Here at the Star office, we have a window on Main Street, not just figuratively but literally. From the newsroom on the second floor we can see the progress of emergency vehicles, monitor August mayhem at the awful intersection of Buell Lane, and count Cyber Trucks and Lamborghinis as an indicator of public taste. Our latest observations indicate that the pandemic demographic pattern — in which city escapees came to weekend houses and stayed to become full-timers, swelling the year-round population and bumping classroom enrollment — has finally been reversed.
Judging by the relative calm on Main Street at midweek since Labor Day, East Hampton’s population has returned to the seasonal, weekend-versus-midweek, boom-and-bust pattern of pre-Covid-19 days. Friday and Saturday nights, there is a summer-level stream of cars and packed parking spaces. Walking the dog at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, you might only count exactly four passing cars in 10 minutes.
What will this mean for our Main Street merchants this winter? Is it having an impact on the residential rental market? Let us know your own observations in the Letters to the Editor.