By J.B. Horne
For Weekly Surge
Ah...the Grand Strand, a beautiful area loaded with fun for everyone. Tourists of all ages, shapes, sizes, demographics and races are welcome along our saltwater coasts and waterway landings. You can enjoy everything the beach has to offer plus all the great restaurants, shops, nightlife and tourist attractions located throughout the area. Welcome to the area, but please note if you like to smoke, stay out late, make a lot of noise or ride a motorcycle you might not be welcome.
What has happened to the Grand Strand? This used to be a place for everyone, although even if in sections at times, everyone was welcome here at least somewhere. But times are a changing and if you like to smoke, stay out late, or ride a motorcycle you might not classify as the perfect tourist for the Grand Strand, which in actuality was built by tourists, tourists who smoked, rode motorcycles, stayed out late, and oh yeah....spent money. New municipal rules in the area have started to warp the way that tourists look at us. The Grand Strand is changing and it may have never been perfect, but it's also never been set up for exclusive types of people, but that definitely seems to be the new track we are taking.
With all the changes, what does it take now to be a tourist here on the Grand Strand? Who is the perfect tourist?
"I don't know if there is any such thing as a perfect tourist, but an ideal tourist is one that visits several times each year, obeys all local laws while they are here, leaves with just enough money in their pocket to get back home, and once they return, they tell everyone - family, friends, co-workers and the cashier at the grocery store - just what a wonderful time they had in the Myrtle Beach area," said Brad Dean, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce. "Whether they arrive via two wheels, four wheels or two wings, if they support our local economy and obey the laws while here, they are close enough to perfect for me."
Apparently shaggers - the kind that like to whoop it up while celebrating the Palmetto State's official dance, the shag - are okay with local officials.
But North Myrtle Beach resident Will Lance doesn't get it.
"I have lived here for 20 years and know who is welcome in North Myrtle Beach,'' wrote Lance in a recent e-mail. "Not black bikers. Not white bikers. But good old boy drunk, whoop-it-up shaggers!"
Lance was upset that during the recent S.O.S. (Society of Stranders) Fall Migration in the Ocean Drive section of North Myrtle Beach, the music from the participating clubs drowned out his TV, at 4:44 in the afternoon.
"I walked down to Main Street where the loud outside stage is and at least 80 percent of the people I saw had open alcohol, drinking in public, and some intoxicated. Now let me get this straight; we don't want white bikers and black bikers drinking and making noise; but it is ok for the good old boy shaggers to do anything they want, and to make as mush noise as they want? I think this is a clear definition of discrimination."
So shaggers can make noise, apparently, but motorcyclists better watch the decibels coming out of their pipes this week as The Pilgrimage, the Grand Strand's fall motorcycle rally runs through Sunday. Myrtle Beach city council last week passed a slew of new ordinances, and one that took effect immediately is the new, beefed up version of its noise restrictions designed to take the thunder out of bike rallies.
A lot of local leaders such as Myrtle Beach City Council Member Susan Grissom Means will tell you that, "There is no perfect tourist, we welcome all tourists to the Myrtle Beach area." And that sounds exactly like it should, but the problem here is that it's not that way. Everybody is not really welcome anymore and Means went on to point this out later by saying, "We welcome bikers but just not 300,000 of them at one time." So you can come but only if you can limit the number that show up; which means everybody isn't welcome, right?
Other Myrtle Beach city council members such as Randal Wallace seem to also welcome everyone saying, "Everybody is welcome. A tourist should be somebody that comes here to enjoy Myrtle Beach as long as they are spending money and obeying the laws." This isn't a bad statement and I know what Wallace means, but everybody doesn't break the law and the statement just leaves you with questions like: is it still legal to smoke? How long has it been illegal to ride licensed motorcycles? How can a city ordinance supersede state law and require riders to wear helmets? Don't smokers, bikers, and party animals spend money, too?
Then there's Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes who infamously told a rally supporter who complained about the city's 3-mill property tax increase to fund anti-rally efforts: "If you don't like it, I'd leave.'' In a phone interview Rhodes was asked what tourists the city is looking for if bike rallies clearly aren't ideal and he said, "We look for everybody to be a tourist and there is no particular type of person that we are targeting. We like for everybody to come here and enjoy the area and we want them to obey the laws."
They still welcome bikers, despite the measures to clamp down on rallies?
"We welcome all bikers we just want them to respect the community and obey the laws and ordinances. As long as they can do that we welcome them," said Rhodes.
Couldn't the city have enforced existing laws instead of enacting more than a dozen new ones?
"Tourism-oriented communities face a never-ending challenge to balance the quality of life of residents and the vibrancy of our tourism economy," said the chamber's Dean. "Living in America's Beach Playground, where millions of people choose to visit each year, is both a blessing and a burden for some, but the positives far outweigh the negatives. Smoking bans, helmet laws, noise ordinances and the like are only the most recent examples of the never-ending tightrope public officials must walk to effectively balance the demands of the resident
tax-payer and desires of the transient visitor."
THE SMOKING GUN
Although the rules have been somewhat confusing with some places allowing smoking and others not, Surfside Beach enacted its smoking ban in October of 2007 and it looks like it's here to stay, despite grumblings and legal challenges from the town's bar entrepreneurs. This ban isn't for just restaurants, it's for everywhere from government buildings to work spaces to the beach. The rules even state that no one can smoke within 30 feet of a public building and it may me seem harsh, but unless something changes, penalties will be enforced soon. There is some smoker optimism in the Surfside Beach area though because despite the citywide ban there is a bar just outside the town limits with a catchy name, Still Smokin', that caters to smokers and there are lots of other places where you can still smoke in Surfside Beach, as the town doesn't have the manpower to police who is smoking when and where. The smoking ordinance, which is listed on Surfsidebeach.org, does not state that bars can allow smoking, but anyone who's been out in Surfside Beach to any of the bars knows it's still going on.
So although the rules don't state this, Surfside Beach has decided it doesn't want tourists who smoke, basically. Great, we can't afford healthcare, but at least now our local governments are offering health protection, so maybe all isn't wrong with the world. Come on, we all know smoking is bad but a lot of tourists who smoke do enjoy the Grand Strand and they all spend money, even if its only on cigarettes. In fact smokers from other states help the local economies. Have you seen how much a pack of Newports cost in New York lately? Smokers that visit the area from states with high cigarette prices load up on smokes when touring the Grand Strand because South Carolina, for the moment, still has somewhat reasonable cigarette prices. No, Surfside Beach doesn't stop vacationers from buying the lung killers, you just can't smoke them anywhere near the buildings you buy them in.
This may be good for the public health, but try telling that to the people who own businesses in Surfside Beach. If it were more popular to be a non-smoking bar, or better for business, you wouldn't see bars in Surfside Beach striving to remain smoker-friendly.
BUILT ON TOURISM
The Myrtle Beach area was virtually built by people coming down looking to hang loose and have a good time, especially during the spring and fall motorcycle rallies.
Bikers have been migrating to the Myrtle Beach area for more than 68 years but with new ordinances handed down by the Myrtle Beach City Council last week, the noise may come to a halt. Although the new ordinances don't say "biker" anywhere in the actual entries they are clearly aimed largely at one crowd, the bikers. Here are some of the new ordinances that could change the bike rallies and the way we know them:
• The effects of an unpermitted special event, or rally are a public nuisance against public health, public decency, peace and order, public welfare and safety and the public economy and responsible parties to be held financially responsible for public cost that result from their promotion. (effective immediately)
• No alcohol consumption or open possession in parking areas, lots and garages. Business shall not permit. (effective December 21, 2008)
• Use of parking lot for non-parking activities a nuisance. No destruction of landscaped areas by chairs, etc. Businesses shall not permit. (effective December 21, 2008)
• Helmet and protective eyewear required for cycles and mopeds. (effective December 21, 2008)
• No trailers parked on public streets, or unlicensed private lots. (effective December 21, 2008)
• No loud mufflers; EPA labeling required, or maximum 87 decibels allowed at idle measurement. (effective immediately)
• No loitering on commercial lots after hours, or when posted. (effective immediately)
• Only 2 motorcycles per public parking space; Chapter 12, Article III, Division 2, Repeal deactivation of meters for bike parking. (effective December 21, 2008)
• Defrauding a restaurant is a misdemeanor. (effective immediately)
It seems Myrtle Beach officials have had enough of the complaints and have responded with what they think are the answers. But is this good for the area? It's definitely not good for tourists, bikers or the businesses that depended on them.
B&M Cycles owner Ben Brown was asked why there's a movement to rid the city of bike rallies. "I'm not in favor of the new ordinances from the city of Myrtle Beach. Our business relies heavily on the bike rallies so maybe my vision is skewed but it boils down to this: We are a tourist town and to destroy the biggest single tourist event in not only Myrtle Beach but the entire state of South Carolina and to raise taxes to do this is absolutely ludicrous. These people don't just come here for the rallies they come back with their families in the summer. The bike rallies have been in the area for over 68 years and have brought literally millions of people to the area and over the years a lot of the people who visited the area for the bike rallies have came back to enjoy the beach in the summer and some of the people have even moved to area after coming to the rallies."
So who is the perfect tourist, if bikers clearly aren't?
"As far as who the perfect tourist is, now I guess it's a couple with 2.5 kids. I really don't know, though, and that's the problem. The city has not come out and said what their vision is. I might disagree because of my business but if they came out with a 10-year plan for this place to be strictly a family beach then I could understand and it would be better than just getting rid of rallies with no clear plan on what they want. And the thing that really bugs me is they can't be doing this to protect the kids because school is not out when we have the fall or spring rallies."
In the quest to define the perfect tourist, we turned to Gary Loftus, director of BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development at Coastal Carolina University to help solve the puzzle. Loftus said that, "It depends on which industry you are in. There are perfect tourists for each specific industry. I don't think you can focus on one specific area because there are eight, nine or more areas you have to concentrate on when looking for the perfect tourist in the Grand Strand."
What's his opinion of the ordinances designed to shut down rallies in the city of Myrtle Beach.
"Bike rallies have become a burden to the area. The ten percent of bikers that come to the area have become a burden to the rest of the community. The Memorial Day bike event has no organization at all and is sort of a happening so we could try to curtail it but there's no one to really talk to about this so how can you curtail something when there is no specific group to deal with? The Harley event has a lot more organization but instead of working with the city on ways to solve problems they have seemed to only yell 'discrimination.'"
Is it okay to basically tell bikers not to come here anymore?
"You can't tell people not to come but both bike events should obey the laws. The Harley event is more organized but they should still obey the laws," said Loftus. "We don't just ask this from bikers either we ask this of all groups like the Shriners, golfers, and the summer kids."