Create a Rental Registry Springs October 24, 2015 To the Editor: The folks behind the Stop the Rental Registry campaign are spreading a gross misrepresentation of the proposed new rental registry. The whole process to register will take five minutes and cost $125 a year for a homeowner. That’s a small cost for individuals to pay when one looks at the myriad community benefits: more cost-efficient and effective code enforcement, improved safety for our first responders as well as tenants, protection of our water supply and environment, protection of real estate values, and protection of the quality of life on the East End. Remember, when someone rents their home, they are also renting your community. (Please sign the petition for the registry at change.org under “Sign this petition to create a Rental Registry for East Hampton, New York.”) Let me discuss each of their reasons: 1. Economic harm. The group is basically saying that the town shouldn’t stop illegal rentals because some folks profit from them. Sure, this will reduce the profits of those landlords currently breaking the existing laws, and some of the profits in the Montauk bars may be hurt, but that doesn’t mean we should continue to allow illegal rentals! In fact, the registry is an economic positive. There is no change to current rental laws, so homeowners with legal rentals will only have the positive impact of having the illegal rentals off the market. Our legal inns, B&Bs, hotels and motels, and room rentals in owner-occupied homes that have been hurt as illegal rentals flourish will also benefit. The real estate values of our law-abiding residents will be protected by stopping share-home rentals and homes being operated illegally as hotels. Vacationers will always want to come to the East End, but let’s steer them to legal and safe accommodations. 2. The law opens the door for home inspections. If one of our code inspectors sees an obvious indication of a violation, he or she can seek clarification from the homeowner more quickly than under our current setup. That’s all, folks — it just makes the code enforcement a lot more cost-effective. 3. Homeowners will be burdened with paperwork. It takes less than five minutes to complete the form. Please, try it forourself. Completing the checklist gives prospective renters the knowledge that they are ready to rent in a very quick and efficient fashion. 4. The collection of personal information is intrusive. All of the information asked is basic information: name and address and a homeowner’s checklist. The registry is maintained by the Building Department, which has all of this information in other records. 5. The law will not achieve its legislative intent. Untrue. Our code enforcers will tell you how it will make their jobs so much easier and more efficient. Seven out of 10 towns in Suffolk County have rental registries that are already working. Note that our code enforcers will have nothing to do with creating or managing the registry, and all their time will continue to be solely in enforcement. 6. The law targets second-home owners. Not true. The law does nothing new to limit legal rentals whatsoever. A five-minute form and a $125 fee — that’s it. True, nothing changes for people living in their own homes who rent rooms out. Could this be what’s meant by this group? 7. Vacationing families can be fined. This is just fear-mongering. Renters who hide illegal activity, i.e., start subletting without the owner’s knowledge or change basements to illegal bedrooms to set up a share house, are addressed by the registry, not Mr. and Mrs. John Doe and the kids. 8. Serious housing problems in East Hampton are mostly due to a minority of unscrupulous landlords. I agree, so not a problem for all the legal renters out there, only those breaking existing law. (Only a minority of us break any particular law — that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have laws.) 9. The law offers no support to homeowners who inadvertently rent to bad tenants. The intention of the town board is not to penalize homeowners who exercise due diligence but inadvertently rent to bad tenants. 10. Transient, nightly lodging will dramatically increase. No way. All rentals must have a registry number, to be advertised no matter where — newspapers, online, through real estate agents. That will immediately reduce the number of illegal rentals, no matter what the duration. Please read all the information on the town’s website and look at the actual form. Please separate the facts from the fear-mongering and support the rental registry. N.J. BRADLEY Those Who Take Springs October 25, 2015 Dear David, I have known for a very long time that there are two kinds of people, those who give to the world and those who take from it. We know who the givers are. They are part of our daily life: teachers, nurses, and the like, caregivers of all kinds. The takers are sometimes harder to unmask as they often talk out of many sides of their mouths, but their goal is always the same: How much money can I get out of what I am doing for me? They are often unprincipled. They unfurl the flag and flaunt the Constitution. They have lots of tricks in their bag, like a petition that is anonymous, but they care for no one but themselves and how much money can they amass. So it is no wonder they are against a rental registry. They will give you many reasons why we should not do what many of the towns on Long Island already have in place. This new version of the proposed law, unanimously offered by our hard-working town board, is designed to be a tool for the code enforcers to have available to allow them to do their job more effectively. It does not, repeat does not, infringe upon your right to rent your house. You may continue to do so. The form you must file probably will take you a very short time to complete. You self-certify that your house is in good condition — smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors are present, and the like. You pay a fee that pales in comparison to the money you will be making. And if you have a brain in your head and you are renting to, presumably, strangers, you certainly want your house to be safe and you want someone to know who is renting your house while you are not there. So this seems to be a smart way to make sure that our Town of East Hampton that we all love will not be used and abused by the takers for the sole purpose of enhancing their greed. On Nov. 19, there will be a hearing on this law. If you care about the future of our town, be a giver and come out to support the rental registry at the American Legion in Amagansett at 6:30 p.m., as I will! PHYLLIS ITALIANO Faceless People Springs October 25, 2015 Dear David, There is a new petition floating online and it’s all about preventing a rental registry that will stop some of the renting chaos that envelops our town. Remember Summer 2015? Wowser, lots of distortion and manipulation of fact. It’s all about fear, the Fourth Amendment, tradition, donations (are they a PAC?), politics, and, yes, poverty, with lots of hysteria. It rants and rails and, good God, threatens us all with lawsuits and fines, while waving the flag, and the website is written, controlled, and manipulated by Anonymous. Gee, why do you think they are anonymous? These nameless, faceless people with their shrill demands? I guess these persons don’t mind paying high property taxes in Springs and don’t care about the quality-of-life issues in Montauk and Springs. Did they attend the town board work session in Montauk on July 14 (Bastille Day) and listen to the people? They probably collect so much rent renting their primo property, paying high taxes is just part of the cost of doing business. They are not comfortable letting us know who they are. Why? The town board has written a carefully crafted law (it can be read on the town website). They are proposing to prevent some of the illegal renting that goes on in our little piece of paradise. It is not intrusive and it prevents no one from renting legally. A public hearing on the law is to be held at the V.F.W. Hall on Nov. 19 at 6:30 p.m. Please mark your calendar and make a point of attending and speaking to this issue, or better yet, send an email to your town board or write a letter to The Star. You will have to identity yourself. That should not be a problem. BETSY RUTH The True Facts Springs October 26, 2015 Dear David, The distortions being made by some anonymous people are astounding. The claims they are making discrediting the rental registry are misleading and divisive. Their non-informational statements are truly disturbing when you know the facts. The rental registry does not prevent anyone from renting their home. You can rent rooms in your home and as long as you are there too; you do not have to register. I could go on and on. Please get the facts by going to the Town of East Hampton website and see for yourself the true facts in the rental registry. Many of us need the extra income to survive living here. The registry will protect us. I totally support the rental registry and those who are opposed are more concerned with lining their pockets than making our town the beautiful place we all came here to live in. Please go to the American Legion Hall on Nov. 19, Thursday night, at 6:30. Let your opinion be known. Each one of us can make a difference. There aren’t too many times that our individual voices can count so much. This is one of them. So join us and make a difference. If you would like to speak, sign in, go to the podium, and all you need to do is to say your name and that you are for the rental registry. Thank you so much and really get our town back. RITA WASSERMAN Ripple Effect East Hampton October 26, 2015 Dear Mr. Rattray: The good citizens of East Hampton are waking up to the fact that the proposed rental registry law is not only directed at overcrowded year-round houses and disorderly summer tenants, but adversely impacts every homeowner in every hamlet and on both sides of the highway. It is unfortunate that a petition in support of the rental registry last summer failed to include information about the scope of the law and the extent of its imposition on the thousands of law-abiding, code-abiding folks who would have to pay rental registration fees, renewal fees, and update fees, and be subject to “presumptive guilt.” I telephoned a number of people who advertise on VRBO in Clearwater Beach, as do I. When the pro rental registry petition came up, homeowners now regretted signing. There had been no indication by the sponsors of the petition that the rental registry would be draconian, expensive, and onerous for absolutely everyone who rented his or her home, not just the scofflaws. You should sign the petition over at www.stoptherentalregistry.com. And consider voting for candidates who understand the negative, ripple effect of the proposed rental registry in any iteration. That sounds like Tom Knobel, Margaret Turner, and Lisa Mulhern-Larsen to me. Let’s vote no to any rental registry in any form — ever. LYNNE W. SCANLON A Critical Issue Springs October 25, 2015 Dear David, A petition has been drawn up actually “demanding” that the East Hampton Town Board stop the rental registry law. They’ve given 12 reasons for this “demand,” all of which are blatantly false. And they know it! Incredibly, these fools either have chosen not to read the legislative proposal or don’t have enough intelligence to understand it. Being stupid is not a sin — until you lie, manipulate, and misrepresent the truth. This is an attempt to mislead the public on a critical issue, begging to be resolved for years. Unethical people like this are to be pitied and ignored. They are clinically in need of help. They should be called out for not caring about the safety, health, ecology, and welfare of our communities. Selfish, unprincipled insanity at work! DOLORES WEINBERG Great Disservice Springs October 24, 2015 Dear David, The people who are objecting to the rental registry are not acting in the best interest of the town, their neighbors, and likely their own best interests. They are being either selfish or are being manipulated by the people and businesses that want to stuff as many people in this town as possible. We witnessed this assault on our town from the last majority administration. On another subject: The company that was hired by the Republicans to plaster “lawn signs” all over public properties (and possibly to remove the Democrats’ signs) has done a great disservice to their candidates (and the entire town). I hope that this same company will responsibly remove these signs right after the election. SUSAN HARDER
Published 4 years ago
Last updated 4 years ago
Letters to the Editor: Rentals 10.29.15
October 29, 2015