Hamptons Police Bust Sagaponack Man for Renting Out Blimps as 'BnB of the Air'
On Sunday, the Hamptons Police responded to complaints received from neighbors of Sagaponack homeowner George Dirigent. Callers alleged that several large blimps were floating above Dirigent’s property night and day, and complained that the aircraft had been blocking the sun and impeding their view of the nighttime sky for the entire weekend.
“We responded to the property to investigate the allegations,” Hamptons Police spokesman Larry Hirsch says. “What we found was exactly what the neighbors described. At first, we thought that the guy might be running a blimp dealership!”
Upon further investigation, the police realized that Dirigent was actually housing people on the airships.
“The guy had outfitted the gondolas, those passenger compartments attached to the bottom of each blimp, as little bedrooms, and there were people staying up there. In fact, when we showed up at around 10:30 in the morning, Dirigent was in the process of serving his guests breakfast by means of a complicated pulley system. It was actually pretty cool.”
According to Hirsch, Dirigent was apparently unaware that he was in violation of any laws or housing codes.
“He wanted to get into the B&B business, but he thinks his house is too small,” Hirsch says. “Also, his wife is a very private person. So he hit upon this as a solution. He called it the ‘BnB of the Air’—see what he did there?”
Hirsch says that, after the police explained the numerous ways in which his arrangement violated the law, Dirigent very quickly agreed to remove the blimps from his airspace.
“He seemed a little deflated, and we decided to let him go with a warning,” Hirsch adds.
This is not the first, nor will it be the last, devious rental scheme during summer in the Hamptons.
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