Beginning of the end?

Lorena Anderson's story today talks about the City Council's moves to try to wipe out the May bike rallies. From her story:

Myrtle Beach City Council hit the gas on eradicating motorcycle rallies Tuesday by passing a three-mill property-tax increase dedicated to an anti-bike-rally campaign and beginning to enact ordinances that will end motorcycle-related vending inside the city. ...

City leaders say they want to actively market May as a family vacation month, replacing bike rally attendees. But [Ben Brown, owner of B&M Custom Cycles in downtown Myrtle Beach,] said many of the people who come for the Harley-Davidson-related rallies in May and October also come down for family vacations at other times of the year, and they will not come back if they are not welcome in the spring and fall. ...

Council members voted to cancel all motorcycle-related facilities permits for the month of May, as well. That ordinance also needs a second reading before it is considered official.

Scott Schult, vice president of marketing for the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, made a few points today about marketing the beach without rallies:

First, keep in mind that not everyone out there associates May in Myrtle Beach with bike rallies. Some may have never heard of the rallies at all. So any marketing must be conscious of that, lest people get confused, he said.

Second - and this somewhat follows the first - any marketing the chamber would do would likely be tightly targeted to reach the people who negatively associate May in Myrtle Beach with bike rallies. Now - and this is all hypothetical, and nothing has been discussed or decided - but perhaps the way to do it would be to reach out on message boards or other online communities to get straight to the people who do think of the bike rallies when they think of Myrtle Beach in May, he said.

The chamber receives millions in state tourism tax money annually to market the area.

Comments

[Paul]

I've posted a couple comments on the actual online article at myrtlebeachonline.com. But this seems like a more civil place to post my thoughts and have them heard.

I'm a full time resident that owns my home inside the city limits. I was shocked with how fast this plan was put through to vote. I've never seen a government move so quickly. From my perspective, it appears as though the council is knee jerk reacting to a hot button issue. Even worse, they're asking for more tax payer money and stealing money from CRPTA to what essentially amounts to a $1M marketing campaign to turn away several million precious tourism dollars. This "no motorcycle events in May" tactic smells an awful lot like the way Burroughs and Chapin handled the Gay Pride/Village People debacle from a few years ago. Coincidence? Doubtful.

Additionally, Atlantic Beach is pretty clear they have no intention of discontinuing rallies. There have been online comments that some biker groups are going to bring more bikers next year just to spite this push back. I'd also like to address the ridiculous association with the Coastal Carolina shooting with bike week. I have seen absolutely no evidence that those two events correlate in any way.

Putting a velvet rope around the city isn't going to do anything but cost us money. By not officially supporting any event and giving our visitors something to do, we're just giving them an excuse to roam about the city... bored. Look at a small scale example of this lock out method: closing down half of Ocean Boulevard didn't do anything but push the cruising to Kings Highway. I guess they could check out the mini-Pavilion at Broadway or go to the Sun Fun Festival at Market Common.

I believe we can do better than discouraging specific groups to visit or making their visit (and our daily lives) miserable. We can enforce our existing laws and think of creative ways to direct and distribute the congestion. You'd think a city literally built on tourism dollars would know better than that.

Now we're targeting Senior Week too? Sheesh. I had lunch with a friend visiting with his family from Rock Hill. They're on their annual visit just as he did when he was a kid. I asked him on his perspective since he's apparently our choice demographic (straight, white, conservative, middle income, with kids). He said the obvious- that they miss the Pavilion. But he basically said they're to relax on the beach all day. The Beach. The reason most of us live and visit here. Let's hope we don't screw that up.

[Paul]

I've posted a couple comments on the actual online article at myrtlebeachonline.com. But this seems like a more civil place to post my thoughts and have them heard.

I'm a full time resident that owns my home inside the city limits. I was shocked with how fast this plan was put through to vote. I've never seen a government move so quickly. From my perspective, it appears as though the council is knee jerk reacting to a hot button issue. Even worse, they're asking for more tax payer money and stealing money from CRPTA to what essentially amounts to a $1M marketing campaign to turn away several million precious tourism dollars. This "no motorcycle events in May" tactic smells an awful lot like the way Burroughs and Chapin handled the Gay Pride/Village People debacle from a few years ago. Coincidence? Doubtful.

Additionally, Atlantic Beach is pretty clear they have no intention of discontinuing rallies. There have been online comments that some biker groups are going to bring more bikers next year just to spite this push back. I'd also like to address the ridiculous association with the Coastal Carolina shooting with bike week. I have seen absolutely no evidence that those two events correlate in any way.

Putting a velvet rope around the city isn't going to do anything but cost us money. By not officially supporting any event and giving our visitors something to do, we're just giving them an excuse to roam about the city... bored. Look at a small scale example of this lock out method: closing down half of Ocean Boulevard didn't do anything but push the cruising to Kings Highway. I guess they could check out the mini-Pavilion at Broadway or go to the Sun Fun Festival at Market Common.

I believe we can do better than discouraging specific groups to visit or making their visit (and our daily lives) miserable. We can enforce our existing laws and think of creative ways to direct and distribute the congestion. You'd think a city literally built on tourism dollars would know better than that.

Now we're targeting Senior Week too? Sheesh. I had lunch with a friend visiting with his family from Rock Hill. They're on their annual visit just as he did when he was a kid. I asked him on his perspective since he's apparently our choice demographic (straight, white, conservative, middle income, with kids). He said the obvious- that they miss the Pavilion. But he basically said they're to relax on the beach all day. The Beach. The reason most of us live and visit here. Let's hope we don't screw that up.