Why the Council should have the final say on a second motorcycle rally

UPDATE: Unfortunately, I received incomplete information during my meeting with our City Attorney in December. Yesterday, the Assistant City Attorney (our regular City Attorney is out sick), informed me that because this permit is already in process, the Council has no legal grounds to deny it. Any action the Council took could only affect future permits. So I'm dropping opposition to this event.

You may or may not have heard, but there could be a second motorcycle rally this year in Fayetteville. Organizers are calling it Bikes, Babes, and Bling, and the event is planned for Independence Day weekend.

I've called for a City Council vote on whether or not to approve the event permit. This is the first time a the Council has reviewed an event permit, but according to Kit Williams, our City Attorney, the use of public lands has always been the Council's jurisdiction. In fact, there isn't any legislation that authorizes the Mayor to sign event permits without Council approval.

Because of that, the City Attorney recommends an ordinance to explicitly allow the Mayor to sign most event permits without a Council vote. We need to follow our Attorney's advice so that the Council isn't stuck micromanaging event permits every meeting. Some people are pushing the rumor that I want every permit to come to the City Council. That couldn't be farther from the truth, and I'm actually going to be bringing forward legislation that will give the Mayor the power to sign most permits without coming to the Council.

In the meantime, there are some events which deserve extra scrutiny. A second motorcycle rally is one of those events. Having just one motorcycle rally is extremely disruptive to businesses, residents, and safety resources, but it's just one weekend, and it's tolerated. Adding a second puts an unnecessary burden on too many people in our community.

My move to have this considered by the Council is being criticized as failing to support businesses. I'm being told that in these hard economic times, we should do anything that brings any kind of money our way.

But if that were true, we'd approve every new development for the property taxes and the construction jobs, and we'd cut noncritical services like concerts in the park which only cost money and don't draw people to local businesses. We don't do that because money isn't where the conversation ends; we have other considerations, too. We know that to be a successful community means we have to keep compatibility in mind, and a second motorcycle rally is not compatible. It is good for only a few.

Some local businesses are hurt by the disruption a second motorcycle rally causes. Even downtown, in the heart of the rally, businesses suffer through the event. At least one retail store, Nightbird Books, is on record saying it hurts their business. A second rally would be one more hardship for locally-owned, funky businesses to cope with.

On the other hand, this rally isn't critical to the success of the businesses pushing for it. I've only been going to George's for six years, but they've been around for more than 80. I know they, other bars and restaurants, and hotels get a lot of business during big tourism events, but they don't need a second rally to survive. George's even survived the Great Depression! By all accounts, our economy is not as bad as it was then, the worst of this recession is over, and with the predictions being made about the Hogs, I'm sure they'll do just fine this year even without a second rally.

There's more to this rally than the money, and there's more to our community than bars, restaurants, and hotels. How will a second rally affect the Walton Arts Center? They've said in the past that they haven't been able to do anything when Bikes Blues and BBQ is happening. They tried to serve beer at the last one, but attendance was lackluster. Will they be able to coordinate anything with a second motorcycle rally? Do we want to remove another week of possible performances from the Walton Arts Center's calendar?

Not to mention the affect is has on peace in our neighborhoods. Residents already tolerate one rally. A second rally just goes too far.

When it comes down to it, the businesses who want this are only looking out for themselves. The City Council's job is to look out for the entire community, and that's why this event needs to be considered by the City Council.

What you can do

If you can, commit to coming to the City Council meeting on January 19. It starts at 6pm, but this will be the last item on the agenda, so it's probably safe not to show up until 7. Either way, be prepared to spend a few hours at City Hall.

The other thing you can do is write your Council members and the Mayor. The best way to do that is to ask the City Clerk to forward your comments to us and include what you say in the record. Her name is Sondra Smith, and you can reach her at ssmith@ci.fayetteville.ar.us.