Myrtle Beach-Atlantic Beach bike rally talks start to gel
www.myrtlebeachonline.com/bikers/story/785078.html
Sunday, Feb. 15, 2009
Myrtle Beach-Atlantic Beach bike rally talks start to gel
AB, MB explore teamwork to improve event
By Lorena Anderson and Robert Morris – landerson@thesunnews.com,
rmorris@thesunnews.com
Shifting for the first time away from their previously polarized stances
on the Memorial Day bike rally, officials from Atlantic Beach and Myrtle
Beach are beginning discussions about a partnership that could change an
event that has long been a source of tension.
Such a conversation was unthinkable nearly a year ago, when a
rally-weekend slaying in Myrtle Beach strengthened the annual
condemnations of the Atlantic Beach Bikefest and the Harley-Davidson
spring rally and sparked the larger city’s yearlong effort to rid the
city of bike rallies. In response, Atlantic Beach leaders noted
Bikefest’s more laid-back character in their town and vowed to keep the
tradition that started in 1980.
Myrtle Beach quickly passed a series of ordinances and amendments aimed
at discouraging the rallies, raised property taxes to generate $1
million for the effort and began broadcasting its intent to end its role
as epicenter of the rallies. Since then, however, Myrtle Beach has
sought support from other Grand Strand cities that culminated in a
soft-spoken visit to Atlantic Beach two weeks ago.
And, after a year of their own governmental turmoil and financial
distress, Atlantic Beach leaders now say they are interested in a
conversation.
“The Bikefest is on the table, and we’ve got to think about it,” said
Town Councilwoman Charlene Taylor. “You’ve got to think beyond these
four blocks.”
No plan has been drafted, as leaders from both towns say they are
waiting to see what the other side proposes. But significant activity
already has been exerted: Horry County Council Chairwoman Liz Gilland
took a recent tour of Atlantic Beach, Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes
said his city has had informal discussions with council members in both
the county and North Myrtle Beach, and the town managers of Atlantic
Beach and Myrtle Beach are set for a conference call Monday on the
issue.
“The goal is year-round success,” Rhodes said. “It’s a town with a lot
of very significant history, and we’d like to see it get more
recognition and to have more success.”
Coming to the table
The two rallies together bring an estimated half-a-million people to the
Grand Strand over a three-week period every May, and their total
economic effect has been hotly debated during Myrtle Beach’s crusade for
change. In the more contained area of Atlantic Beach, however, the
numbers are easier to calculate: The town charges vendor fees during
Bikefest that last year generated about $30,000 over what it paid for
police supplies, portable toilets and cleanup crews – a fraction of the
town’s $800,000 yearly budget.
Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath described the new effort as a way to
move Atlantic Beach away from a one-week-a-year “rally economy” and into
competition with the rest of the Grand Strand for an entire season’s
worth of tourism money. Among the largely undeveloped town’s obstacles
to growth are a number of assorted debts and legal judgments, as well as
aging infrastructure and a general shortage of resources.
“It’s not like we’d pay Atlantic Beach to take the rallies away,” Leath
said. “But one impacts the other. They need to pass their zoning
rewrites, and that takes money for staff or consultants. They need to
work on their comprehensive plan. They need infrastructure upgrades to
water, sewer and electric and the street grids. Those take money to
plan.”
Both Rhodes and Leath said they hope other governments also join in the
effort, one that could redefine that corner of the Grand Strand. The
county already extends its assistance to Atlantic Beach, covering
emergency police calls when the town’s four-member force is off duty,
and Gilland said the county would be “more than willing” to continue
assisting.
“If Atlantic Beach is going to truly redevelop, Bikefest needs to go
away,” Leath said. “The 3-mill increase we passed could go toward that.
I don’t see how it would violate Myrtle Beach City Council’s intent. And
over a few years, with some money from each government in the area, it
wouldn’t be that much of a burden on any one of us.”
Atlantic Beach’s town manager, Kenneth McIver, said Monday’s call with
Leath is solely an exploratory conversation that he will then take to
the Atlantic Beach Town Council for review at a workshop meeting Tuesday
night. While saying that “monetary [assistance] is always good – we’re a
struggling town,” McIver said a more indirect approach could also have
merit.
Changing times
Any change will require three votes from Atlantic Beach’s four-member
council. Atlantic Beach Mayor Retha Pierce could not be reached for
comment Friday but helped organize a recent show of support for bikers
on the front lawn of Town Hall.
When Rhodes and Leath visited Atlantic Beach earlier this month,
however, they drew interested questions from Councilman Donnell
Thompson. The town’s needs are well known, he said, and while he is
reserving judgment on any change to Bikefest until he sees what is being
offered in return, he described himself as enthusiastic about working
with neighboring cities in general.
“We think it might be a great opportunity to look beyond this year and
next year, and on to several years,” Thompson said.
Councilman Jake Evans was also unavailable Friday, but Taylor – Evans’
voting ally over the past year – said she believes the time for the
entire council to reconsider Bikefest has arrived.
“It’s not that I’m pushing the Bikefest out, but Atlantic Beach needs an
overhaul. It needs to study the future,” Taylor said. “I don’t have a
problem with Bikefest, but we just can’t afford it right now. … It has
outgrown itself. When it first started, we had motels here. We don’t
have those things now.”
When Bikefest first began nearly 30 years ago, it was exclusively an
Atlantic Beach event, but its explosive growth has placed the bulk of
the burden on Myrtle Beach, said Gilland. If Atlantic Beach changes or
moves Bikefest, the town could reclaim or create what she called “a
festival with broad appeal that is exclusively and exquisitely Atlantic
Beach, a celebration of Atlantic Beach,” that would include present and
former town residents.
“What better way to showcase the changes that are taking place,” Gilland
said. “Positive things are happening there that most people in Horry
County have no idea about. They could make it their signature event and
invite everyone in to see what Atlantic Beach is really becoming.”
This type of discussion is probably a first in the history of the
Atlantic Beach Bikefest, said one of its founders, John Sketers, a
longtime town resident and former Town Council member. Considering the
town’s condition, he said, now may be the right time for it.
“If this means a measure of controlling it better, I think all of us
should be interested in this,” Sketers said.
With Myrtle Beach’s 15 new laws designed to discourage rally attendees
from congregating in the city, Atlantic Beach officials said they are
also concerned that they may be overwhelmed by many more bikers than
usual. Atlantic Beach Police Chief Randy Rizzo said he has already sent
out the customary letters requesting help from the State Law Enforcement
Division and S.C. Highway Patrol.
“Regardless if we have a festival or don’t have a festival, I have to
assume I’m going to have a lot more people here,” Rizzo said. “There’s
so much logistics with all us agencies, I have to move now.”
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