Residents Angered by Beach Litter, Crowding and Dogs

Residents of Newtown Road in Hampton Bays say they are disturbed by littering and over-crowded parking at East Landing Beach.

The Hampton Bays Citizens Advisory Committee voted at it's Nov. 3 meeting to send a letter to the Southampton Town Board requesting "No Parking" and "No Littering" signs at the town beach.

"It's getting to be quite chaotic," said Hampton Bays resident Paul Zeizer.  "On a real busy day, parking is a mess.  These people are non-residents and park however they want," he said.  "It's the only beach that doesn't require a permit."

Zeizer said that in addition to the parking problems, there is a concentration of garbage and other litter.  Food containers, plastic forks, plastic bags, beer and soda cans are strewn throughout the sandy dunes of the beach.  There appears to be some household dumping in the area as well.

Zeizer says he also does not like the fact that people bring their dogs to the beach and let them run loose.  He said that there was recently evidence of people making a bonfire on the beach.  Residents said the revelers left behind a deep pit in the sand surrounded by benches that had been moved and never replaced.

"It's an unpoliced beach and everybody knows it and that's why they use it," said Hampton Bays resident Diane Streit.  She and several others requested that the town place surveillance cameras at the beach to catch the violators. 

Councilman Chris Nuzzi said the town does have surveillance cameras at some other sites, such as the town transfer station, but those are for security reasons.  He said surveillance cameras are very expensive and would not be of service to the public at the local beaches.