In a recently announced plan, East Hampton Town will house police, Marine Patrol, Code Enforcement, and ocean rescue about a block from the ocean beach and about as close to the center of action as one could imagine — more or less across South Emerson Avenue from Bounce Beach, the day-drinking hot spot formerly known as the Sloppy Tuna. At present, a town police station and public restroom is tucked away near the northwest corner of downtown. A new services building is sorely needed; we’ll get back to the sidewalks in a moment.
During the high season, Montauk has near urban levels of visitors. Day trippers pour in for the beaches, restaurants and bars, fishing, and sightseeing. Thousands more people stay overnight in the hamlet’s staggering number of hotel beds and short-term rental properties.
Montauk’s population problems are not new. Two decades ago, when the town comprehensive plan was updated, its authors estimated that there were at minimum 2,300 hotel and motel rooms. With the addition of more than a thousand houses, bungalows, and apartments, available these days through the online rental portals, Montauk’s year-round residents -- and first responders -- are all but swamped by the demands resulting from the summer influx. The plan went on to describe the downtown area as “walkable,” but little has been accomplished since then to meet its unique challenges.
Montauk has the highest number of police and emergency calls, Town Police Chief Michael Sarlo told the town board the other day. A modern, centrally located safety and enforcement facility reflects a reality that Town Hall has been slow to acknowledge — that the demands for public services in Montauk have outstripped its current capacity. If nothing else, a permanent, central police presence will project a greater sense of order on the unruly downtown streets.
And this brings us back to sidewalks, or rather, the lack thereof. Due to a quirk in town regulations, downtown Montauk developed free from the kind of planning oversight that could have taken pedestrians into consideration. The result is that in too many places people are forced to walk in the streets, often dodging vehicles backing out of parking spaces perpendicular to traffic. It’s the kind of chaos that has already led to conflicts and will likely result in the death of someone on foot.
As the town rethinks public safety in Montauk, protecting pedestrians needs to be a priority, too.