‘I’m a fighter.’ Mayoral candidate C.D. Rozsa shares his vision for Myrtle Beach

A mechanic concerned about reducing crime and controlling growth is hoping to lead Myrtle Beach in the mayor’s seat.

C.D. Rozsa, who ran for mayor in 2017, said the city needs a change in leadership. He has lived in the Myrtle Beach area for 25 years and within the city for 15 years. Rozsa has worked on cars, military vehicles and airplanes for over 35 years. He is also a water restoration technician, a job he has had for more than 10 years.

Rozsa is one of five people running for the position. The nonpartisan election is Nov. 2.

Rozsa said he is running for mayor because he wants to have someone on council “that isn’t bought, fights for the people and will try to straighten up Myrtle Beach.”

“ [The] city is just really going downhill,” he told The Sun News on Tuesday.

‘WE NEED MORE TRAINED OFFICERS’

Crime has continued to be a conversation topic during this election season. Many candidates are focused on improving the city’s public safety sector, and Rozsa is no different.

He said Myrtle Beach has a drug and human trafficking problem that has yet to be addressed. One way to solve those issues is by beefing up the police force with officers that specialize in different types of crime and are more experienced, he added.

“We’re still pretty much a small town police department with big city problems,” Rozsa said.

A conservative group called Patriots Reporting for Duty hosted a debate between Bethune’s four challengers at the Base Recreation Center earlier this month. During that event, Rozsa called the city’s police force “weak.”

“These guys are coming in straight out of the academy with a badge, a gun and an attitude and that needs to stop because that’s not good for the community,” he said at the event. “They want to go out there and write tickets. They want to arrest everybody, so once we get a good police force underneath us, then we can start coming ahead.”

He said part of the city’s problem is retaining officers, adding he knows officers who have worked 10 to 12 years are being pushed out of the department.

MANAGING THE CITY’S GROWTH

Rozsa said he would like to regulate development in the city more to curb some of the growth.

“We need to limit what’s getting built,” he said. “ We’re losing the green spaces. We’re losing our marsh lands.”

He went on to say that the new development is causing larger animals, like coyotes, to move into neighborhoods.

“They’re pushing them out and bringing them into the subdivisions, and they’re now living in the subdivisions and eating people’s pets.”

I-73, COVID-19, TOURISM

Rozsa also said at the forum he does not support constructing I-73.

“Now’s not the time for I-73, we don’t have the infrastructure,” he said. “Until Conway gets the infrastructure to hold this, we can’t do anything with it. If we take the money and throw the money out there, it’s going to be a waste of money.”

He also doesn’t support mask mandates because he doesn’t think they are effective.

“I feel that if you want to wear a mask, if you feel a mask helps you, wear it. Wear it properly, he said. “If you want to get the vaccine, get it, if that’s what you feel.”

With tourism being the only industry in Myrtle Beach, Rozsa said he is not opposed to bringing more industries to the area. We just need the infrastructure for it, he added, saying a railroad could help with that.

“It’ll relax a little bit of traffic,” Rozsa said. “It’s more efficient, more affordable and it’s better for bigger industries.”

But he said his biggest goal for tourism is making sure visitors are safe and don’t have any issues when they come to visit.

BUDGET PRIORITIES

Rozsa said he would focus on making sure city workers’ retirement plans are taken care of.

In recent weeks, retired Myrtle Beach city employees have begun protesting against Bethune and the city council over a policy change in which the city would stop paying health insurance premiums for retired employees under 65. Previously, retired city workers younger than 65 could remain on the city’s health insurance plan as long as they paid the premium themselves. But the city moved to drop those 100 retirees from the plan, saying they could get cheaper healthcare elsewhere. Retirees and others, many of whom worked in public safety departments, disagreed, saying the premiums elsewhere were twice as expensive.

Rozsa mentioned he would also like to find money to hire more city employees. He thinks the Gold Cap Ambassador program is a waste of money, saying that those jobs could be handled internally. He would even be up for hiring the same people in the ambassador program, he added.

The program, which launched in 2020, was implemented to provide daily, year-round hospitality, outreach, cleaning and safety services in areas east of Kings Highway between 21st Avenue North and 14th Avenue South. It is operated under parent company Block by Block and managed by the city’s Downtown Development Office. It costs the city almost half a million dollars.

“They’re supposed to talk to people that had any questions or concerns and answer them for them,” he said. “They’re supposed to go out and pick up trash, and all you see them doing is driving around in these new fancy trucks.”

No campaign disclosure reports from Rozsa have been filed with the South Carolina Ethics Commission to date, according to the agency’s online database. Rozsa’s campaign is self funded.

“I’m a fighter,” he said. “I fight for the people, and I’m willing to stand up to city council and make sure things get done right.”