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We’re happy to see the village board exhibited some backbone last week when members decided to go to court to halt the operation of an unpermited short-term rental on Main Street.
The property, at 171-173 Main Street, is one of three shortterm rental properties owned by Ed Landers. There have been questions concerning the status, or lack, of permits at the properties.
The issue with two of the properties revolves around the requirement that the rentals be owner-occupied. Landers recently applied for a short-term rental permit for his property at 6-8 Glen Avenue saying he was residing there. If Landers was living at the Glen Avenue address, it meant he was no longer living at his Bed and Breakfast at 46 Chestnut St. According to Code Enforcement Officer Tavis Austin and Village Attorney Martin Tillapaugh, Landers claimed the Chestnut Street property was owned by a limited liability corporation and met the requirement for owner-occupancy because a member of the corporation owned a five percent stake in the property. Tillapaugh found the LLC was never filed in the Otsego Court Clerk’s office or in Albany and didn’t exist.
Austin told the board they have affidavits from people stating that Landers’ Main Street building is being used for short-term rentals.
That building, Tillapaugh said, can never be a short-term rental because it has no off-street parking. Last year, Landers tried to convince the board to allow him to use village property behind the fire hall for his tenants’ parking because he did not have enough space. The fire department had complained about Landers’ tenants blocking access to the rear of the fire hall. It had not been a problem when the building was used for long-term rentals, but the change to short-term rentals created problems, department members said.
Landers had been aware of the requirements for shortterm rentals in the village and, we believe, aware that he did not meet them, but he continued to rent on a short-term basis.
Tillapaugh told the board the only recourse the village has is to ask the Otsego County Supreme Court to issue an injunction against the short-term rentals.
As trustee Neil Weiller rightfully said, the village needs to enforce the law to protect its integrity.
It doesn’t matter whether it is Ed Landers or some other scofflaw. If the village is going to promulgate regulations and laws to govern activities in the village, it must be prepared toenforce them. If not, they become meaningless.
Our Opinion
Our Opinion: Enforcement is the right course
- Our Opinion
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Our Opinion: Enjoy the carnival
It does not look like there will be much snow, if any at all for this year’s Cooperstown Winter Carnival. Although many events are weather-dependent, that will not spoil all the festivities. As far as getting out your hats and mittens, you might want to dig them out. At least it does not look like the weather will be as abnormally warm as it has been so far this winter.
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Our Opinion: Roses
Roses to Cooperstown sixth-grader Tom Knight, who once again might have the chance to compete in the state level geography bee. He won his school district’s competition for the second year in a row this year and will be taking a written test to see if he qualifies. One could wish him luck, but Tom said he feels more confident taking the test this time around the now knows what to expect. He also said he feels more comfortable answering questions on paper that out loud in front of an audience.
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Our Opinion: Buying locally is right
We are happy to report this week that buying locally made products appears to be on the upswing in the Cooperstown area. We have long been a proponent of shopping locally. It stimulates the local economy, returns more sales tax to the county and is more environmentally sound. Buying locally made or grown products takes it one step further.
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Our Opinion: Confused much?
As if figuring out one’s tax bill isn’t mind boggling enough. Now, with a two percent limit on property tax increases, there will be more brains flustered. It is not a simple calculation at all. In fact, the tax cap will affect each school district’s levy in various ways. So don’t think you will be able to take your bill from last year and just increase it by two percent. The process uses a much more complex formula eight steps, as a matter of fact.
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Our Opinion: We’ll miss Nicols
Cooperstown Police Chief Diana Nicols will be leaving her job shortly and will be missed by the community. She is being retired by the New York State and Local Retirement System that notified her last week that she is “permanently incapacitated for the performance of duties.” The incapacitation is the result of a knee injury she received in 2008 during a training class.
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Our Opinion: Roses and Raspberries
Roses to Cooperstown Central School graduate Molly Pearlman for putting off her college plans for a year to serve a 10-month term of service in the National Civilian Community Corps, an AmeriCorps program. She said her inspiration to participate in the program came from her father and brother.
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Our Opinion: Looking forward
While many will spend the next few days reminiscing about 2011, we at the Crier are looking forward to next year. We are ready to ring in a new year and look forward to the events to come. Of course there are those events that happen annually such as the Cooperstown Winter Carnival,The Goodyear Polar Bear Jump, the Farmers’ Museum’s Junior Livestock Show, The National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Father’s Day Classic and Induction weekend, the Pumpkin Festival and Regatta and many more.
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Our Opinion: Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus
At this holiday season, we take great pleasure in reprinting one of the classic newspaper editorials of all time − perhaps the best Christmas editorial ever written. It has survived the test of time and seems particularly fitting and poignant this year.
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DEC should not dismiss findings
Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the findings in a draft of a new federal report that links hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in Wyoming with groundwater pollution. Hydraulic fracturing is a process that pumps millions of gallons of chemically treated water into gas wells to fracture the rock and release the gas.
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Our Opinion: Who would have guessed?
Much has been revealed during the baseball winter meeting in Dallas this past week. The Miami Marlins seem to be in hot pursuit of all the big name players to fill their new stadium, Manny Ramirez announced he would like to return to Major League Basbeall, Pedro Martínez announced he plans to officially retire, elections have been held and it appears former Red Sox manager Terry Francona is swapping places with the franchise’s new manager Bobby Valentine.
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Our Opinion: Enjoy the carnival
