Myrtle Beach councilman Mike Chestnut said he rode around the city last week and the crowd was light inside the city. Chestnut said some people told him they were happy there were fewer bikers in the city and less noise from motorcycles. Chestnut said many business owners told him they were not happy that council ran off business during a recession.
Chestnut was the first council member to tell News13 last year that the rallies had gotten out of control when it came to the size of the crowd and council needed to do something about it.
Many bikers, vendors, and business owners told News13 the new laws council passed in February, including the helmet law, led to the low rally attendance.
Mike Shank, spokesman for Myrtle Beach Harley-Davidson said this year's rally was the worst one he's been involved with in nine years. Shank said, "Well there's only one reason, that's because of (Mayor) John Rhodes and the rest of city council, so that's the only reason. Congratulations on screwing everybody in the city of Myrtle Beach."
Councilman Chestnut said, "What is in place is in place now, where do we go from here, I don't think calling each other names and stuff like that, that's not going to get you anywhere, really what it's going to take is for us to sit down as a community, council sits down all the time with different groups in the community, we don't have a problem sitting down with the residents and seeing what is a happy medium."
Chestnut said it is not fair to blame one council person for the low rally attendance. He said it takes four votes to make something happen and ultimately all the members are responsible for the decision they make.
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