There were some lessons to be learned in the recent referendum to sell a part of Riverside Park to the Coast Guard for expansion of the Coast Guard Academy in New London.

One of them is that city voters turned out to be pretty evenly divided on the idea of selling off some of the park. In fact, in the end, less than a few dozen votes separated them.

I know many park supporters pitch this as a class-geography divide. The closer you are to the south end of the city and its grander parks, the more likely you were to support a sale of Riverside in the city's north end, they say.

No doubt there is some truth to this.

But geography aside, city voters in general showed a wide inclination to support the Coast Guard and expand the academy's boundaries.

Mayor Finizio, too, promised, even as the sale referendum was dying, to negotiate with the Coast Guard about its future land needs, promising to balance the needs of the service with the needs of the city.

In that spirit, I would suggest the mayor might find some common ground to accommodate the needs of both the Coast Guard and the city in years to come, with a little compromise from both sides thrown in for good measure.

What if the Coast Guard were to buy a piece of the park, but maybe a smaller piece than the last deal called for? How about four or five acres instead of eight? That still leaves the bulk of the 18-acre park for the city and future generations of city residents.

And, really, four to five acres should accommodate years and years of Coast Guard Academy expansion. That's a lot of land, especially in a small, dense city.

And what should the mayor offer to city residents in return?

How about a promise that all the money from the sale be dedicated to building a first-class recreational facility on the park waterfront, an athletic facility that could eventually be turned over to the regional YMCA to manage.

Why shouldn't New London support a facility every bit as nice as the ones the Ocean Community YMCA offers in Westerly, Mystic and Arcadia, R.I.?

In fact, couldn't a new Y in New London be one of the nicest in the state, using the surrounding park land for walking trails, basketball and tennis courts etc.? And maybe the academy could volunteer the services of cadets to help manage waterfront youth activities, rowing and sailing included.

A well-run, waterfront Y could be an enormous asset to the city, not only for the recreational programs it could offer city youth and residents, but also as a recruitment opportunity. It would make the city a more inviting place to live.

I doubt the $2.9 million the Coast Guard offered in the last park deal would be enough to build an adequate facility. But, hey, that's what negotiations are for.

Who's to say what that land is really worth. There really is no other comparable open space on the water in an urban environment in the region to compare it to. Any appraisal of that land is totally subjective. It's worth what someone would pay for it.

Let the mayor put on his best negotiating suit and make another run at the Coast Guard. They still want it, right?

Still, there might be a need to fill the budget gap with some fundraising, perhaps not too daunting a fundraising campaign, given the cause.

For this, I would suggest the mayor recruit former City Councilor Michael Buscetto, who has proven himself to be not only a great advocate for youth athletic programs but also a consummate community fundraiser. What a great way to channel his talents and enthusiasm for the city.

In addition to putting Buscetto in charge of the project, I would consider appointing a board of directors that includes some of those who fought most nobly to retain the park.

Surely many of them would want to channel their intentions to better maintain the park in the future and improve recreational opportunities there.

I am sure Mayor Finizio has lots of plans for making a mark on the city in the next four years of his administration.

Wouldn't bridging the gap that surfaced in the recently-concluded historic election be a good place to start?

Targeting one obvious and major project to show a commitment to help the city's youth wouldn't be a bad start either.

This is the opinion of David Collins