takefman said. The fact drivers are students working their way through college will figure prominently in cab advertising.

He hopes to pay the drivers, who will present the tour and provide the muscle to power the cabs, at a rate of $10 or more per hour. That rate, he said, would enable them to earn $2,000 or more if they worked the entire season from mid-June through Labor Day.

The Maple Street entrepeneur said Monday that although he is still in the planning stages, he has approached the village to investigate if there are any local regulatory issues or approvals he must first address or obtain.

Village code enforcement officer Al Keck was unaware if there were any village laws regulating the cabs. "This is a new kettle of fish. I don't even know if its covered by the zoning law," he said.

Keck asked Takefman's to present his plan to the zoning board of appeals Tuesday to see if the board had any concerns.

ZBA chairwoman Susan Snell said she was not sure if the board had any jurisdiction over the Pedicabs which are considered to be bicycles and need no special licensing.

"We'll have to give it some though as to whether we have a role in this," she said.

Keck said his only concern was that the business would have to operate out of a commercial location.

Police chief Michael Crippen said he received a letter from Takefman outlining his plans and that he intended to bring it before the police committee when they meet later this month.

Crippen said he saw nothing about the proposal which would be a problem and was aware of no laws that would prohibit their operation. He did say there may be some concern about how and where the drivers might solicit rides.

The chief said initially he was worried there might be problem with traffic flow, but doesn't believe it will be major concern during the summer.

"The traffic doesn't move that fast anyway," he said.

Takefman also sees the Pedicabs as being able to hold their own in traffic.

"My concern is that the traffic in Cooperstown during the busy times of the tourist season will slow dow the Pedicabs," he wrote in his letter to Crippen.