It took a great deal of intestinal fortitude to cast those votes in front of 300 people _ most of whom opposed the parking plan.

We admire the strength of their convictions, but believe they made the wrong choice.

The message we heard from the public Monday night was not that they were opposed to paid parking, but that they were opposed to street-side paid parking.

Aside from concerns about inconveniences and large start-up costs, much of what seemed to bother residents and business people was the uncertainty of the impact of such a plan _ from the aesthetics of pay and display machines to the message it will send to visitors whether they come from across the county or across the country.

Those worries are subjective, tough to quantify and don’t easily plug into a cost/ benefit equation. Nonetheless, they are very real concerns.

The police committee and the board of trustees worked to address many issues as they listened on numerous occasions to public input. For the most part, they did a good job, but those lingering concerns about the impact on Main Street remain unanswered.

It would be easy to blast the quartet for its seeming indifference to the wishes of the residents and how there comes a point when elected officials need to reflect the wishes of the people who put them in office. But we are more concerned about where the village board goes from here.

A deep divide between residents and the board is not a healthy situation. It may hamper the board’s ability to govern effectively and make residents unenthused when the board seeks their cooperation and understanding in other matters.

The law adopted Monday night enables the village to establish paid parking in three lots and on Main and Pioneer Streets, but does not mandate it take place all at once.

We believe 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.

And, as a number of people pointed out during the hearing, that discussion needs to include Bassett Hospital the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Otesaga Hotel and Otsego County, all which contribute to the village’s parking problems, but have done little to contribute to parking solutions.