In recent years, we have used this space to advocate for a visitor center as a means for relieving some of the congestion in a village that is woefully short of parking spaces for the hundreds of thousands of visitors who arrive each summer season.

Most visitors probably drive into Cooperstown expecting to find a huge parking lot next to the Hall of Fame, much like they would at many other major national tourist destinations, but that is not the case here.

By getting visitors out of their cars, into a parking lot and on a trolley, or shuttle, before they arrive in the village would serve to reduce the congestion and competition for the parking that is available.

"It could be the answer to a lot of problems in the village if we could get people off Route 28 and into a parking lot," Mayor Carol Waller said last week. "It would solve a multitude of problems."

By combining a visitor center with parking for employees of not only Bassett Hospital, but also the Hall of Fame, the Otesaga Hotel and other employers, spaces in the Doubleday Field lot and on village streets where they currently park would open up.

Tying a solution to problems with the Linden Avenue extension in the planning process for a parking lot/visitor center will allow the needs of all the stakeholders to be addressed. Removing the need for the south trolley lot, for instance, would open the door to options like a new entrance for the school, which might not otherwise be possible.

At the same time, the addition of Linden Avenue will complicate matters by adding many more stakeholders to the mix and will require a willingness from everyone to work together. It will be important for all to look at the big picture as they seek a long-term solution to the problems which would be difficult, or impossible, to tackle unilaterally.

Bringing together different forms, or modes, of transportation and with the village acting as lead agency for the proposed parking lot/visitor center, it becomes possible to seek federal inter-modal transportation funds for what would be a multi-million dollar project.

Stakeholders gathered Tuesday for a meeting moderated by the NYS Department of Transportation where everyone's needs and concerns were aired and some new possibilities presented, including relocating the Cooperstown Youth Baseball field and a new entrance for the school from Route 28.

The meeting was productive, if for no other reason than everyone was back at the table and talks were moving forward.

We believe solutions for the Linden Avenue no-man's land and Bassett employee parking are long overdue and could dovetail with a visitor center that would go along way toward managing tourism to reduce its impact on the quality of life during Cooperstown's busy summer season.