Montauk Cracks Down On Weekend Partiers Following Complaints From Residents
MONTAUK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Some East End residents are fed up with what they say is crazy partying in their town.
As CBS2's Michele Miller reported, at 4 a.m. on a Saturday in Montauk, the party is in full swing.
Snarled traffic, fighting on the streets, and drunk patrons stumbling from bar to bar have become a weekly ritual in the town, Miller reported.
Montauk Cracks Down On Weekend Partiers Following Complaints From Residents
But this weekend, tighter controls were in effect after locals met earlier in the week to tell officials they'd had enough.
On Friday and Saturday, police issued a total of 74 town code violations, 51 parking violations, 34 traffic tickets, and made seven arrests.
East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell said the town's reputation is at stake.
"Montauk's really a beautiful place but the character has changed so much and the drinking and the carrying on in the street has gotten out of hand," he said.
Tucked away on the tip of Long Island, Montauk prides itself for being an off-the-grid place.
But in recent years, its popularity among well-heeled 20-somethings from Manhattan has soared and longtime residents want it to stop, Miller reported.
"It's like living in purgatory. You've got heaven on one side and you've got hell on the other," said Franz Preidel.
Preidel lives next door to the Sloppy Tuna, one of Montauk's most popular nightspots.
"They clearly do not have the sanitary capabilities for the amount of people that they're drawing and they use any bush or anything they can find to relieve themselves," said Preidel. "That's often times my front yard."
The friction between the two sides became all too clear when Preidel was heckled while being interviewed by Miller.
"You're on television complaining about the community," the heckler said. "You're unhappy with the noise volume? You're unhappy with the of the revenue that comes into the town?"
But Drew Doscher, owner of the Sloppy Tuna, said his establishment is fully compliant with the law and can't control what his customers do once they leave.
"We work with the police force, we work with the fire department, we work with the building code hand-in-hand to try to make sure that we're doing things right," said Doscher.
Doscher added that his seasonal business injects up to $10 million every year into the local economy, creating hundreds of jobs.
"There's a balance for sure. I mean, you want a growing economy, you want to create jobs, but at the same time there's a limit," he said.
Until that limit is found, Montauk's identity crisis will continue, Miller reported.
There have also been problems reported on the Long Island Rail Road on Sunday afternoons, when drunken revelers are returning from their party weekend.
