As the area looks to the future, there needs to be an acknowledgement that Cooperstown’s place in the global economy presents opportunities but also constrains the area’s options.

What has developed here since the 1980s is a fairly successful tourism economy that caters to both baseball fans and those looking for a quick getaway from the suburbs. Cooperstown is, in a sense, a fantasy land where tourists from around the Northeast can come to get a glimpse of a village caught in time, revel in the mythological history of baseball’s origins, or just sit by the lake sipping tea.

The retail base of the area has adapted to this economy, as many local residents today shop in Oneonta, online, or in the suburbs. A commercial strip has developed in the town of Hartwick that provides an overflow for retail and lodging that doesn’t fit neatly in Cooperstown. Due to some very prominent families, Cooperstown itself is insulated from this strip by a greenbelt that surrounds the village and preserves much of the lake shore. From a regional planning perspective, this is an enviable state of affairs. As with all things in life, however, there is always room for improvement.

A recent Hartwick Planning Board meeting provides a good case in point. A new hotel is planned for Route 28 in the town. People for and against the hotel stood up and gave their point of view, and it was gratifying to hear not only local residents but members of the board itself express concern about the fate of motel owners on Otsego Lake should the local market get too crowded.

A regional plan should concern itself with these issues, but not necessarily the township next door. Good intentions aside, Hartwick should concern itself primarily with the well-being of Hartwick businesses, and if that means that Otsego motels close or get sold to corporate chains, well, that’s capitalism. Hartwick needs to look out for itself the same way Cooperstown looked out for its own best interest when downtown Hartwick died in the 1970s.

Of course, a string of boarded up motels lining Otsego Lake probably would not help tourism in Cooperstown or, for that matter, in Hartwick. And overdevelopment in Hartwick might cost the region its "rural" character _ whatever that means. It’s very tempting to argue that each town and village should look out for its own interests. Grow a strip in Hartwick, in Otsego, even Springfield and Middlefield if you can, but the immediate area has barely 10,000 residents, and in time there will be a lot of empty storefronts. There is a better way.

The communities need to work together on a shared vision of what the region will be like in 20 years. The foundation of a very workable plan is already in place. Thanks to the generosity of the Clarks, the Coopers, and the Busch family, there is already considerable green space that will be preserved. Add to this state forest land and parks, and the area is well on its way to preserving its rural character.

There is already a commercial strip that can serve the region as a whole and provide modern conveniences and attractions to visitors. There are lakeside motels with swimming and mountain views. And there is a quaint downtown that attracts shoppers and diners to a trip down Memory Lane. To do this, however, there are some questions we need to ask ourselves.

What is rural character? Is it farmland and cows and green pastures, or dense forestland and winding roads? And how do we best preserve it? Drive around the Middlefield or Hartwick countryside and look at the new houses every few hundred feet. It’s not urban, or even village-like, but is it really open land? Is it really country? Historically, the region, like other rural areas, developed around dense little villages with farmland in between _ building on ten-acre lots will chew up the space between villages very quickly. If you want to see an example, look at the miles of houses on large lots surrounding Woodstock or the tourist towns in Sullivan County.

What’s realistic? We may want new manufacturing jobs, but how likely is it that Microsoft will set up shop in Springfield, Middlefield, or even Oneonta? It may be hard to believe, but even if the state cut the minimum wage in half, people make too much money to compete against a Mexican making 70 cents an hour or a Chinese making a dollar or two a day. It’s not even the taxes: a company that locates in an Empire Zone pays about the same taxes as a company in Alabama. If you want to address these issues, the appropriate venue is state and federal government. If you want to help the local community, acknowledge that tourism is what the area does best and that many other communities are in fact trying to emulate our success. If the area doesn’t constantly seek to improve itself, other towns might someday soon beat Cooperstown at its own game!

And, most important, what kind of community do people want to live in? Research shows that the communities that do best do not necessarily try to win new business, but try to improve life for their residents. It turns out that business likes to locate in nice places. But what does that mean? Despite its benefits, tourism has a dark side too. People may constantly park in front of your house or pee in your shrubs. Parents visiting the area tend to give little Johnny or Mary a little slack, behaviorally speaking, because "we’re on vacation."

And how many people have not, when following a tourist slowly enjoying the view, dreamed of stopping the car in the middle of the Garden State Parkway just to screw up their commute for a day. But there are ways to mitigate the downside of tourism.

More and different attractions in strategic locations, such as the Hartwick Seminary strip, in Oneonta, and in Richfield Springs could increase the number of visitors while distributing them more comfortably in the area. Picking a strip, mostly likely the one in Hartwick Seminary, and allowing it to develop can allow the area to better protect other land in the region. And better coordination and even revenue sharing among municipalities can make it less painful to implement land preservation policies.

All in all, there are opportunities and challenges facing the area today. If residents want to ensure that they live in a beautiful and vibrant area, they need to work together and look out for the greater good. It seems that there is a choice between a future of looking out only for one’s own interests or looking out for the collective interest. In reality, the two are one in the same.

{"CC Letts"/}What do people want and how to get there

{"CC Body Text"/}Social forces like the emergence of the modern global economy and new technologies such as the car and the computer can constrain future directions, but not determine them. While planning for the future, local officials should consider the area’s place in the global economy, but should not mistake the economy for the immutable laws of physics. In fact, if you have ever studied Quantum Mechanics you know that even the laws of physics are not so immutable.

Given the current position, there are some very important questions that need to be asked if the area is to have any control over its future.

The first question to address is: "What type of area do people want this to be?" The obvious answer is, what it is: rural. But, what is rural?

Historically, the area was marked by small towns like Milford, Cherry Valley, and Cooperstown with a mix of agricultural fields and forest in between. If this is the rural character you want to preserve, then there should be no building outside the established villages. There are already areas of Christian Hill and Middlefield where the character is residential but few people have lots of less than five acres _ creating a feel that is not exactly townish’ but not country’ either. This development pattern is also common throughout the Catskills, especially as one draws closer to New York City.

That said, banning all housing outside the villages is neither desirable nor feasible _ there are better options.

The next question to be posed is, "What’s realistic?" As of late, the trend is for manufacturing to locate outside the United States, and manufacturing that does not, has plenty of options in the cities. Once a given for the area, farming too, is at a disadvantage in the Northeast. Healthcare, of course, is quite stable. The often understated fact is that the major economy in Cooperstown is not tourism but healthcare, and there’s little on the horizon to change that.

Education is a relatively stable industry, and there are schools, but no colleges here. Tourism is thus the most realistic option.

Yet the area should not put all its eggs in this basket _ manufacturing could return with foreign policy changes, and agriculture could become more feasible with a shift to ethanol. Tourism is simply the best choice today.

So, what are the options? Tourism need not be as high impact as it is on the one hand, but keep in mind it has the potential to be more so. The question is, "What kind of tourism seems attractive?" Baseball tourism is the reality that keeps Main Street filled with stores and hotels filled with visitors, but the scenery of the region is another big draw. Anyone who has spent a weekend in Vermont knows the possibility of a number of small but cute hamlets selling fudge and quilts. There is a start toward this reality, but more can be done.

If you have spent a day in the Catskills, you have seen the attraction of marked trails for hiking, skiing, and snowmobiling. There are already trails, but most of them are unmarked and unnoticed. There is the potential for more.

The Southern New York railroad line runs through the region and would make a fantastic bike path connecting Cooperstown, Fly Creek and Hartwick to Mohawk in the north and Oneonta in the south. Such trails would also create an incentive to preserve the rural character of the area. In the southern Catskills, access to such trails attracts many a yuppies’ wallet. Such trails, particularly if they run through towns with interpretive signs, could become both a tourist attraction and a heart-healthy community asset.

Historic sights like museums, homes and even street signs indicating historic street names (did you know Fair Street was originally called Main Street?), would bolster history-based tourism and make local communities nicer places to live. If such trails’ included several villages like Fly Creek, Hartwick, and Cherry Valley, the area would have a unique environment for visitors and locals alike.

Such plans should acknowledge the area as it is. There is a commercial strip in the town of Hartwick, and it should continue to develop that way. It should also be limited so that the entire area does not begin to look like a commercial strip.

A tourism economy can host a number of attractions such as outlets and amusement parks, but these are most appropriate on a strip so that the rest of the region can remain rural and serene.

The fourth question is obvious: "How does the area get there?" A common vision for the greater Cooperstown area, including the three towns on Lake Otsego, the town of Hartwick and the village of Cooperstown, is a necessary first step. Getting the municipalities to work together is difficult but necessary nonetheless.

One would start with some basic research that asks residents of the entire area to participate in a process called visioning _ a series of public meetings run by competent professionals charged with asking ordinary people what they want to see in their towns. There are no bad ideas here, although some might be difficult to implement. For instance, some people might want a NASCAR track while others want a PGA tour event, but both might be hard to get. Other ideas might be feasible in the future no matter how far fetched they may appear. For instance, Route 28 in Hartwick may eventually outstrip its carrying capacity. It might make more sense to build a controlled access parkway around the development, perhaps on both sides of the river that includes picnic areas and native preserve.

Political realities today probably preclude the building of a parkway to bypass developed areas, but having such a plan on paper would help the area pounce’ should political winds change. This notion of being prepared’ is most often accomplished through a comprehensive plan. A plan for the four towns as well as for each individual town should include such goals even if they seem unrealistic. Like music and movies, sound policy is subject to fads. Money for sidewalks may not be available this year, but will be next year. Having goals and plans in place makes taking advantage of such opportunities easier when they arise.

Perhaps most important of all, the area should utilize the creative power of ordinary people. Let’s spend a year talking about what ordinary people want the area to be in 2025. Hold meetings in Cooperstown, and Fly Creek, and Hartwick, and Springfield. Only after their dreams have been discovered are people ready to send out a survey to find out what others think.

Finally, the time arises to come up with a strategy to make it all happen. Let’s form citizens’ groups to make new signs, plant flowers, mark trails, and document our history.

Let government write the laws (Oh, and also enforce those laws) to implement the common vision. There are new realities that guide change in the local towns but ultimately people get the community that they choose to build. And remember: should you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice!

Alex Thomas is Associate Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at SUNY Oneonta. He has written three books including "In Gotham’s Shadow: Globalization and Community Change in Central New York" and "Gilboa: New York’s Quest for Water and the Destruction of a Small Town."

Polly Smith is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Utica College and author of the forthcoming book "The Instiutional Effect."

A husband and wife team, they are currently working on a new book, "Upstate Down" (with coauthor William Wilkerson) to be published in 2008. The couple is also working on a project exploring the encroachment of New York City into the Catskill Region. They are also your neighbors.