Advertisement. Advertise with us

PART ONE: DOWNTOWN UPGRADES

Trash Cans With Computers

Enhance Downtown Security

By JIM KEVLIN • Special www.AllOTSEGO.com

Resident Merrilyn O’Connell asked whether the space-age trash cans might topple on passersby. No, the mayor assured her, they are fastened to the sidewalk in the event one would get knocked over by a car. (Jim Kevlin/AllOTSEGO.com_

COOPERSTOWN – “How big are they?” asked the dimunitive Merrilyn O’Connell on learning computerized trash cans to be installed in downtown Cooperstown this summer will have to be attached to the sidewalk to erase any chance they will fall over on someone.

Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh Kuch sought to reassure O’Connell – it seems they aren’t as tall as Deputy Mayor Cindy Falk – during the first of two public briefings in Village Hall’s Ballroom this evening, dealing with the final $2.2 million pieces of a multi-year upgrade to the Main Street neighborhood.  Work began this week. (A second briefing dealt with $5.8 million in Doubleday Field renovations.)

Since the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013, the state Department of Homeland Security has required village crews to remove all trash cans from the downtown during the annual Parade of Legends during Hall of Fame Weekends.

The computerized, solar-powered super-trash-cans are heavy, and will be attached to the sidewalks to ensure an out-of-control car can’t knock them over.

These futuristic receptacles, however, can be automatically locked remotely during the Legends parade “…so people won’t be able to put anything ‘detrimental’ in them,” the mayor explained, then unlocked when the parade is over.

Computer-fitted, the trash cans, which also include solar-powered compactors, can be monitored from Village Hall or the garage on Linden Avenue, where crews will be dispatched only when they need to be emptied, optimizing efficiencies.

This final phase of the upgrades will be in two parts – from now until Memorial Day, and after Labor Day – to avoid interfering with the summer season.

The mayor detailed other highlights:

• The redo of the traffic signal at Main and Chestnut (to be done in the fall) will be the topic a later briefing, but the mayor assured the 30 attendees there will only be a single signal, a topic of concern at earlier hearings.

• Citizens who may want to memorialize a loved one can sponsor one of the new benches for $350, including an inscription on a memorial brass plate.  Uniform, the vintage-style benches have wooden planking on a metal base.

• To accommodate street banners now strung between Key Bank and Sal’s Pizzeria, two sets of ornamental polls will be installed to allow the banners to be hung across Main Street at two points.

• Pioneer Park will be redone, with pavers replacing the gravel and a low stage installed at the Tunnicliff Inn end.  The Cooperstown Chamber kiosk will be moved from the corner and placed next to Riverwood’s wall.  And a three-level water fountain – for someone in a wheelchairs, kids and adults – will be installed.

Representatives attended from the state Department of Transportation, engineer Barton & Loguidice, and the construction firm Upstate Construction from Guilford, but they weren’t questioned specifically.

Check back later this evening for a report on PART II: DOUBLEDAY FIELD

Posted

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Related Articles

SCOLINOS: It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide

COLUMN VIEW FROM THE GAME It’s All We Need To Know: Home Plate 17 Inches Wide Editor’s Note:  Tim Mead, incoming Baseball Hall of Fame president, cited John Scolinos, baseball coach at his alma mater, Cal Poly Pomona, as a lifelong inspiration, particularly Scolinos’ famous speech “17 Inches.” Chris Sperry, who published sperrybaseballlife.com, heard Scolinos deliver a version in 1996 at the American Baseball Coaches Association in Nashville, and wrote this reminiscence in 1916 in his “Baseball Thoughts” column. By CHRIS SPERRY • from www.sperrybaseballlife.com In 1996, Coach Scolinos was 78 years old and five years retired from a college coaching…

Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told

CLICK HERE FOR MEMO TO SCHOOLS Sports Can Resume, Superintendents Told COOPERSTOWN – In a memo released Friday evening, county Public Health Director Heidi Bond advised local school superintendents that sports can resume as early as Monday. “Effective Feb. 1, participants in higher-risk sports may participate in individual or distanced group training and organized no/low-contact group training,” Bond wrote, “…including competitions and tournaments, if permitted by local health authorities.”…

Piper Seamon Scores 1,000th point

1,000 THANKS! Piper Seamon 5th CCS Girl To Hit High Mark The Cooperstown Central student section erupts as Piper Seamon scores her 1,000th career point in the Hawkeyes’ 57-39 win over Waterville at home last evening. Seamon becomes the fifth girl and only the 14th player in school history overall to score 1,000 points.  Inset at right, Pipershares a hug with teammate Meagan Schuermann after the game was stopped to acknowledge her achievement. Seamon will play basketball next year at Hamilton College. (Cheryl Clough/AllOTSEGO.com)  …

Putting the Community Back Into the Newspaper

Now through March 30, new annual subscribers to “The Freeman’s Journal” and AllOtsego.com (or subscribers who have lapsed for two or more years) have an opportunity to help their choice of one of four Otsego County charitable organizations.

$5.00 of your subscription will be donated to the nonprofit of your choice:

Cooperstown Farmers’ Market, Cooperstown Food Pantry, Greater Oneonta Historical Society or Super Heroes Humane Society.