The plan calls for paid parking in the business district on Main and Pioneer Streets, in the Doubleday Field lot, and the village owned lots on Lake Street and behind the Chamber of Commerce building.

It also provides for parking permits which would be available to residents and non-residents alike. In addition to the local law authorizing paid parking, there is an accompanying resolution establishing the guidelines and fee structure for its implementation.

Officials seem intent on bringing paid parking to Cooperstown in an effort to generate what they say is much-needed revenue to help pay for capital projects now on the horizon. Much of that money, they say, will be coming from the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the village each year and would be feeding meters.

To evaluate the plan it would be helpful to know how much revenue may be generated or the cost of the parking meters or pay and display machines which would be part of the system, but that is all unknown at this point.

This plan will add no new spaces and purchasing a parking permit will in no way guarantee motorists a parking space. It is designed to do one thing: create a new revenue stream.

As one astute resident commented last week, ``It’s not solving the parking problem, it’s just making people pay for the problem.’’

What is also unknown is how this paid parking plan fits into the larger scheme for parking in the village. This situation is reminiscent of the Linden Avenue project _ plans for constructing the visitor center and parking lot south of the village are moving forward in the absence of a plan for how it will be used and who will pay for the operations and maintenance.

The two meetings are likely to be primarily about the mechanics of putting paid parking in place and much less about whether it is the right thing for the village.

This is an opportunity for residents to offer suggestions and comments beforehand in an effort to make the plan as easy as possible to live with.

The meetings will be held Thursday, Sept. 27 and Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the second floor courtroom in the Otsego County Courthouse.