Friendly Elephant Means No Harm, But Is What It Is

Edition of Thursday-Friday, Oct. 9-10

To the Editor:

I want to make it clear that at the public hearing on Monday, Sept. 29, I was not speaking against Bassett Healthcare; I was speaking against the strange and needless effort of village officials to create an Institutional District in place of a Residential District.

I did note Bassett’s construction of a massive addition to the original hospital and its construction of two massive new buildings, and its acquisition of a large building that had been a museum and of a number of residential structures.

But I listed these significant actions as preliminary to my basic question: If Bassett could take such notable actions while in a Residential District, why did the village board want to create an Institutional District?

I do sympathize with Bassett’s neighbors (I am one of them) but I have never said that Bassett’s intentions were evil. I have compared it to a friendly elephant: It intends you no harm, but its natural functions and ambulations can cause you great misery.

WENDELL TRIPP
Cooperstown