Naked Main Street
But Help Is On the Way, With New Flagpole
And 10-By-15-Foot Stars & Stripes On Order
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
COOPERSTOWN – Fueled by what they declared was a misunderstanding of their intentions, the village trustees acted promptly and unanimously this evening to bring back a bigger, better flagpole to downtown Cooperstown’s main intersection as quickly as possible.
The Village Board OK’d three decisions proposed by Streets Committee chair Cindy Falk at its September meeting.
• One, to spend up to $2,900 for a 50-foot flagpole to replace the 35-foot one taken down last week to make way for the $1.2 million Pioneer Street reconstruction, causing some public consternation. The pole will be aluminum; iron ones are subject to rust.
• Two, to buy a bigger flag recommended for the taller pole, 10-foot by 15-foot.
• Three, to accept engineer Jon McManus’ offer to, at no cost, design a new base for the flagpole. The trustees delayed a decision on whether to have a concrete base, or to include fixtures that would better display seasonal arrangements from the Clark Foundation greenhouses, pending McManus’ recommendation.
Whether the look will be concrete or stone-like will also depend on what options McManus suggests.
Also left for later was how to light it. Trustees Falk and Ellen Tillapaugh agreed: A top-down fixture “looks like a flying saucer.” Uplighting is a second option and a third, not discussed before, is to light it from surrounding buildings, which will be explored.
“Yes,” said Mayor Jeff Katz, “there will be light by the time we are finished.”