Mayor, board

ask for input

The mayor and trustees have been working on an idea tentatively called “Celebrate Cooperstown.” Our vision is that on the Saturday and Sunday after Columbus Day (Oct. 13 and 14) the village takes two days to celebrate itself. Some of the specifics being worked on now include:

1. Opening Doubleday Field on Saturday and Sunday free of charge to all Cooperstown and surrounding area residents. If two teams want to play baseball, they can have a slot using the same rules as a regular applicant. Also, the outfield would be available for touch football games, Frisbee, informal catches and more.

2. A “Taste of Cooperstown,” where Cooperstown and immediately surrounding (meaning, for example, Fly Creek) area restaurants can sell signature dishes to ticket holders who have purchased in advance. This event is heavy in details which are still being worked out. We would, however, love to get a sense of interest in such an event. If you are a restaurant, please send an email letting me know if you would be interested in participating.

3. A Main Street “open house.” All businesses interested would simply welcome Cooperstown residents enthusiastically into their shops to show their wares to the many who may have never entered their establishments. With Christmas only two months after Celebrate Cooperstown weekend, this would be a great opportunity to introduce yourself to new customers.

4. Dinner on Main Street organized by Growing Community.

As we work through the details of this new event, and add new ones, we would love to hear your input on the ideas mentioned above, and any other thoughts you have to make the first Celebrate Cooperstown a huge success for us all. Please check the new Village website for updates: http://www.cooperstownny.org/

Mayor Jeff Katz

jkatz@cooperstownny.org

Let the whistle blow

Comments on two items in the Crier: This morning, July 26, the fire whistle blew longer than it would in a week of noon whistle and my family and I are still functioning. When I first heard about the possibility of ending the noon practice, I thought it was a joke and was surprised to learn that it was a serious issue. Seems like there are more pressing things to deal with in the village. Let the whistle blow. One of my favorite stories is from when I first moved here and was in Newberry’s around noon when the whistle blew. I asked what that was and memorable answer from one of the sweet ladies who worked there was: “Oh, that means it is noon – give or take a few minutes.”

Second item: The headline and article regarding the luncheon for retiring Cooperstown school personnel. This luncheon has taken place at the Otesaga for many years and there have always been those retirees who choose to attend and those retirees who choose not to attend. The omission of the bios of these five retirees who did not attend for whatever reasons suggest they were somehow less important. This oversight diminishes the contributions these people made over their many years of dedicated service to the betterment of CCS. I am one of 13 school personnel who retired in 1999 and, looking back, doubt that all were at that luncheon. No big deal – we are free to make choices — I hope.

Jan Kerr

Cooperstown

Re-election

at any cost

In a recent interview, Seward’s spokesperson, Jeff Bishop said, “Seward prefers to continue to allow voters to determine how many terms in an office a legislator should have” (The Daily Star, July 18, 2012). However, his recent actions are in blatant contradiction to this statement. He has deliberately worked to block any opponent from getting on the ballot.  Seward, through proxies, has filed challenges to both potential candidates’ petitions (Republican and Democrat) in an attempt to have them invalidated. Once the board of elections proves that our petition is valid, then the next step from the Seward camp would be a frivolous law suit. This is the methodology of the status quo — re-election at any cost!  If Seward truly believes that he has, “widespread level of support” and “enthusiastic encouragement” according to his July 12 press release, then he should not continue to pre-empt and disregard the will of the people by blocking democracy.  He should have nothing to fear!

I, on the hand, am a true supporter of term limits.  Politics was not intended to be a lifetime career.  Career politicians lose touch with the true issues that face their constituents and instead of representing them; their entire agenda is re-election, nothing else.  Not the good of the people!  The political system was intended for citizen legislators; normal citizens living normal lives that fully understand the needs of their fellow citizens.  Yet, we are suffocated by multi-decade-serving incumbents who have lost touch and only serve to manipulate the system to serve their agendas —re-election.  

Jim Blake

Town of Maryland

Blake is a Republican candidate in the 51st senatorial district race.