DiMento blasts surf shop owners over park use

SWAMPSCOTT – Ocean House Surf Shop owners will need to find somewhere else to sand and wax their boards if Swampscott resident and attorney William DiMento has his way. DiMento appeared before selectmen Wednesday to complain the Ocean House was “commercializing” a conservation area by laying merchandise on the grass next to the shop, which is Linscott Park. He brought photos of several boards on the grass, which he said were taken Sunday, Aug. 4. One showed an employee working on a board on the grass.DiMento became upset when Selectman Barry Greenfield, who said he was at the shop renting a board on Sunday, asked him, “Are they all over the park?”?Are we going to go there? Because I will go there,” said DiMento, raising his voice. “This is not something I want to make light of.”DiMento said the group of boards on the grass stretched from the shop to the bus stop and even to the gazebo at the park, and said if the shop owners didn?t obey and put their boards away, they should be forced to put a fence up to separate the shop and the park.?Is the answer really to shut them down or fence them off?” asked Selectman Matt Strauss.Town Administrator Thomas Younger agreed with DiMento.?This shouldn?t be happening,” he said. “My viewpoint is that it?s outside what they?re permitted for.”Younger said he would pull their permit to check if the shop is permitted for “outdoor storage.” If not, the town could be liable if someone trips over one of the boards and gets hurt.DiMento said he?s asked the shop owners to take the boards inside, but he said they only smiled and said, “OK, thank you.” No one from the shop was represented at the selectmen?s meeting.Selectman Glenn Kessler asked DiMento if he had gone in “with guns blazing.”?I did it as nice as I could be,” DiMento said.DiMento said he had called the police and following the officers? arrival, the owners gathered up the boards and put them inside, but afterwards put them back out on the park?s grass again.Police Chief Ron Madigan, who was present at the meeting for another matter, said he wasn?t sure if it was a trespassing issue, but that he would look into the statute and speak with that officer.?I don?t think they should be conducting business on public property,” said Madigan.