Scanning the local headlines this morning, I may have just found one more reason to boycott Myrtle Beach, SC. I already prefer to frequent quieter beaches during my vacation time, but the one time of the year I even consider hitting Myrtle Beach is during Bike Week.

One local headline caught my eye this morning when I saw something about Myrtle Beach wanting to raise property taxes to put a stop to bike rallies.  What?!!!!! The bike weeks at Myrtle Beach bring in hundreds of thousands of tourists each year providing tourism dollars not only to Myrtle Beach but to the state. Now they want to put a stop to bike rallies at the beach? Why?

Yet again it looks like the city is stereotyping bikers as unlawful citizens who are rowdy, using drugs in public, and wreaking havoc.  The story just disgusted me. I think about bike week, then I think about senior week that comes only a weekend after bike week. The city is saying they want to promote May as being geared more towards a family friendly setting. Do they seriously believe senior week which normally begins around the last week of May is family friendly?

Of course business owners are fighting back, and many of them want to know where the city will find enough tourists to make up for losing the bikers. Many of these bikers not only show up for the rallies, but they return throughout the year with their families for vacationing. This could mean a big loss for businesses in the area. Other businesses are willing to take the hit to get the bikers out of town.

“We’re going to have to displace them with the tourists we want,” Councilman Chuck Martino said at Tuesday’s workshop discussion. “Then when the bikers want to come, the hotel rooms are already full.”

The Chamber of Commerce has already listened to people from both sides, and they have made it clear that they are willing to listen to anyone who wants a say on the matter, but they think this is simply what the residents want.

I give a big middle finger to the city for doing this. Thanks for stereotyping us all once again as rowdy unlawful people who don’t care. Go ahead and kick us out because we aren’t spending our money frequenting your golf courses and overpriced shows that are geared more for the higher income family.

Atlantic Beach, known mostly for being the first rally to allow black bikers, has invited all bikers to join them next year.

“My constituents are telling me Bikefest must go on,” Thompson said. “We’re certainly not saying Myrtle Beach is doing wrong for Myrtle Beach. But for Atlantic Beach, we intend to continue to host our Bikefest.”

Those bikers of all colors shunned by Myrtle Beach, Thompson said, will be welcome in Atlantic Beach next year - just as black beachgoers once found the little town nicknamed the Black Pearl their only welcoming spot on the Grand Strand.

“It should be about bikers; it shouldn’t be about color,” Thompson said. “It’s unfortunate that the Myrtle Beach council has taken this position, but that’s the position people took back in the early ’50s. Times change, but sometimes people don’t.”

The Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce will continue to hear from both sides, and this is a discussion that could drag out. You can check out MyrtleBeachOnline.com for updates as the discussions continue.