Upwards of 50 people came together at Christ Church to celebrate Thanksgiving with both good food and good friends. We felt it well embodied the spirit of Cooperstown and left us feeling very good about the community in which we reside. And that was a most welcome change from other events of the week.

While we were encouraged by the number of people who attended the Nov. 19 public hearing on paid parking, we find the derision and division that has resulted to be appalling. We found it nothing short of amazing that upwards of 300 people would be concerned enough about the issue of paid parking to attend the public hearing.

We thought good points were made by those both for and against the proposal. And we actually think the final decision came down to a difference in opinion as to whether the law needed immediate adoption or could be tabled for six months in order to reach consensus within the community about the issue of paid parking.

Unfortunately, the powers that be chose, unwisely we think, to plow ahead with immediate approval of the proposed law.

As leaders of the community, they evidently did not understand that it is much easier to govern if, as leaders, they had led the populace to an understanding and acceptance of their position. Granted, there is no expectation that there would be unanimity on an issue such as paid parking. But it seems to us much more effort could have been made to offer a paid parking plan that would have been better received by the community. To have not done so seems to have proven to be less than helpful.

Granted, the fact that trustees were booed and rebuked by those in attendance is inexcusable. But at least it can be attributed to a visceral reaction by those who felt good arguments were made against the paid parking proposal as presented and were, at the very least, expecting to be given the time necessary to bring the community to consensus on the issue.

It is more difficult to understand the derisive signs about town regarding the decision. We don’t see how such reactions are helpful. The vote has been taken and it is now time to come together to work towards implementing the paid parking in a manner that will best serve the interests of the entire community.

The editorial in last week’s edition of this paper offered what we think might well be a good place to start. We quite agree that the message was not that people were necessarily opposed to paid parking but rather were worried about the concept of paid parking as it was presented. Overall we feel there is support for paid parking in the village’s parking lots, but not on the village streets. We think consideration should be given to the editorial’s suggestion that "... the board of trustees could go a long way toward healing the schism which has developed by deciding to start small and implement paid parking only in Doubleday Field. It would allow the village to begin creating the new revenue stream it is after with a minimum investment and at the same time provide an opportunity to continue a discussion about the appropriateness of street-side paid parking."

Interestingly enough, while discussing the events of the week with our sister Ellen, she shared with us her parking experiences from a recent trip to Providence, R.I. during which she included a side trip to Provincetown, Mass. In both places, she parked her rented car in manned, off-street lots, paying something in the neighborhood of $2 an hour. However, the street parking in both locations, which was limited in time, was free. She thought Providence allowed an hour and a half parking on the streets, while she thinks that in Provincetown the free parking was limited to an hour. However, since both on-street parking options did not meet her needs, she really did not pay enough attention to be positive about the parking limits. But, it would seem that in both of these places, the decision was made that the more valuable parking was the unlimited time parking which was thus the paid parking.

We can’t help but think that, since paid parking is to be a reality, it might be wise for Cooperstown to follow suit and start with paid parking in the off-street lots only. It would indeed be unfortunate if, in our haste to improve revenue for the village, we inadvertently kill the goose that lays our golden egg. How much better for all sides concerned to start slowly, as it is always easier to expand a project than to downsize one. We can only hope that the path to paid parking will be taken with great thought and consideration.

In closing, since Thanksgiving has come and gone, we suspect that Christmas is not far behind. Alas, it will no doubt be here before we know it or, for that matter, are ready for it. We wonder if there would be any support for making Christmas a biennial event? Given its impact on various revenue streams, we suspect not. But we are seriously considering making the sending of Christmas cards a biennial event or, at the very least, "a-half-of-the-list-in-even-years-and-a-half-of-the-list-in-odd-years" event. Surely hearing from us every other year would be quite enough for any number of people on our list.

We remain,

In these Otsego hills,

The Ellsworths

The Ellsworths may be reached by mail at 105 Pioneer St., Cooperstown, N.Y. 13326, by telephone at 547-8124 or by e-mail at cellsworth1@stny.rr.com. They look forward to hearing from you.