Police Chief Sums It Up
The top guns of East Hampton Town government appeared Monday before the Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee and a large group of residents to let them know what they are doing to combat the rowdiness that has taken over the hamlet since the Fourth of July weekend.
Speaking to the crowd was Police Chief Mike Sarlo, Supervisor Larry Cantwell, Councilwoman Sylvia Overby, and Councilman Peter Van Scoyoc, the town board’s liaison to the committee.
Mr. Sarlo said that all levels of the town’s law enforcement departments were collaborating in the effort. Officers are working overtime, he said, with the East End D.W.I. Task Force and the State Liquor Authority. “We’re using every extent of the law that we can,” the chief said, including adding extra foot patrols.
In addition, he said, the town is actively using social media to let people know that Montauk is not a party town. Some residents have complained on Facebook and elsewhere about the police crackdown for overcrowding at the Harbor Bar, formerly the Dancing Crab, he said, but the time is now to stop it in its tracks. “If every place was handled this way when they first started we wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with,” said the chief.
There will be a public hearing at Town Hall next Thursday on a proposed law that would require restaurants, bars, and taverns to install on-site electronic counting devices to keep occupancy in check.
Many out-of-town visitors, said the chief, believe it is legal to drink on public property. They leave the beach with red Solo cups in hand, he said, and are surprised to be handed a summons.
Parking on the west side of South Edgemere Road, the county-owned road near Surf Lodge, often tangles traffic and slows emergency response time, and the town board has proposed a parking ban there between the club and the northwest section of South Elwell Street. A public hearing on the proposed law will be held at Town Hall tonight. The county banned parking on the east side several years ago, and has agreed to the newer regulation.
Mr. Cantwell told the group that Montauk residents have to act now to preserve the future of their hamlet. Motel owners are calling him, he said, to complain that longtime customers are canceling their reservations because of the party atmosphere, and they say they are losing thousands of dollars.
The new parking ban, he said, was a safety issue, per the request of police officers and emergency personnel. “We’re not looking to put Surf Lodge out of business,” he said, which prompted calls of “Why not?”
Members of the committee were uneasy about where the club’s patrons will park instead. One member said it might push parking onto Industrial Road, near the environmentally sensitive Fort Pond.
In the last three weeks, Mr. Cantwell said, Surf Lodge has installed a marked area for taxis to pick up and drop off, and its security also makes sure vehicles aren’t left idling. Other businesses are complying with parking laws as well, he said.
Another hearing tonight at Town Hall will take note of fires on the beach. New proposed guidelines for beach fires would mean they must be confined to metal containers, which must be removed from the beach at the end of the evening.
The committee learned that a design for a red and white striped canopy proposed by the former Empire gas station has been forwarded by town planners to the architectural review board. The canopy would be 16 feet high and 42 feet long and would cover all six pumps. Members were asked to contact Richard Myers, the chairman of the A.R.B., who was at Monday’s meeting, with any comments.