Business

Whale's Tale owner wants restrictions on peddlers

REPORTER FILE PHOTO | Summer action at the Whale’s Tale.

An owner of the Whale’s Tale, the iconic Shelter Island miniature golf-tennis court-soda fountain founded in the 1930s, asked the Town Board on Tuesday to consider requiring peddlers to bid for a permit.

Eric Inzerillo said he and his sister Heidi had put a lot of work and money into their brick-and-mortar business and its overhead costs over the past 10 years and it was unfair that for them to have to compete with someone selling ice cream at local beaches from an electric cart, without the overhead costs they face. A bidding process, he suggested, might raise money for the town and help even the playing field a bit.

That’s what Sergio Dibenedetto wants to do beginning next Memorial Day. He was at the same Town Board session letting the board know he had found an electric vehicle that could be driven legally on state roads for his proposed ice cream sales at Louis Beach and Wades Beach. Board members told him they had no authority to regulate his proposed business because the town has no regulations restricting peddlers.

That’s a problem for Mr. Inzerillo, who addressed the board not long after Mr. Dibenedetto had spoken. “There’s nothing in place to protect us,” he said of his own business and the Tuck Shop, which also sells ice cream.

Board members said they understood his concerns but resisted the idea of trying to regulate commerce on the Island. Supervisor Jim Dougherty said he wasn’t in favor of a peddler’s law necessarily but it was something the board could consider. He praised the Inzerillos for the “wonderful job” they’ve done with the Whale’s Tale.