Opinion: 2017 Traffic Up and People Spending Money Down: So What's Up?

If you have had to wait 10 minutes to get through one of the few traffic lights in the Hamptons during this summer of 2017 you have to be asking, "Where did all these cars come from, and do any of these folks have any idea where they are going?"

The real answer is never as simple as the question but the short answers are yes, more cars, no —most of the time, they have no idea.

I am not a local. I came to the East End in 2002 due to a failed marriage and a collapsing career. I am not sure which caused which, but most likely I caused both. I had no intention of staying but I fell in love with sailing Gardiners Bay and 15 years later I am still sailing in Gardiners Bay 4 to 5 times a week from May to November.

While, for the last 8 years I have been happily remarried and live "up-Island" in East Patchogue, my sailboat remains in a Three Mile Harbor Marina, which means I traverse the whole Hamptons 4 to 5 times a week 8 months out of the year.

So I get to see the roads. Back in 2003, 2004, and 2005, I delivered Dan's Papers all over the Hamptons and wrote for the publication, too. I learned all the back roads on both forks. I know which roads to avoid and at what times. I was out here on the East End before the real estate bubble burst, as it burst, and as it has recovered. Yet something has changed. What has changed is who is now vacationing here in the summer, how and why.

The whole seasonal home renter is a dying breed. The internet has made the vacation home renter more savvy at finding deals from New Jersey to Cape Cod and Newport. The new economy is reducing the discretionary income levels of the upper middle class and the millennials are less affluent than any folks their ages since the Depression of the early 20th century.

All these factors adds up to less folks here during the week than in summers' past and more folks sightseeing on day trips on the "sunny weekends." The manager at Starbucks confirms this, the long-time bartenders at the popular local restaurants also confirm this, and the longest lines ever at the Stephen Talkhouse confirm this.

The local beaches are busy on sunny weekends but usage during the week is down. Parking in the villages during the week is almost at out of season levels, whereas weekend parking is back to pre-2006 real estate collapse levels and beyond.

The fact is, not many visitors are spending money seven days a week anymore. The young kids are flocking to places like the Montauk hot spots and the Stephen Talkhouse, but skipping the pricey dinner restaurants.

The very rich have chefs and staffs and eat specially prepared meals at home. High-end shops, which for years were a forever staple sign of affluence in the Hamptons, are slowly drying up with a few showcase stores already gone. Designer brands are not good with the up and coming millennials.

What I am seeing are more day trippers who have rarely been out here driving, finding themselves lost or just exploring before and after going to, or coming from, the public parking beach.

Is this a trend for the future or a sign of the times this season? Only time will tell.

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