DO NOT REGISTER FOR AN STR LICENSE!
Shelter Island's Town Board wants to HUNT YOU DOWN. 5K in Fines, 15 Days of Jail Time - outrageous!
#saveshelterisland
Write the Town Board - tell them this law must be repealed. Write: townboard@shelterislandtown.us
Dear Friends,
I really think this particular work session is valuable to watch. Do it on your downtime, grab a cup of coffee or a painkiller because the insanity of some of these unintelligent quotes are gonna make you nauseated. I double checked the quotes, listening twice.
I would ask those of us in the realty business to mind the quote from Colligan about learning 'market trends' from a general registry, and I encourage you to write them a letter, email, or do another Letter to the Editor then. If you needed data, you better get it, not make a law to find trends! Send a letter to the editor by emailing: jlane@timesreview.com
There is a wonderful person in the audience too (one of ours), who challenges the Board on their forecast that moving to 14 day or more minimum was going to reduce noise, complaints, improve housing. This person demanded that data. And Bobby DeStefano, Colligan, and Shepherd had nothing to say. They dont have it, and they answered that the registry will be how they obtain this information. In other words, our homes will be policed to satisfy the Town Board's desire to monitor all residents, their visitors, family, and friends. Gym Colligan states: "By registering everyone, the Town Board will know exactly who is renting".
Here is the Town Hall link to watch: https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=71&id=21009
I congratulate Liz on her persistence and clarity in this meeting. She brought to light the actual scenario of how it will look IF neighbors complain, how you will be asked to prove its a relative, that they didn't receive money, etc
And watch Bobby DeStefano's answer...they can't justify a thing!
See below:
Colligan quotes:
“The intent of the law is it becomes law and people obey the law”
Paul Sheppard:
“And it also provides an individual an option if they don’t have the money. Or whatever, you know, right, you can [inaudible] a statement of principle: I went to jail rather than pay those son’s of bitches the money.”
Person from the audience: “they don’t have the money because they didn’t have the rental..”
Sheppard: “Not quite a debtor’s prison if you got an extra house kickin around.”
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Colligan quote: “We followed a similar model, that other towns had made the same mistake. They are now moving more towards the idea of having every renter register. It helps in terms of monitoring the short term versus long term versus owner versus non-owner occupied. The second thing it does it provides a data base. How many people do rent? And for how long? How many owner-occupied? And how many non-owner occupied? How many people are long term, and how many people are short term? It’s hard to track all that and collect data when you don’t have that. By registering everybody in the registration portion of this, it does help just in terms of collecting data. So that the town Board is not shooting from the hip, has a better statistical analysis, of where the rental market is, and how the rental market changes. You can actually get to see trends, Maybe long term trends move to short term trends, owner occupied move to non-owner occupied, back and forth, so it does help in terms of gathering data. And I think that’s an important concept of having everybody register.”
Colligan quote: (in response to man in front row describing how he is baffled as to why he has to notify a code enforcement officer of his giving his keys to his friend who would like to stay for a few days, after he needed to get away when his home was being repaired from hurricane damage)
“To add to your question. Why did the Town adopt the rental registry? Been a long-standing practice and tradition, members of our community rent their homes to make ends meet. The rental registry provides and does not interfere with those legal rights. Rather, it provides a mechanism to balance the needs of property owners with the needs of the community to preserve the quality of life in our residential neighborhoods and protect the safety of tenants, of which this helps to do, protect the safety of tenants, and first responders, as well as to protect our drinking water, and the aquifer, and water resources. Those are some of the legitimate reasons why the registry is important. It’s a balance- “ [cut off by gentleman in front row]
Audience member Vincent: “How does somebody in my house put the safety of the community at risk?”
Colligan: “Well have you investigated the law? Have you read the good neighbor brochure?”
Man begins to say “I- “[cut off by Colligan.]
Colligan: “Well then take the time before you come to sit down, read through the law, also read the good neighbor brochure, it explains a lot of the reasons, the rationale..”
Man: “Well I’m not a Philadelphia lawyer- “[cut off by Colligan]
Colligan: “Well I’m not either.”
Vincent: “But if youre saying the purpose of this law is that someobody in my house is somehow threatening public safety,
Paul: It’s not about you Vincent.”
Vincent: “Well it’s about all of us.”
Paul: “At this time, we should probably not address that question. “
Vincent: “Yes you should.”
Paul: “I get it, but you were allowed to ask it.”
Vincent: “But your’e not allowed to answer it?”
Paul: “Actually I’m not required to answer it. And we’re not required to let you ask it.”
Gary: We are required to let him answer.
Paul: No, we’re not (to Gary). Read the law. Read the law!”
Vincent: “I did read the law.”
Paul : “No. The point Vincent I;m trying to make is, it’s a relatively complicated mission that we’re trying to accomplish here. It’s not a singular thing. And no one person is gonna bring down the society.
Vincent: “If it was about noise and nuisance, you would have strengthened that law. No, this is about people not liking strangers in their neighborhood.”
Paul (knodding) “It’s one of the things.”
Vincent: “There’s no law against that. Americans are free to travel to anywhere- [cut off by Paul.]
Paul: “Americans are. But there are many of thousands of laws now on the books about this. We didn’t invent this thing.
Vincent: “ yes you did.”
Watch more at section: 1:22;:40
https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=71&id=21009