I have been confused on this issue because of the many conflicting opinions voiced. Consequently I decided to take a parking survey. Since we have a significant number of elderly people in Rockport I have limited the survey to parking places within a 10-second to 60-second walk. Due to mothers with young children I have eliminated any parking spaces that involve crossing more than one street, usually benign Limerock Street. There are 55 parking places that meet both these requirements and 81 spaces if one extends the walk another minute. In October, 10 surveys were taken at various times and various days of the week when the library was open. Surveys were done on busy periods such as during the Children's Story Hour and during the Mah Jong session.

The results were a big surprise. The survey of the 55 spaces within a 60-second walk indicated that at the busiest time during the Children's Story Hour, there were still 41 empty spaces available. At the least busy time only two of the 55 parking spaces were occupied. On average only eight of the 55 spaces were used. This means during the survey, on average there were 47 empty parking spaces within 60 seconds of the library.

Our elderly and physically handicapped citizens rely on parking immediately contiguous to the library. During the busiest time surveyed there were two spots available right there plus the handicapped spot was always empty during the survey.

My conclusion is parking is not a big problem and certainly is no reason to build a big new library. Keep, expand, improve our lovely library. Vote no on articles 8 and 9.

Bob Baldwin lives in Rockport