"Let's not let Charleston become Myrtle Beach"

[Casper]

This guy is a complete idiot.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A65529

http://thegoodfight.ccpblogs.com

For decades the Myrtle Beach area has been plagued by two major motorcycle rallies in the month of May. Together the Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Rally and the Atlantic Beach Bike Festival filled the Grand Strand with noise, litter, violence, and gridlocked traffic over the course of three weeks.

After years of rising anger and complaints, the city of Myrtle Beach took action last year, passing a raft of ordinances designed to keep the bikers under control. These included new laws limiting exhaust noise and requiring riders to wear helmets and goggles. Bikers wailed and whined; some of them went to court to fight the new rules. But last week an impasse was broken when the Harley-Davidson group announced that they were pulling out of Myrtle Beach after more than 60 years and moving their annual rally to New Bern, N.C.

It will be interesting to observe how long the Harley crowd remains in New Bern before the town fathers pull in the welcome mat. But for now Myrtle Beach is done with them, and that is all that matters.

Myrtle Beach is one of a number of American cities that have struggled in recent years to control motorcycle rallies and motorcycle noise. They are part of a larger movement to create more livable cities in a time when cities are becoming more important than ever to the American way of life.

With the end of the fossil fuel age, scholars tell us that urban sprawl may have reached its apogee. In the future, cities will be denser and taller. With more people living closer together than ever before, a lot of the obnoxious, antisocial behavior that has been grudgingly tolerated for a long time may soon be verboten.

The noise abatement movement is in its infancy — about where the movement to ban indoor smoking was 10 years ago — but it already has several advocacy groups, most notably Noise Free America. And it has tens of thousands of adherents, pushing for noise control in cities around the country. These activists are much like non-smokers of a generation ago. They are beginning to discover that they are not alone in their anger and they do have legal recourse.

There are other noisemakers, of course. "Boom cars" and glass-pack mufflers are two of the most obnoxious. But they are not as numerous, and their riders are not as antisocial as motorcyclists. And that brings us to the other problem with motorcycles — violence.

Now, I am not saying that all bikers are violent, but the image is there and it is well earned and even celebrated in some quarters. And if you don't believe there is a violent subtext to biker culture, check out the letters to the editor next week in response to this column.

Indeed, the incident which finally forced Myrtle Beach to take action against the biker rallies was the shooting death last year of a Coastal Carolina University student in a dispute over a parking space. A short-lived motorcycle rally in Charleston earlier in the decade was shut down after three years in part because violence among some of the participants made it impossible for the organizers to buy insurance.

I have been writing about motorcycles and motorcycle culture for years in this column and in my 2003 book, Banana Republic: A Year in the Heart of Myrtle Beach. I witnessed and lived through three annual cycles of biker rallies, when it was impossible to sleep for days, when traffic crept along U.S. 17 at 10 mph, when many residents simply packed up and fled, as if they were evacuating for a hurricane.

Of course, the good folks at Myrtle Beach and Atlantic Beach never planned it this way. It all started out as good fun and brought a lot of money to the area. But the biker culture conflicted with the "family fun" image that Myrtle Beach built its reputation on. Bikers drove away a more lucrative and desirable tourist segment. And finally, enough was enough. After last spring's violence, Myrtle Beach leaders went to work to shut down the biker rallies. So far, they are 1-for-2.

I hope Mayor Joe Riley and city council are paying attention to what is happening on the Grand Strand. I have seen increasing numbers of bikers on Charleston streets during the tourist season in recent years. As I have written here before, motorcycles are completely out of place in our historic district. City leaders would be smart to learn from Myrtle Beach's example and start cracking down on noise violations. Bikers must learn to obey the law like the rest of us.

My favorite comment from a reader:

And to think that I know for a fact that this man has been thrown out of several bars for public intoxication!!! Talk about noise!! And he probably doesnt even remember! Does Moes Cross town or Recovery room ring a bell? Probably not , you were to drunk and loud!!

Feel like complaining to the editor? Email: editor@charlestoncitypaper.com and haire@charlestoncitypaper.com

[cattmouch33]

He has few good points but the end

"Bikers must learn to obey the law like the rest of us."

Makes me laugh

Edited March 13, 2009 by cattmouch33

[Casper]

their riders are not as antisocial as motorcyclists

Antisocial???? Uh..... Isn't that what a motorcycle rally is, a social gathering?

[Relboc]

"not as antisocial as motorcyclists"

Since when has my visiting several forums and plans to go to several gatherings been deemed antisocial?

[NinjaNick]

I'd like to punch him and clean that smirk off his face. He just looks like an ass.

Edited March 13, 2009 by NinjaNick

[that dude]

hes a complete fucktard.

[wrillo]

I'd like to punch him in and clean that smirk off his face. He just looks like an ass.

How can they call you anti-social? You're willing to kick this guy's ass and you don't even know him! And violent? If he thinks an ass kicking is violent wait til I get ahold of him!

[Dweezel]

I'm in no way agreeing with this fuckwad but most of those HDs that go to these things, well most of them in general, are stupidly loud just for the sake of being loud. I know I can't stand to be around them

[Casper]

I'm in no way agreeing with this fuckwad but most of those HDs that go to these things, well most of them in general, are stupidly loud just for the sake of being loud. I know I can't stand to be around them

Loud pipes save lives.

[ReconRat]

With the end of the fossil fuel age, scholars tell us that urban sprawl may have reached its apogee. In the future, cities will be denser and taller. With more people living closer together than ever before...

Yes, and they will all be riding little scooters and bicycles in mass quantities. I've already seen it overseas in Asia, years ago. And more recently, in Europe. This guy (and others) needs to see the world for what it really is and really will be. The future is not Utopia.

edit: Think more like BladeRunner...

Edited March 13, 2009 by ReconRat
stuff

[Earache]

Loud pipes save lives.

But apparently learning to ride doesn't. Proper safety gear doesn't save lives either.

The guy has a point; I wouldn't want three weeks of this crap in a town I lived in. Especially if it was a smaller town where the bikers take over so many of the facilities and streets.

If you ride aggresively, wheelie all over town, have loud pipes, do burnouts, etc., then you can't really bitch about people getting pissed off about you. I'm no angel, but I don't whine when people bitch about bikers as I can see where they're coming from.

[Catman]

There is a level of comrodery with motorcyclists that doesn't exist anywhere else I've seen !

yea, He's still drunk.

[fusion]

I think it's pretty obvious by the context he doesn't mean anti-social as individuals, but as a group.

[kawi kid]

Loud pipes save lives.

i like quiet and sneaky............ like a ninja

[Lost]

It is their town and they can make the laws and enforce them.

We are just visitors.

How would you like your town screwed up for a month. 15 minute commutes turn to an hour. Not being able to take your kids out to a restaurant or store because of all of the inappropriate public behavior.

Their town their rules.

[jagr]

The south lost for a reason.

[Fonzie]

.....and clean that smirk off his face. He just looks like an ass.

Agreed....He looks like a smug, pompous, SOB!!

[aradamro]

Hahaha, I probably threw that guy out of Moe's before. I got my Biology undergrad degree at CofC and was a bouncer at Tsunami, Banana Joe's, Meritage, and filled in at Moe's. I think my buddy still runs the security organization that staffs Moe's.

On a side note hence Charleston's name... the lowcountry, it's so flat that the best corner was the exit ramp to my house on James Island. If you head upstate though to the greenville/spartanburg area there is some phenomenal riding, table rock, caesar's head, saluda (into NC,) pickup the blueridge parkway.