Market Common residents are worried about dangerous traffic. Here’s what the city said
The City of Myrtle Beach held a town hall meeting on Wednesday night at the General Robert H. Reed Recreation Center in The Market Common.
This is the first town hall that’s been held in Myrtle Beach this month. Unlike what’s been happening in town halls across the country, this one had no big hiccups.
According to city spokesperson, Meredith Denari, there was no agenda for Wednesday’s town hall meeting.
Before the meeting began, city staff passed out question cards for residents to fill out.
The first 30 minutes were spent on presentations by city staff. No questions were asked or answered.
It took someone demanding in-person answers during the meeting for city staff to begin answering the questions to the group.
“We’re going to show you respect, and we just ask for the same in return,” Bethune said in her opening statement.
During the first few minutes staff went around to collect question cards, with Denari and Tucker reading through them.
“Market common is the crown jewel for this city,” Bethune said. At points in the meeting, she and Tucker noted that the area would be receiving $25 million to continue to make it better.
Tucker said a lot of the questions residents asked were about how long it would take to get sidewalks resurfaced or improve intersections.
“Some of the other things were not road infrastructure related,” he said about the questions they received, but did no specify what the other questions were about.
Tucker added that they received a lot of questions about using traffic cameras for speeding, something he said isn’t possible.
Speeding and traffic flow were the main themes of the night, with residents giving specific examples of intersections where they claim people go significantly over the speed limit.
“I know that the entire police department is understaffed like it is across the country,” Market Common resident Karen Deed said before suggesting adding stop signs at every intersection.
Although Tucker said Deed’s request wasn’t possible, he addressed the room with the central question of the night.
“How do we alter human behavior” he poised in response to complaints about dangerous driving behavior.
Some of the officials in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting included Denari, assistant city managers Brian Tucker and Josh Bruegger, and city council members Bill McClure and Mike Lowder. Mayoral candidate and former city spokesperson Mark Kruea was also in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting.
No city council members currently live in The Market Common area. There are no districts for Myrtle Beach city council members, with each elected officials representing the entirety of the city.
The town hall was originally an opportunity for The Market Common residents to ask questions, get answers and have a thoughtful discussion about pedestrian, bicycle and driver safety concerns, according to Denari.
Approximately 50 to 75 people showed up.
This story was originally published March 20, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
