New East Hampton Chamber of Commerce Spreads the Love

Can East Hampton Village, a place known for its low-key style and old-monied crowd, feel comfortable with a jazzed-up, 21st century Chamber of Commerce — one that is supposed to have a Latino complement to it?

We’ll see.

The village’s chamber went dormant during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. Now a group of East Hampton residents are trying to revive the chamber, but with a major difference.

The new one is supposed to go beyond the traditional membership of restaurants and flower shops, and include law and accounting firms, feature festivals and connect with the Organización Latinoamericana of Eastern Long Island, part of an effort to reach out to the Latino community. It is also to go beyond East Hampton Village and represent businesses in Springs, Amagansett and Wainscott.

Additionally, the new chamber is supposed to be more a spot to meet for dinner and drinks and social chit-chat, but to act as an advocate for local businesses.

But the plans have already hit a roadblock.

In mid-January, Mary Waserstein, a St. John’s University law graduate and village businesswoman who was chosen to be the chamber’s executive director, resigned over a pay dispute, and what she sees as poor governance by the chamber’s board. She says only three of the eight board members belong to the chamber of commerce.

The board is searching for a new executive director and still hopes to host a farmer’s market in Amagansett Square this summer, on Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. On the Saturday before Valentine’s Day, the village went ahead with a Waserstein plan called “Spread the Love,” an effort to get shoppers out to the stores during the usually frigid month of February.

The plans to revive the chamber had the enthusiastic backing of the village’s mayor, Jerry Larsen, who took over the post in September 2022 after serving as village police chief for 14 years.

Larsen tells Dan’s Papers that he had wanted to revive the chamber for several years now, and that it should have a new flavor.

“I see it as an advocate for business,” he says, adding that it had not been so before.

But first, he says, the chamber must find a new director.

“I am optimistic the current board will find one,” Larsen says.

Waserstein, a mother of four and village resident, said in a letter to the board of directors that it was “with a heavy heart” that she was resigning.

She said in the letter she was hired Oct. 4 “with the understanding” that she would be paid $75,000 annually because the chamber expected to hit a fundraising goal of $300,000.

That, she said, never happened, and instead, she was offered a deferred compensation of $1,200 for October, November and December and pay of $400 a week until June. She declined.

“I couldn’t work for that,” she said. “This is a full-time job.”

She was distressed, she said, that only three board members belong to the chamber, an issue she raised with the board, but which was never addressed.

“Given the hard work and endless hours I have contributed over the last four months I am myself shocked to be writing this letter of resignation,” Waserstein wrote the board. “But (I) find my hands tied by both the lack of consensus on compensation as well as my deep concerns about the adherence to the bylaws of the Chamber of Commerce.”

Barbara Layton, president of the board, said in a statement that the board had received Waserstein’s resignation, and “wished her the very best.”

“We will be looking actively for a new executive director,” she said. Layton declined further comment.

Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA, remains enthusiastic about a revived chamber.

“I’m thrilled,” she tells Dan’s Papers. “We have been in East Hampton for years and we are happy to work with a new chamber. We look forward to supporting them.”

The East Hampton Chamber of Commerce has been around for decades, but it has largely played a quiet role in the village. A new chamber is looking to make more noise.

And, perhaps the village is ready for that. Many of the old mom-and-pop stores that lined Main Street are gone, replaced with corporate chains, such Ralph Lauren’s three stores, other designers including Derek Lam, Aviator Nation, Nilli Lotan and high-priced clothing and accessory stores. There are also the four stores owned by the international luxury retail brand LVHM.

The corporate stores have been coming for some time now, and are the result of high rents, which forced out some of the mom-and-pops. But the new stores employ village residents. Locals point out that these stores are open 12 months a year, unlike some of the former stores in East Hampton that closed during the winter months.