Letters

As I sit here, one of the remaining older people in the East Hampton hamlet of Montauk, which in years past was a friendly and fairly close-knit town (population approximately 1,200), thinking about what has happened in almost one generation, I thought I’d write it down.

In my youth here in a remote hamlet with limited services, there were five gas stations, all with mechanics, year-round restaurants with bars (open till 2 a.m.) that were owned by local residents and families, even a movie theater for a short time. There was ample work for local residents and high school children, especially in the summer, with the influx of tourists from Memorial Day to Labor Day. The Village of East Hampton even had three new car dealerships, with one in Amagansett.

About 30 years ago, real estate developed the word “Unhampton” for the area; the impact was slow to begin but recently has caused a crescendo of over-building with maxed-out houses, all with pools on new or existing normal home lots, with a lack of caring for local service conditions and infrastructure by the “it’s-all-about-me crowd.” Environmental problems this has created are now affecting residents and, for the most part, older residents. These concerns have caused many of the older people to sell and leave due to quality-of-life issues, high cost of living, and constant litigation with business owners and developers by the town, with higher legal fees and resulting tax increases.

How did this happen in about 53 years (current population is around 4,300)? It has taken an isolated town and turned it into a warm weather “suburb” for both businesses and people, at the expense of locals.

Currently, there is even talk of taking protected parkland and creating a sewage treatment plant, with sewers to appease and possibly further stimulate overbuilding in the downtown area.

Where is the researcher/author who has a book contract waiting if he or she would tell this story. Hello? Are you out there?

Someone please tell me something I can feel good about, other than the unimaginable sales prices residents have and are still receiving.

Hamlet to suburb, all predicted in the 1960s by a man named Philip Lenhart (God rest his soul), a rental cottage property owner himself, who said this would happen when the Ronjo Motel asked for and received a variance for parking and to the building code. His complaint was discounted by most in the town.

Guess what, people? Phil was right.

Bill Ostertag

Montauk