Hot dog wagon plan sparks Montauk uproar

To understand why the East Hampton town board's recent decision on how to award vending permits to hot dog wagons at its beaches led to such an uproar that 1,000 people emailed town hall to complain, you have to understand just how much local tradition fits between the bun and the mustard.

Or, you have to grow up in Montauk.

"The Ditch Witch was something I grew up with. . . . That's the way you get your food on the beach," said Jeanne Nielsen, chairwoman of the town's Board of Assessors, who grew up in Montauk and notes that she had nothing to do with the decision -- now rescinded -- to set exclusive beach spots based on a 100-point application form.

"The carts around Montauk are all locals, they all live and own homes there. It's their primary source of income," Nielsen said.

Last year there were about 35 vendors and about 50 spots, but some places had no vendors at all, while the really popular ones were overloaded. With competition growing each year for limited parking, the town wanted to find a way to bid out spots based on income and the quality of service. In the end, several of the locals lost out, creating a furor.

In part, it was because the bidders didn't understand the town's complex bid system, an effort spearheaded by Councilwoman Julia Prince. The money vendors were willing to pay the town for the spots represented only 40 percent of the criteria. Other factors considered the kinds of food served, vendors' operating hours and cleanliness of the operation.

The weighted evaluation matrix was not adequately explained to bidders, Supervisor Bill Wilkinson said. That was a particular problem for the Ditch Witch, which lost its longtime spot on Otis Road at Ditch Plains in Montauk to the Turf Lobster Truck.

When the Ditch Witch lost its competition by just a few points, an online campaign started to reverse the decision, ultimately resulting in the emails to town hall.

Wilkinson said the emails were the first time the board's attention was drawn to the issue, and that members decided their system was too tangled to fix, especially by Memorial Day weekend.

So last week, the town board rejected all the vendor bids and went back to the old first-come, first-served system.

"It [the bidding] was basically unfair," Wilkinson said. "We're going to fine-tune the whole process for next year."

He estimated that the town will lose about $30,000 in bids for this season.

John Bogetti, whose father sold hot dogs at Ditch Plains decades ago, now has his own hot dog wagon, and admits that in recent years the competition has gotten out of hand.

"There are maybe 52 [parking] spots at my beach," Bogetti said. "When vendors take up six of them, people get mad."

But, he noted he expects to continue at least one tradition of the beach vendors. "A hot dog is $2, and I charge $1.25 for a soda. I don't want to kill anybody," he said.