After Hectic Fourth of July, Besieged Montauk Residents Ponder Solutions

Members of the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee and other residents gathered on Monday night to contemplate how to rein in the party atmosphere that has besieged the hamlet — which, incidentally, "has a beach," as one person reported overhearing on the train out.

The bar scene, particularly at the Sloppy Tuna and the Surf Lodge, is out of control, people said. Peter Joyce, a volunteer with the Montauk Fire Department for more than 20 years, said emergency vehicles couldn't get by the Surf Lodge, what with vehicles and taxicabs parked and double-parked and people staggering and falling down drunk in the road. "The abuse we went through this weekend was uncalled for," he said. "There is no reason we have to go through the gauntlet and get screamed at by security guards to pass."

At the Sloppy Tuna, there was a tangle of taxis, and people crowding around an outdoor bar made it so dangerous, committee members said, that they feared an upstairs deck would collapse. Taxicabs are parking there illegally, said Laura Michaels.

"What are we doing with Montauk? It's out of control. We all know Surf Lodge has been like this for years, but it's only going to get worse," she said, adding that she had never seen so much out-of-control drunkenness before.

Jessica James, an emergency medical technician with the Montauk squad, said she was disturbed by the drug abuse she witnessed. Some people appeared to be inadvertent victims of the drug called Molly, which, she noted, can be slipped in a person's drink. "This is a real catastrophe waiting to happen. I never saw this before. The town has to put some kind of pressure on these bars to control their patrons," she said.

James Grimes, also a member of the Montauk Fire Department, compared the hamlet at night to a scene from a grade-B horror movie. "You've got people laying in the road, people staggering in the roads. There are laws on the books to do something. It's got to be made a priority," he said.

East Hampton Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo was on duty in the hamlet from 5:30 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday. He said there were extra patrols on overtime for the weekend, and part-time officers assigned to Montauk as well, plus traffic control officers to deal with the fireworks traffic. On average, there were eight officers patrolling in the hamlet each night, in addition to officers with the East End D.W.I. Task Force.

Montauk accounted for over half the calls received by town police over the long holiday. In other areas of the town, traffic was the biggest issue, but Montauk was the busiest, said Chief Sarlo.

The throngs waiting to get into bars and nightclubs, the 7-Eleven, John's Drive-In, and Pizza Village, not counting the people just milling around downtown, were huge. Five noise violations were issued to licensed establishments and over 100 code summonses were issued for everything from open alcohol containers, public urination, improper beach fires, to litter. There were 16 arrests by town police during the weekend, 5 of them in Montauk.

Committee members said the police force was overburdened, and suggested that other law enforcement agencies be called in to help, such as the State Liquor Authority and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. They asked the committee's East Hampton Town Board liaison, Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, whether the liquor authority should be notified each time a business was cited. If it were, they reasoned, the liquor authority might have just cause to revoke the establishment's liquor license. "That is your solution, shut them down," said Ray Cortell, a committee member.

Mr. Van Scoyoc said the liquor authority no longer notifies towns when a liquor license is issued or expires, a tool that was helpful to officials in the past. Previous administrations, he asserted, have ignored proper zoning and planning processes. "They created legal groundwork to allow this to happen," he said. "I'm telling you right now that I'm committed to fixing the problem. I hope I have your support." The group of some 40 to 50 people applauded.

Laraine Creegan, executive director of the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, challenged the town board to come up with 10 solutions to help the situation. "It's a shame that residents are still discussing this when the town board should have already taken care of it," she said. "We sit here year after year — we have a taxi problem, we have a drinking problem, we need to come up with positive things to address each of these problems." Ms. Creegan sat down to another round of applause.

Related: Two Injured After Being Struck by Taxi in Montauk