DO NOT REGISTER your home for a STR! If you rented for less than 14 days, demand a refund of your $150.00 fee by emailing Dottie Ogar at townclerk@shelterislandtown.us

SHELTER ISLAND DOES NOT WANT THIS LAW!

Email the Town Board that YOU WANT THIS LAW REPEALED IMMEDIATELY! ggerth@shelterislandtown.us, abwilliams@shelterislandtown.us, pshepherd@shelterislandtown.us, adickson@shelterislandtown.us, and the retired gym teacher who started this law in the first place: jcolligan@shelterislandtown.us

Below: Shelter Island Reporter Letters to the Editor: From our Vicious Opposition, Bob Fredericks (Hay Beach) and Kathleen Deranged (oops - Derose) demanding enforcement. These nasty, elitist, retirees are unbelievable!

Enforce the law
To the Editor:
At a public hearing in May, the Town Board approved revisions to the short-term rental (STR) law. In front of a standing-room-only crowd, they promised enforcement. Town Attorney Bob DeStefano, Jr. presented the revisions as much-needed clarifications that would make the law easier to comply with and easier to enforce, encouraging those on both sides of the STR fence.

This appears to be a smokescreen. Mr Gerth and Mr. DeStefano want to dismantle, not enforce, the STR law. So they’ve blocked enforcement with a sneaky combination of pseudo-legal arguments, public winks to offenders and foot-dragging on registering STRs and punishing violators.

STR officer Arthur Bloom’s job is to catalogue and register the more than 100 STRs on the Island (a number provided in a letter to the Reporter by Airbnb’s spokesperson). Why are only 18 registered when Airbnb and VRBO have dozens of listings offering stays less than 14 days? Indeed, the actual STR count on Shelter Island has risen in recent months. An intern with a laptop and the town tax map could easily locate them.

Instead, Mr. DeStefano and Mr. Bloom are tacitly encouraging STRs not to register, offering a loophole of their own making, promising STR’s with the “intent” not to rent for less than 14 days that they don’t have to register, even as those same STRs flout the 14-day rule in their online advertisements.

By not registering STRs that should be registered, complaints and violations are not tallied accurately.

Unsurprisingly, STR-law opponent Mr. DeStefano has also failed to impose legally required penalties on repeat offenders like the all-night party house in the Heights. This disadvantages those who do comply, and encourages additional offenses, like STR tax evasion, which hurts the county and town budgets we all depend upon.

Enforcement has been “shamforcement,” Mr. Gerth’s game to deny Islanders the real facts about STRs. As their actions indicate, Mr. Gerth’s and Mr. DeStefano’s promises to “improve” the STR law are a Trojan horse disguising their real plans.

Enough. Zoning laws protect property and the public safety. Citizens don’t get to cherry pick what laws to obey, and town officials don’t get to cherry pick what laws to enforce. STR shamforcement must stop.

KATHLEEN DeROSE & BOB FREDERICKS
Shelter Island