It is surprising that the big story of the summer of 2015 was not a celebrity drunken-driving arrest or a devastating fire but instead the summer itself. East Hampton Town — and Montauk in particular — hit some kind of tipping point by the Fourth of July, and residents had had enough. They packed a July 14 town board meeting, demanding action on a host of complaints, including nightlife, litter, traffic, and taxis. It was enough to drive the fight about noise from the East Hampton Airport or whether the town had intentionally banned the car service Uber out of the news for weeks on end.

The season’s quality-of-life apocalypse reached The New York Times, which asked a top reporter, who had just come off producing a widely celebrated story on the 50-year assault on the federal Voting Right Act, to take a look. Jim Rutenberg likened the changes here to a through-the-looking-glass manifest destiny as a “new horde of speculators” rushed east to cash in — or spend wildly in a determined show of wealth. Things got so bad that the local Republicans, until only recently the party that could be counted on to look the other way when business interests were at play, began to call for a hard line.

As July gave way to August, the atmosphere began to shift. More intense enforcement by officials resulted in a storm of citations for a range of offenses. Among them was a clampdown on hotel fitness classes organized without proper town approvals. Then, it was garbage that drew attention, notably at the beaches and reaching a crescendo on the first morning of this month when early visitors to the Navy Road beach in Montauk were horrified at the remains of a bacchanal staged by a restaurant and nightspot’s staff. Beer, food, and wine lay strewn across several tables. If ever there was a single symbol of the disrespect with which some people treat this place this was it. The restaurant’s public relations team sprang into action, though by then outrage was widespread.

Trash at the beaches, trash on the beaches, and trashy behavior everywhere might well be the epitaph for the summer just past. Who’s to say what 2016 will bring.

Go ahead, make a left. Make two, if you want. It’s September! Tumbleweed Tuesday, some call it, the day after Labor Day when we East Hamptoners get our town back. It is a day for celebration, as they did in Montauk with a live band and cookout on the downtown green. But when you think about it, there is a rather depressing notion at its core — that for the preceding three months locals have too often felt like strangers in their own hometown.

This year more than most, East Hampton has suffered the sour fruit of its own popularity. Sure, certain businesses were booming, notably Montauk’s bars and restaurants and places that sold carry-out beer, but others, like a furnishings shop in Sag Harbor whose owner we spoke with the other day, have been looking forward to this month eagerly. Short-term renters and the day-trippers who mobbed that village and the various hamlets this year do not spend money on her duvet covers, hand-sewn pillowcases, and the like; residents and second-home owners who emerge about now actually do. It is a sea change, she said.

We hope local officials will think long and hard about how to make the weeks of the high season more like this one, when peace returns. With important town elections coming up in Southampton and East Hampton, moving the clock back to a more civilized time is something each candidate should be pressed about. Tumbleweed Tuesday should be a model for how we like the rest of the year, not a passing reward for putting up with a summer’s worth of nuisances.

One of the reasons many people go to East Hampton Village’s ocean beaches is precisely because they are not — underscore not — like those maintained by the Town of East Hampton, where a degree of slovenliness and barely maintained, cement-bunker-like facilities are unfortunately the norm. Now, village officials have been looking at allowing food vendors at Georgica and Two Mile Hollow. This is a terrible idea and should go no further.

For the most part, the village runs a really tight ship where the ocean beaches are concerned and recently pledged additional early morning trash pickups to make sure the sand and surrounding parking areas are spick-and-span at whatever time of day beachgoers arrive. The village was a leader in banning fires built right on the sand, requiring that they be contained in metal wash basins or the like, and the result has been a return to pristine conditions, where, until the ban, black flecks of charcoal had marred the white sand.

People pay for the privilege of spreading their towels and opening their beach chairs on the village’s white sands; $375 nonresident parking permits sell out in the blink of an eye when they become available each spring. Food vending, with all the paper waste and sticky drizzle it can produce, threatens the beaches’ desirability. Consider, too, that for parents of small children, food-free beaches can be a blessing: no whining about buying ice cream or other treats usually reserved for after dinner. For the hungry, there is always Main Beach, which has the charming, old-fashioned Chowder Bowl for all the fried food and sweets one might want.

One of the reasons cited at a recent village board meeting for allowing food vending at Two Mile Hollow in particular is that the parking lot there is often less than full. If getting more people to use this particular beach is the goal, there are other options, ones that would not increase litter and trash. One notion might be selling some nonresident permits valid only at Two Mile Hollow. Another might be granting taxpayers from the fire protection districts that contract with the village for emergency services a limited number of free parking passes on a lottery basis. Or the village could leave well enough alone — which is probably the best course, at least for now.

Long Island Sound is a federally designated no-discharge zone, but apparently no one told the right people at the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers. The corps, which is rapidly readying a lunatic plan to destroy the Montauk downtown oceanfront in order to save it, and the E.P.A. are ready to continue dumping dredged material in the Sound, as close to eastern Long Island as off New London.

An unusual coalition has sprung up to demand alternatives to placing toxin-laden silt from Connecticut rivers into this highly important waterway. Those calling for a better solution include New York State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle, Assemblyman Steve Englebright, Brookhaven officials, Suffolk Legislator Al Krupski, and Kevin McAllister, a well-known activist. They want the corps to find other places for the spoils and to segregate those that are toxic from the rest, which they say should be placed in upland sites, not in the water. They and others have pointed out that this is exactly what New York and Connecticut pledged to do in 2005 with a promised phase-out of at-sea dumping.

Several hearings have been held on the plan to continue using the Sound’s dump sites, and written comment will be taken by the Army Corps until the end of next week. However, we get the sense that, as with downtown Montauk, the corps in particular is taking the easy way out. Obviously, what is needed is for the region’s representatives in Washington to get involved, and fast. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York and Connecticut’s Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, as well as Representative Lee Zeldin, have all signed on to measures designed to protect and restore Long Island Sound. They each should take an immediate, personal role in bringing an end to the use of it as a garbage dump.

As the 2015 high season comes to a close, East Hampton Town officials should begin working on to-do lists in an effort to make next summer a better one. To succeed will be a monumental undertaking and it is not likely to be completed in the span of just several months, but elected leaders, law enforcement officials, and town staff must make every effort to control growth. Given the unprecedented population surge, dialing things back a little might not be such a bad thing. The question is where to start.

Simultaneously with worrying about the coming Nov. 6 election, town officials will be working on the next year’s budget. This is where the battle will be won or lost in trying to win back East Hampton for those of us who live here, those who spend substantial amounts of time here, and those for whom this place no longer feels like home.

Elected officials now live in fear of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s government-starving 2-percent tax cap. And, this being an election year, it would be a surprise if any of the political parties’ candidates advocated exceeding the cap in 2016. Keep in mind that the Cuomo cap means there is less ability to spend every year because the tax rate lags behind inflation. So if there is to be no increased revenue from taxes, the big problem is figuring out where the money will come from to do what needs to be done, be it for more staff or taking the fight to court.

An approach that could find broad support here is taking on the problem spots directly. That might mean increasing fines for quality-of-life penalties, and particularly commercial violations, as far as possible.

One idea that also should be considered is installing parking meters on the downtown Montauk streets used by beachgoers. We can think of no other ocean beach on Long Island that offers free all-day parking for visitors — and you can believe this is well-known among daytrippers. The cost for a vehicle to enter Jones Beach in Nassau County is $10; charging even half that for a day at Montauk would be useful. Look, we’re not saying the town should charge an up-to-$8 per person fee just to walk on the sand the way such places as Long Beach Island do in New Jersey, but given the problems in the hamlet in recent summers, not seeking income for improved services and police patrols would be a missed opportunity.

Those looking ahead on behalf of the public should not forget that many businesses here plan for summer’s onslaught and respond accordingly. That is something local government has heretofore found impossible. Being better prepared for next year should be among the highest off-season priorities.

It is remarkable to think that Soldier Ride began here, with the vision of a single man, Chris Carney, who wanted to raise some money and increase awareness for a fledging organization that was helping injured military veterans. Back in 2004, when Mr. Carney first decided to ride more or less alone across the United States, the Wounded Warrior Project had a single employee and had raised about $10,000 in all. By the time Mr. Carney reached the West Coast that August, he had tallied over $1 million in donations. The next year, he was joined by two soldiers, Ryan Kelly and Heath Calhoun, who had endured the loss of limbs after combat, on a ride from Los Angles to Montauk that brought in millions more.

Wounded Warrior has grown from there. Among its milestones has been a $100 million contribution for veteran’s mental health care at hospitals in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, and Los Angeles. It also provided $30 million in seed money for a nationwide in-home care. In addition to the annual Hamptons event this weekend, there have been 27 rides all over the United States and several overseas. The organization predicts that by the end of next year it will have provided services to about 100,000 veterans and their families, including educational opportunities.

For those readers who are not taking part in Saturday’s ride or party afterward, there are other ways to give, and the Wounded Warrior Project website can explain how. There are also other charities set up to help United States veterans in a range of ways.

Soldier Ride is East Hampton’s homegrown effort to embrace and acknowledge those injured in the line of duty. It is a source of pride that it all started here.

By any measure, East Hampton Town officials have a massive crisis on their hands. Forget about the airport. Forget about pollution of the waterways. At this moment, right now, it’s all about quality of life and a widely shared sense that Town Hall is not able to keep up.

With roadways, food markets, police, emergency services, and other necessities seemingly at or beyond capacity, residents, notably in Montauk, have had enough. At Monday’s citizens advisory committee meeting there, talk was even heard about organized civil disobedience to drive the point home that it’s nearly past time to get tough.

Town Hall, under the leadership of the current board, has been chipping around the edges when what is really needed is aggressive large-scale action to turn the tide. Of course chipping around the edges is a far cry better than what occurred in previous years, when the doctrinaire and self-satisfied Wilkinson-dominated board all but gave away the farm. For years, we have been saying that East Hampton Town was running the risk of becoming a place unfamiliar to those who call it home; many are now saying that day has come.

Getting the chaos under control will take a multi-pronged approach. Among the options should be to immediately institute a rental registry that provides for inspections and stiff penalties for violations of occupancy and turnover limits. It used to be that the roads, shops, and beaches were filled only on weekends and during those two weeks in August when it seemed everyone was on vacation. Not anymore. It is thought that short-term rentals facilitated by the online marketplaces are at least a significant part of the problem.

Legal remedies are necessary for the town to get serious. Think of the way the town acted against loud aircraft and out-of-town taxi companies. One approach should be to pursue a court injunction blocking Airbnb, HomeAway, and Vacation Rental by Owner, among others, from enabling prohibited multiple short-term rentals within the town. Officials should also forward the names and addresses of landlords suspected of running what are basically illegal businesses to the Internal Revenue Service and to Suffolk County, asking it to investigate whether any taxes are owed.

At the same time, the town must immediately and sharply increase enforcement personnel, with a particular focus on noise. The town sets decibel limits for readings taken at a property line; these should be taken seriously. Taxpayers might well support a town budget that puts residents’ peace and quiet as a top priority by hiring more seasonal ordinance enforcement and police personnel — and they should be asked. But in the meantime, existing officers have to be instructed to clamp down on the private use of public roadways and sidewalks, as well as the improper expansion of bar service to outdoor decks and private parking lots.

 The town could also apply a recently enacted law intended to control commercial gatherings, by clamping down on the use of restaurants, hotel, and bar premises, indoors or out, by patrons in excess of the establishment’s official fire marshal-determined occupancy. Failing that, the town needs to begin total commercial property reassessment, charging those businesses that now handle 200, 300, or more patrons on a busy weekend enough in taxes to cover the additional costs of police and other services. Greed-driven operations should no longer be allowed to profit at the expense of ordinary taxpayers.

Trouble at the beaches could be better managed if there were a cap on the annual sale of nonresident beach parking permits and if nonresident four-wheel-drive permits were sold only in the winter months, following the lead of the state. Better management of beachgoers’ trash is a must as well.

These are but a few of the steps that might help assure residents that town officials are paying attention and that they need not begin packing their bags.

This is serious, folks. It’s time for action — and a whole lot of it.

The latest developments in the United States Army Corps of Engineers project to build a 3,100-foot-long sandbag wall on the downtown Montauk oceanfront warrant close attention. Though a private lawsuit could still derail this massive boondoggle, the Corps, East Hampton Town officials, and the state appear to be moving forward. Recently described details concern pedestrian and vehicular access over the planned artificial dune and what happens to rainwater there. Barring a court ruling, work is expected to begin in October.

Now, unbelievably, the same people who brought us the Katrina disaster are considering installing some kind of a floodgate to allow rainfall and runoff to escape to the ocean. Sorry. We are not convinced.

From the start, the project has been marked by rule-bending, false claims, inadequate review, and, going back several years, an embarrassing, overstated back-of-the-napkin economic analysis. All this has not appeared to shake current town support. Politics plays a role; woe be the elected official who speaks out to block the effort then sees heavy damage caused by a hurricane or bad winter storm. But expediency comes at the expense of sound planning and a responsible answer to the long-term issue of erosion.

Downtown Montauk was built where it should not be. It’s that simple. No Army Corps seawall by itself is going to change that fact. The Corps’s poorly conceived project only delays the day of reckoning, which should have taken place after Hurricane Sandy’s near miss in 2012. Tough leadership is desperately needed, but it is not coming — from any level of government.

Faced with residents who have become more vocal about unwanted changes, the Sag Harbor Village Board is getting serious about how land-use decisions are made, and by whom. It is about time. The charm and sense of place that have characterized the village since its time as a thriving port is being threatened by overblown Hamptons-style construction, a good proportion of which, it is safe to say, is driven by speculators and investors.

The law does not allow building projects to be reviewed more strictly if they are for-profit ventures. Rather, the boards that oversee development, both in Sag Harbor and elsewhere, must apply the law and community common sense to each application, regardless of its backers’ motives. Noticing a spate of out-of-character projects and heeding protests from citizens, the Sag Harbor board recently shuffled its zoning and other appointed boards, bringing back some experienced hands to steady the ship. This includes appointing Anthony Brandt and Christopher Leonard to the board of historic preservation and architectural review and hiring an architectural historian, Zachary N. Studenroth, as a consultant.

Meanwhile, the board this week approved a construction moratorium on most new projects to buy time to study the staffing of the Building Department and possible zoning code changes. These moves strongly signal the village board’s interest in keeping Sag Harbor Sag Harbor — a place its residents and visitors know and love. They are to be commended.

A bill awaiting Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s signature that was recently approved by the State Legislature could signal the beginning of the end of the much-vaunted community preservation fund program. The proposal is to allow local governments to take up to 20 percent of the money for water quality projects, including new and upgraded sewage treatment plants. Doing more about water pollution is a good thing; this bill is the wrong way to fund it.

Its chief backers are State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who piggybacked the proposal onto a reasonable 20-year extension of the fund, which is set to expire in 2030. At a minimum, the two proposals should have been de-coupled, allowing them to be considered separately in the participating towns and voted on in the November general election as independent referendums. Since that did not happen, Mr. Cuomo’s veto is essential.

Long eyed by politicians as a potential and pain-free source of cash for all sorts of things, the community preservation fund has withstood most assaults. Should it become law, this measure, however, would chip away at one of its fundamental precepts, that the initiative is independent of the rest of government services. If local officials want water projects, they should do so through ordinary bonding, tax credits for septic upgrades, or permissive referendums.

It is outrageous that Mr. Thiele, who has recently expressed the opinion that the fund should not be tapped to buy buildings, would be eager to see money diverted to projects that on Long Island have been marked historically by corruption, cost overages, and poor environmental record-keeping. To think that more money will make this any better is to enter a fairyland fantasy. That there is a problem is hinted at by a caveat tucked into the bill, that the fund cannot be used for any project that would increase development. This is hardly assuring nor is it meaty enough to function as intended.

Given that in East Hampton Town the only proposed sewage project nearing shovel-ready status is a head-scratching one in downtown Montauk, officials here need to think carefully before agreeing to allow themselves — or future governments — to skim so much from the preservation fund for ill-thought-out boondoggles.

Before East Hampton goes looking for new ways to spend the C.P.F., it should try to stop development of all remaining vacant parcels of land in the town, take additional steps to assure crop farming on already-preserved acreage, protect more historic sites, and remove structures in environmentally sensitive areas. Once that is done and there is no land at all left to buy, maybe then, and only then, will it be time to talk about taking that 20 percent off the top.