Time is running out for East Hampton Village to get things right with a looming summertime fiasco over parking. Memorial Day will be here almost before they know it, and with it will come trouble, as visitors and residents alike struggle to master a new smartphone app. But the village has doubled down on the potential for chaos by cutting back on the number of seasonal traffic control officers, who helped pedestrians get across Main Street and Newtown Lane, directed the flow of vehicles at accidents, and generally kept an eye out for issues of all sorts.
Also gone is a job at Main Beach held by the niece of one of Mayor Jerry Larsen’s political rivals. Rose Lawler Kerin had been the manager at Main Beach for years, returning every summer to juggle a range of tasks, few of which could be handled by an app, no matter how smart.
It is time that more residents asked what’s up. The village appears to be blindly stumbling on important policy decisions. It may be better to maintain the old parking and beach practices for now in favor of a more measured trial rollout of any proposed changes.