Not So Fast, Please, In Declaring Peace
Local officials and community activists might have been a bit premature in declaring that recent measures designed to tame the summer party scene are a success. In the week and a half since Memorial Day we have heard variations on the theme of “it wasn’t so bad.” To those who might think this is the real story, we have one thing to say: You haven’t seen anything yet.
Recall for a moment that on the Tuesday following the Fourth of July last summer an estimated 300 people turned up at a town board meeting in Montauk to demand action. Over the course of a four-hour session, complaints were about noise, trash, crowds, drunks, group rentals, public urination and defecation, and environmental damage.
The town board appeared blindsided by it all back then. In response, however, the board enacted a rental registry, which is supposed to make enforcement of housing laws easier. More recently, the town has begun to ask state officials to look at the alcohol permits of a handful of places that feature live music. This could be seen as passing the buck, as it really should have fallen to town officials to have long ago prevented places like the Surf Lodge, 668 the Gig Shack, and Sole East in Montauk from becoming de facto concert venues. And, just under the town board’s noses, Moby’s on Pantigo Road in East Hampton appears to have begun bringing the party west.
State law regarding live music does nothing when the performer happens to be a D.J. playing recorded music, an oversight since some D.J.s, like their guitar-strumming and microphone-wielding compatriots, enjoy superstar status these days. Considering that, and the calendar, it would be foolish to declare the war over, and sit back.
Look, we just run a newspaper here; we’re not public policymakers. But from where we sit, it seems the town board still has a way to go before it can say the town has regained the peace and charm that the majority of residents — and likely the bulk of summer visitors — desire. Get on it, people: The Fourth of July is approaching fast.