Myrtle Beach City Council found way to fleece everyone
Too often we look past deeds that deserve recognition and say nothing. We in Myrtle Beach have witnessed the very successful promotion of our home as an extremely desirable vacation destination. We have spent millions of dollars in an effort to entice visitors to come and take advantage of all that we have to offer, and we have vigorously presented our beaches as the jewel of our offerings.
That having been said, Myrtle Beach City Council should be congratulated for their most recent efforts with respect to the new beach parking rules.
I say congrats to this distinguished body for:
- Finding another way to stuff the city’s coffers at the expense of residents, their guests and the visitors that we work so hard to get here.
- Finding a way to appease the residents of the “Golden Mile” at the expense of others.
- Finding a way to reduce the beach activity in front of the beautiful “Golden Mile” homes.
- Finding a way to add to the beauty of the “Golden Mile” by erecting numerous unsightly street signs.
- Finding another way to discriminate against county residents.
- Forgetting that county residents support the many businesses of their city and always refer to their homes as being in Myrtle Beach and not Horry County.
- Finding a way of placing additional burdens on law enforcement and administrative personnel.
- Finding a way to financially burden those that have loyally supported and contributed to the growth of Myrtle Beach.
- Their generous reconsideration of reducing the parking fees from $4 to $2 per hour and from $20 to $10 per day.
- Providing a provision that would allow non-city residents the opportunity to purchase parking passes for $100 that are valid at a lot on Second Avenue North and 16th Avenue North.
- Totally ignoring the burden that these fees may place on senior citizens, veterans and families who may now find it too costly or too inconvenient to go to the beach.
- Finding a way to improve the exercise routines of many by designing a program that may force beach lovers to cart their beach needs (chairs, blankets, coolers, children, etc.) on their backs one or two miles since they cannot park, or cannot afford to.
- Finding another reason to confuse visitors, ticket or discourage them from returning.
- Finding a way to “P O” lots of people.
- Their lack of conscience and their insensitivity to what the people feel about this.
- Not creating a Bikefest-type traffic loop around the “Golden Mile” for the purpose of keeping visitors and county residents in check.
I appreciate that my last bullet is ridiculous, but my rationale for keeping it is that it’s DNA matches the DNA of City Council’s handling of this issue.
In closing, I would offer that when you work so hard to entice visitors, and locals, to use the beaches and then present cost penalties and obstacles to restrict them, it is akin to inviting someone to a pool party at your home then charging them to park in your driveway.
The writer lives in Myrtle Beach.
This story was originally published July 24, 2016 at 11:31 AM with the headline "Myrtle Beach City Council found way to fleece everyone."