We all know there is a serious trash and litter issue plaguing the entire Town of East Hampton, the Village and Hamlets however, it's imperative that we do not jeopardize our most important resources, like our beaches, shorelines and waters. These areas belong to the residents of East Hampton, open to the public but, they are managed by the oldest governing body in America, the East Hampton Town Trustees. 

Some years ago, the Village of East Hampton added 30, 80lb. trash receptacles onto 4 public (Town Trustee owned) beaches USED by the Village of East Hampton, during the months of June, July, August and part of September. These trash cans were moved from the traditional location where the pavement of the parking lot meets the sand (beach head), halfway closer to the ocean and directly ON the beach itself. The Village did this on their own, and in 2015 refused to remove them after being directed to do so by the EH Town Trustees. The East Hampton Town Trustees mysteriously backed off and allowed the dumping stations to remain ON the beaches. They've reappeared each summer since, and so has the damaging and visually appalling filth,... every night and every morning.

The Village crews do a commendable job maintaining them during the day BUT, the serious problem beings after the last late afternoon dumping, and into the next morning. During this time, the cans remain on the beaches throughout the night and creates a beacon for abuse, along with illegal and excessive dumping occurring daily with little to NO enforcement countering the yearly routine. The cans fill up early in the evening and then folks pile trash around and on top of the receptacles. Our beautiful and abundant wildlife can't help but get drawn in to this filth and they begin ripping into the trash and spreading it about. Birds injure each other fighting over the debris that only makes them sick after ingesting. Other animals get sick and die. All along, the trash and litter is now vulnerable to even the slightest ocean breeze which sends the filth either east or west along our shorelines or into our protected dunes. Imagine what a real wind does to these overflowing trash cans at night. The very worst case scenario is when it blows the trash into the ocean where it now becomes potentially fatal to marine mammals and the health of our already suffering oceans. All this destruction has been documented over and over in both still and motion film, and cannot be denied.

Another undeniable fact is that "Trash Cans" are "DUMPING STATIONS" and do NOT belong on the beach. They set a terrible environmental precedent.

The dumping stations belong at the beach heads where they are protected from the elements by the dunes on either side, and where the focus of trash and litter is NOT ON the beach. East Hampton Town has begun their "Carry In, Carry Out" so, why confuse and contradict such an important necessity, unless your striving for failure. What the Village is perceiving as a daytime convenience, is really promoting laziness, which is the major cause of littering to begin with. 

In 2017, I ran for EH Town Trustee and won easily with no political experience. My community service record of crusading against trash and litter carried me to a clear win. I fought all summer to have the cans removed but, I could not gain the support of 6 Trustees, out of 9 (counting myself) to make it a reality, even at a time when the world is doing EVERYTHING they possibly can to make the right environmental choices. Unmanaged trash cans on the beaches during unsupervised hours is clearly NOT a good environmental choice, yet the Village of East Hampton insists on burdening those environmentally conscious residents that the beaches belong to, by continuing this destructive practice.

Please sign my petition if you agree that Dumping Stations (Trash cans) don't belong on our beautiful beaches, that the Village of East Hampton uses. I'm not using this petition as an instrument to force change, I'm using it to document the public's opinion on this matter.