Tag: Myrtle Beach

Changes Needed From City Elections

City elections in three local municipalities could bring much needed changes to the way those communities work for their citizens.

Those three communities are Conway, Atlantic Beach and Myrtle Beach.

Below, we have highlighted the candidates we believe are most likely to bring new ideas that will lead to much needed positive change for those municipalities.

Conway

Mayor and three council seats up for election.
City council member Barbara Blain-Bellamy is continuing to build momentum in her attempt to unseat incumbent Mayor Alys Lawson.
Blain-Bellamy is well known to Conway voters. She has been elected to city council three times and has led the ticket each time. This is not an outsider attempting to unseat an incumbent mayor.

Blain-Bellamy’s message of finding new ways to ward off the influence of gangs and crime in Conway’s neighborhoods and listening to the concerns of citizens throughout the city highlight her message.

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Myrtle Beach Fantasyland

Fantasyland has arrived in Myrtle Beach.

No, it’s not a new attraction or theme park.

It’s the attitude and atmosphere that surrounds the biennial Myrtle Beach city elections.

Mayor John Rhodes (who is not up for reelection until 2017) stepped into the middle of this year’s election rhetoric a couple of nights ago at a Neighborhood Watch meeting at Market Common.

According to numerous sources at the meeting, Rhodes attacked non-incumbents running for the three city council seats in this year’s election cycle by claiming the challengers were lying to voters.

Rhodes said these challenger candidates were misleading citizens by claiming crime is an increasing problem in the city and using independent rating reports to substantiate their claims.

Rhodes referred to a city generated report which, reportedly, said crime is the lowest it’s been in the city since the city began keeping statistics 20 years ago.

According to Rhodes, crime in Myrtle Beach is at a 20-year low!

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Gingrich, Myrtle Beach, Oil and Interstates

Horry County – Myrtle Beach Land Deal

Horry County and the City of Myrtle Beach are investigating a joint purchase of the former Hard Rock Theme Park.

According to sources familiar with the talks, the reason for the purchase is to build additional sports fields for the sports tourism industry.

This is not a good idea on several levels.

Horry County and Myrtle Beach should not use public tax dollars for the purchase of land and construction of sports facilities for the tourism industry.

Horry County just raised property taxes by 7.2 mils (the maximum increase allowed by state law) for this current fiscal year ostensibly for pay increases and public safety improvements.

Now it not only proposes to use tax dollars to purchase land and build sports fields, but the purchase of the former theme park property by local governments would remove that land from the tax rolls, a double whammy for local taxpayers.

Horry County already wastes over $1 million per year funding the operations budget of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation. If this is such a good idea, shouldn’t MBREDC be able to recruit private business to purchase the land and build the facilities?

Myrtle Beach raises tens of millions of tax dollars, with its one cent tourism sales tax, that it turns over to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce to use for tourism advertising. This is something that should be funded by marketing budgets of the private businesses in the tourism industry.

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Myrtle Beach City Election Runup

The Myrtle Beach city elections are just over three weeks away and the game of keep the incumbents in power is in full swing.

There were competing op-eds in local media recently between local writer Mande Wilkes and Myrtle Beach public information officer Mark Kruea that are of note in this election season.

The opinions expressed in the two columns demonstrate the current disconnect between Myrtle Beach city officials and the people who live and work in the city.

Wilkes criticized the “Asian fetish” of Myrtle Beach City Council while stifling local business investors with “the bizarre zoning laws, the oppressive signing ordinances, the climbing licensing fees, and the restrictive parking policies.”

“All of these rules add up to a suffocating environment for businesses, and that’s why Highway 17 is littered with empty storefronts and dilapidated buildings,” Wilkes wrote.

“I wonder if it’s common for a relatively small-town mayor to be paid to jetset across the globe,” Wilkes speculated.

We agree with Wilkes’ assessment. Myrtle Beach City Council ignores locals while looking for big hitters from abroad.

She stung council enough that an official response was deemed necessary.

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Tim Scott to Host Town Hall – Update

Update – Times for the luncheon and Town Hall have been moved up because of need to get back to Washington.

Sen. Tim Scott is coming to the local area Monday September 28, 2015 to host a Town Hall meeting at the Crown Reef Resort.

Scott is hosting Town Hall meetings around the state to bring Republican presidential candidates and voters together.
In this way, candidates can give their message to voters in a speech followed by a question and answer session with those in attendance.
Presidential candidate and Sen. Lindsey Graham will be the featured candidate at Monday’s Town Hall.
A luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. with the Town Hall meeting to follow beginning at 2:30 p.m.

The South Strand Republican Club is inviting all voters in the area to join them at the Town Hall meeting to meet, greet and listen to both senators.

For a seat reservation for the lunch and Town Hall meeting, you can call Senator’s Scott’s Headquarters at 842-766-9412 or Jon E Bonsignor 843-385-3963.

The location is Crown Reef Resort, 2913 South Ocean Boulevard, Myrtle Beach, SC.

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Extra Courts Planned for Atlantic Beach Bikefest

Increased numbers of bond hearings are being planned for as the Atlantic Beach Bikefest over Memorial Day weekend draws near.

Part of planning for the weekend includes special bond hearings beginning at 6 a.m. Friday morning and convening every six hours thereafter through Sunday night.

The only conclusion that can be drawn from these preparations is that many more arrests are expected this year.

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Myrtle Beach City Council – A Glimmer of Hope

A glimmer of hope made its way into the Myrtle Beach City Council deliberations on ordinances aimed at Atlantic Beach Bikefest.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, Myrtle Beach City Council tabled an ordinance specifically defining riots as three or more persons acting together.

Additionally, Myrtle Beach City Council amended its extraordinary event ordinance, before passing second reading, to eliminate some of the more ridiculous restrictions previously contained in the ordinance.

Now, over Memorial Day weekend, you can walk your dog or carry a cooler without worry of being arrested.

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Singling Out Atlantic Beach Bikefest Crowds

We are being told by local officials that plans are ready for the crowds attending Atlantic Beach Bikefest over Memorial Day weekend.

You can see headlines like – “Hundreds of officers, thousands of barricades…to fill the streets.” And verbiage about the traffic loop, increased police presence, new restrictive laws and new equipment and technology all for Memorial Day weekend.

All this money, planning and effort wouldn’t have stopped the killings that made national headlines last year nor will they stop two gangs coming up here from the Charleston area and using Ocean Boulevard as a shooting gallery if they wish to this year.

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Desperate Preparations for Atlantic Beach Bikefest

Two Ordinances aimed at the Atlantic Beach Bikefest and passed first reading by Myrtle Beach City Council appear acts of desperation.

Called the extraordinary events and public peace act ordinances, they could be lumped together under the title “Gall Doctrine” after Myrtle Beach Police Chief Warren Gall.

Why acts of desperation?

Randy Webster, Director of Horry County Emergency Management, was quoted in local media as calling Atlantic Beach Bikefest an uncontrollable event. Webster went on to say with all the planning that has gone into Bikefest “it’s still uncontrollable.”

With Myrtle Beach as the epicenter for the crowds that come to Bikefest and with planners calling the event uncontrollable, passing what amounts to de facto martial law ordinances was the answer from Myrtle Beach City Council.

Or are there ulterior motives?

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Confederate Memorial Day Remembrance Sunday

Camp 1026 Myrtle Beach of the Sons of Confederate Veterans held a Confederate Memorial Day service Sunday April 22 at Withers Swash Cemetery, 723 Collins St., Myrtle Beach beginning at 3 p.m.

Camp 1026, known as the “Horry Rough and Readys”, began meeting January 2011 and received its charter June 2011. Its name traces back to Company G, 10th Regiment, S.C. Volunteers, in the War Between the States. Co. G, whose nickname was the Horry Rough and Readys, was made up of volunteers from central Horry County. The name was a unanimous choice of the 16 charter members of the camp.

Confederate Memorial Day is a remembrance of those citizen-soldiers who fought so valiantly for the Southern cause in the 1861-5 war. The Sons of Confederate Veterans is a heritage group whose main mission is to protect and maintain the graves of Confederate soldiers.

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