East Hampton Beach-Pass Panic
$400,000 rental, but no surf for you!
Summer 2005 has just begun, but a run on beach permits has already got renters in a rage. In 2001, East Hampton Village limited the number of nonresident beach-parking stickers to 2,500 (at $225 each), and they tend to sell out by late June. But on May 26, the East Hampton Star ran a story detailing the woes of renters who didn’t get them in the past, sparking a buying frenzy. Permits sold out by June 3, three weeks earlier than last year—and sand-disenfranchised renters are “extremely upset,” says Annie Christman of Village Realty Group. “They want to know why.” Broker Gary DePersia of Allan Schneider Associates likens spending $400,000 for the summer and not getting a sticker to “staying in Aspen and being forced to ski in Snowmass.” Next year, Joseph Horstmann of Main Street Properties says, “I’m going to tell people maybe they should get a sticker even before they get the house.”
—Peter Beller

EDITED BY CARL SWANSON

Related:

• Archive: “Intelligencer”
• Table of Contents: Jul 4, 2005 issue of New York | Subscribe!