City of Myrtle Beach looking to end Bike Rallies (Greenville: luxury, hotels)

[baylovers]

I'm sure the folks who don't live in the area haven't been following the strory about Myrtle Beach's desire to end the Bike Rallies that are held in the Spring (and I assume the Fall rally, too.) Last week, the city council approved $1.5M to figure out a way to not have the rallies come to the city on the heels of complaints of traffic, noise & a homicide that occurred last month.

The idea is that Memorial Day weekend & May in general is lost to the bikers and that MB & the businesses in MB woud beneifit more if they attracted families during those periods rather than the bikers.

Here is the article from today's paper:
Rally supporters show up in force - Local - Myrtle Beach Sun News

I live on the very south end of The Strand and I was wondering what your opinions were about this move. The rallies do not really effect me very much other than some added traffic. But I also have the luxury of avoiding points north during these time periods. Except this year when I got stuck in traffic over an hour to get from the airport to home.

I was going to post a poll, but I cannot find the link to create one.

[Sgoldie]

Interesting read, thanks for the link. I've been to Bike Week at Daytona and didn't notice any problems at all. Seems some commentors on the article have their own opinions about what the problem is.

Didn't know the Pavillion was closed down. Wasn't that the new city owned multi-use conference and event bldg?

[usc_gal98]

Two rallies in one month is ridiculous. As a matter of fact, one bike rally during a holiday is also ridiculous. I have no issues at all with the bikers. What I do have issues with is the fact that city council could have put that 1.5 million into something more important than this.

[baylovers]

sgoldie, the Pavillion was the old amusement park, arcade & dance hall on Ocean Blvd. It is now a big empty lot. I think the developers are waiting to see what the market warrants. I believe you are talking the Conference Center which is alive & well.

If I have been reading the correctly, the big complaints about the bike weeks boil down to this:

- Harley Bike Week.... widespread traffic from Murrells Inlet to Barefoot Landing.

- Bikefest (aka Black Bike Week)... more localized traffic on Ocean Blvd, the Atlantic Beach area & center of town around 21 Ave. More in the public eye is public rowdiness & indecent activities which people believe led to the homicide on Memorial Day weekend over a parking spot.

My gut feeling is that the city would REALLY like to end the Bikefest weekend (on Memorial Day) but cannot without being accused of racism while allowing the Harley Week to continue. So they will end all of them.

[g-man430]

Greenville is going the opposite way of Myrtle Beach: Wing Ding 30 • Greenville, South Carolina • July 3-6, 2008

[RoadBoss]

I think what started this big push to rid the beach of the rallies was the senseless murder of a young man in Myrtle Beach during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest. The murder was associated with the bikefest in the media, reality of the situation is three local Myrtle Beach residents have been arrested and charged with the crime and it is said to have been a dispute over a parking space. While both rallies present problems the Atlantic Beach Bikefest seems to present more of a challenge. 1) Atlantic Beach has no money and can not properly fund or run the rally. 2) Groups that hold press confrences prior to the rally and threaten law suits if the the rally is not conducted in what they see as a fair manner. Yes the Harley rally is LOUD and can be very crowded causing traffic problems in areas,however I think it is better organized and funded and has much less negitive impact on the area. There is room for all the rallies if all parties are willing to talk honestly about the problems and workable solutions. This is a tourist area, we should not be send out the message that only certain tourist are welcome. All these people work hard for the money they spend here, money which funds our county and city governments so we don't have to do it with sky high taxes.

[Rapture]

I agree it was prompted by the murder this year. My neighbor worked with the guy that was killed and said he was on a balcony at a hotel and it was a drive by shooting.

The rallies don't bother me because I live in Conway, in fact I attend them. I would think it's going to greatly affect the income of many bars, restaurants, hotels, stores, gas stations and people that have vacation rentals.

I don't know what's going to happen but it's a shame that a couple people have to ruin it for thousands.

[coastalbulldog]

According to the article in the newspaper, it says that the cities needs to pay a lot for the extra hours of police officers. Also during the bikefest, some business will not open. I really don't think it will a huge impact on the local economy. Everything will balance out.

[RoadBoss]

Originally Posted by coastalbulldog

According to the article in the newspaper, it says that the cities needs to pay a lot for the extra hours of police officers. Also during the bikefest, some business will not open. I really don't think it will a huge impact on the local economy. Everything will balance out.

It will have an impact, lost taxes, restaurant and bar business losses which can not be recovered, etc,etc. The governments only tell you what it cost them I don't see them telling how much revenue is generated by these events. And businesses which choose not to open during the rallies make that choice on there own to give up that money, why take it away from those who depend on it. These rallies are a good thing for our area lets not just throw them away.

[Woodlands]

I scanned the article... what actually is the City going to spend the $1.5 million on to stop the bikers?

An out of the box solution may for the City to bring together the bikers (particuliarly from the Bikefest since they appear not to have a sponsor) and see if an organization would sponsor it... Viacom(?) or whoever ownes BET/MTV, Budweiser, Coca Cola? They would not have to sponsor whole event i.e. "Coca Cola's Bikefest" because if somethin raunchy happens or there is some high profile crime they may be afraid to have their name associated with being the sponsor of the entire event, but they could sponsor a specific venue. If the City helps faciliate that conversation with the major bike club members maybe one of the corporations would agree to underwrite the cost for some of additional security and the bike clubs could help circulate the info to their members. As far as the traffic... I know that it cannot be eliminated but if there is a schedule of events at several large venues may be the crowd could be split up to different sections of the strand at different times so traffic is diffused? After the events let out, the Police can do what they always do to discourage uneccessary cruising......roadblocks, one way streets, etc to enourage the crowd to park it or to head back to the hotels... for the rest of the evening...If gas stays at $4 we all may be having mini bikers' weekend in our our respective communities...

I know it is complicated, but there should be some middle ground