To 'Lay Down Rules' at the Home Exchange

The home exchange area at the East Hampton Town Recycling Center, sometimes called "Caldor East," after the bankrupt discount chain store which once had a branch in Bridgehampton, will reopen this weekend.

The area was closed on July 1 after a child was nearly hit by a car there. East Hampton Town Board members and Neal Sheehan, the head of sanitation, met Tuesday to come up with a plan to regain control of the site, which has become popular with growing numbers of scavengers who overstay the 30-minute limit.

"It's very important to a lot of people that this program get back on track," Councilman Pete Hammerle said Tuesday. "Right now it's totally out of control. They attack your vehicle if you come anywhere near it. They'll clean out your glove compartment if you let them."

"People are getting dropped off and sitting there all day and stockpiling things, and people are picking them up at the end of the day with all their loot. You're not supposed to sit there all day hoarding things. I can only assume that people have figured out how to make financial gains from this, and now the stakes are higher, and people are fighting over things," Mr. Hammerle said.

The home exchange area was added to the recycling center years ago by the town, which prides itself on initiating recycling and environmental programs. The area has developed a dedicated following, including an ad hoc committee that successfully fought to keep it open when town leaders considered eliminating it several years ago.

Mr. Hammerle suggested that citizens assigned to perform community service be posted at the area to enforce the rules, which include possession of a valid recycling center permit.

"That won't work," Mr. Sheehan said. "These people are way too aggressive for that. They arrive, they bring a blanket, they spend the day. We'll have to have some backup from either code enforcement or the police. It will be confrontational."

The board agreed to reduce hours at the home exchange, which had been open daily, to Friday through Monday only.

Supervisor Bill McGintee asked Mr. Sheehan to find landfill employees willing to work through the weekend as monitors, and promised to pay them overtime wages. He said he would also alert code enforcement and police officers to be available for backup.

"Our employees have lived this; they hate the place," Mr. Sheehan said. Landfill workers must remove the old furniture, clothing, mattresses, toys, or other items that are left in the area at the end of each day.

On a recent afternoon, Mr. Sheehan said, a driver who wanted to drop off an item entered the area when it was closed, pulling in behind a landfill payloader. The payloader operator did not see the car and ran into it, causing more than $3,000 worth of damages, for which the town paid.

Mr. McGintee expressed confidence that order would be restored after several weeks of "laying down the rules" and removing people who refuse to follow them. "It's like anything else," he said. "You have rules; if the user group can't follow the rules, then it gets shut down."

"If it doesn't work this time, we're going to end up losing it," Mr. Hammerle said.