HTO

WEEKEND MARKET REPORT…. APOCALYPSE HAMPTONS AND HOW TO HANG WITH ALEC!

Winter siting of Hamtpons house hunters!

So this week’s weekend roundup is a day late.  What can I say, I was busy chipping ice from my walks and salting my driveway.     While we finally got out of single digits this past weekend and we qualified as a B-.     “We’re still not seeing the kind of activity we should at this time of the year but it’s still better than what we’ve seen the past few weeks,”  said one experienced agent.
now have everyone on the verge of getting spring fever.   This in turn helped traffic this past weekend for Hamptons rental and sales.   While most of the activity was rental focused, there was definitely more interest in sales this past weekend than we’ve seen over the past polar vortex infused months.   Considering the lingering icy conditions and the snow this past weekend of agents and brokers I spoke to the first weekend

“They love the smell of low wafting bacon in the morning”

If you’ve ever flown across country you know how pilots love to point out landmarks like the Grand Canyon or St. Louis Arch, well when it comes the Hamptons it seems like the pilots enjoy getting as close a look as possible!  “Folks, look to your right and you can see Martha Stewart picking flowers.” Well this Thursday evening, could it be a last call for boarding at East Hampton Airport?  Most definitely not but it does appear that things are going to be changing in some ways at HTO (FAA letters).  It will all begin at 4:30pm when The East Hampton Town Board will be listening to comments from all interested parties. Proposed are regulations to set late night, early morning and weekend restrictions on noisy aircraft coming and going.

Currently there are no restrictions on when you can land or takeoff. If you want to wake up the entire East End with your giant Sikorsky helicopter (Hi Ira!) at four in the morning….you can.  Residents from all east end towns who are tired of rattling martini glasses and interrupted poolside conversations may finally get some relief after years of increased traffic to and from HTO.  And now
that crowd-sorcerers like Blade are offering bargain basement rates you can
expect the racket to increase even more unless the Town Board sets some limits.
What do you think? The East Hampton Town Board would like to know. You can email them and become part of the public comment at HTOcomments@EHamptonNy.gov

 

Your new BFF!?

You can also watch the
proceeding live on LTV but if you do you’d better have plenty of popcorn.  Helicopter
pilots plan to show up en-masse to plead their case and residents from all East
End towns are coming loaded for bear.  Local government in action!

Meanwhile, do you want to hang with a Hamptons “A-lister?”   Well here’s your chance. Charitybuzz.com is taking bids to see a performance of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” and then have a meet and greet with it’s star Alec Baldwin after the performance at Guild Hall in East Hampton.    You can get the details by clicking here because as you know with all these things there is always the fine print.   I have to say, I’ve always been a fan of Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons” but will it be the same without Fred Mac Murray?   I also never understood what happened to the brother Mike from the first couple seasons.

An Über Bad Problem… Calling Der Kommissar!

One of my favorite apps in the world UBER is adding fuel to an already raging fire and has more than a few Hamptonite’s lederhosen in bunches!   They’ve offering rides between NYC and the east end through a helicopter site called Blade.    These “UBER CHOPPER” rides are a flat rate of $2500 for a five seat chopper ride.  This is just another reason the battle for quiet skies is getting louder on the East End.  New helicopter routes and flying patterns are making life a thunderous hell for thousands of residents at all hours of the day and night in the Hamptons.   In fact, according to sources complaints about air traffic noise have tripled in just one year alone!

 

That’s why you’re likely seeing some new bumper stickers around town declaring “HELICOPTERS SUCK – JUST SAY NO TO HTO.”     A quick tutorial now, HTO is the FAA code for East Hampton Airport.     Anyway, In my assessment and I’m no expert, it’s more than just a quality of life issue that has residents and officials concerned.   It’s also simple economics effecting the housing markets and tax base.   I know I hear the argument, the helicopters help create jobs.   But a few pilots from Teterboro or Rockaway are not exactly a boom to local business.   The bottom line is hundreds of residents are filing for tax reductions due to the constant thunder resulting in an alleged decrease of property values.    So wait, let me see if I get this right … a few pilot jobs in New Jersey versus a decreasing tax base here in the Hamptons?    Anyway, one way to help stop this register a complaint.   Go to the towns web site next time your house is being buzzed and you feel like you’re living through you’re own personal “Airport ’75.”   File a complaint here at the noise complaint website and have your voice heard (hopefully over the engine and blade noise).     

Activist against the airport noise are not trying to ban the traffic all together but rather limiting the hours of the facility.    Learn more from the Quiet Skies Coalition!    I mean really, LAX closes at 11 pm but East Hampton Airport stays open all night?!    A 24 Hour airport really?!   We don’t even have a shoe repair, doggie daycare, good Mexican restaurant but we’re the town that never sleeps according to the airport!   Besides everyone who saw Jaws 2 knows helicopters and beaches don’t mix!