Dear business owner, manager, employee
and/or registered voter:
In response to Mayor Rhodes and the City Council’s
deliberate actions, we have formed HELP (Help Eliminate Lousy Politicians)
for Myrtle Beach. Help for Myrtle Beach is a legally incorporated
nonprofit nonpartisan organization whose dedicated mission is to
register voters, petition for single member districts, petition
for a referendum on the 1% Local Option Tourism Development Fee
(aka. The 1% Ad Tax), and to provide support to competent candidates
in the upcoming Myrtle Beach City Election. The concerned members
of HELP have sat on the sidelines long enough watching our beloved
city being led in a direction counter productive to our collective
interests. By saying our, we refer to anyone who lives, works, or
visits the city of Myrtle Beach and shares a heartfelt bond with
it.
Contrary to the disinformation put out by the anti-bikers and council
supporters, HELP realizes there are many more issues that need addressing
in addition to our bike week problems. No matter what side of the
biker dispute you may be on, the following issues directly impact
and affect your daily life in Myrtle Beach. If our concerns match
yours, we ask you to join our grass roots organization.
1) We believe the tax paying business
owners who live outside the city do not have adequate representation
on the City Council.
2) We believe the backlash of selective tourism
lasts throughout the whole year.
3) We believe it is the City Council’s responsibility
to provide a positive, accommodating, nurturing atmosphere for our
visitors.
4) We believe that interference from local government
in your right to assemble on private property with friends or guests
is wrong.
5) We believe that in the worst economic downturn
in perhaps 70 years, the Mayor and City Council have acted irresponsibly
in curtailing any tourism.
6) We believe that setting up random police roadblocks
without probable cause on major thoroughfares during high traffic
times is wrong.
7) We believe that taxes are too high now and that
the Mayor and City Council’s actions already have and will ultimately
result in higher taxes for all.
8) We believe that giving millions of the taxpayers
dollars to the Chamber of Commerce to market the city with no accountability
is wrong.
9) We believe that there should be no selective
tourism, discrimination, or profiling when it comes to the welcoming
of visitors to Myrtle Beach.
10) We believe that police efforts should be focused
on real crime, enforcing the existing laws, and not carrying out
the mayor’s personal war with bikers or harassing tourists on the
Boulevard.
11) We believe that freezing city employee raises
and adjusting their retirement benefits was wrong.
12) We believe that everyone in the City deserves
representation from a City Council member who actually lives in
their neighborhood and can represent their issues and concerns.
13) We believe that the public input of opposing
points of view must be equally considered when decisions are made,
and not manipulated to give the appearance of consideration.
14) We believe that any ordinance enacted should
be in strict accordance with existing state and federal laws.
15) We believe that the time is right to end the
good old boy system and special interest control of our city.
What kind of community do we wish to live in?
The many amenities we enjoy are a result of tourism dollars. As
much as our Mayor and City Council wish to remake Myrtle Beach into
their idea of utopia, they should be more concerned with improving
‘America’s Beach.’ Shouldn’t we expect the Mayor and City Council
to consider the concerns and needs of all of the citizens, and come
up with reasonable policies that make sense? Even if you are glad
that the bikers are gone because you don’t like the traffic or noise,
how could anyone justify the abrupt manner, methods, and timing
of how it was done? Was this really the action of a reasonable government
working in the interests of all or the actions of a few self-serving
people hell bent on a mission?
Most recently the Mayor and City Council let their cronies throw
them a “PR” party to celebrate their deeds. Was this ill-timed BBQ
party the act of a Mayor and a City Council considerate of the feelings
of everyone in the City, or just another example of the outrageously
arrogant and self-serving behavior that has resulted in the current
crisis? It has been chronicled that Nero played his violin while
Rome burned. This strikes us as very similar to the current situation.
People are suffering terribly whether they are business owners or
employees; most depend on tourism dollars directly or indirectly.
Yet the Mayor and City Council attended an event celebrating the
loss of millions of dollars of direly needed revenue. The Mayor
and City Council have not disclosed publicly who specifically has
and is funding the “Take Back May” committee or paid for their “party.”
We must ask ourselves why that is? What don’t they want us to know?
What are they hiding? We must all ask ourselves, judging from their
actions, attitude, and what they have said, is this really the kind
of accountability and leadership we should expect from those leading
our City?
If you believe as we do, we deserve better from our elected leaders,
then please make sure you are registered to vote, that you sign
our Single Member District petition, and that you support our efforts
to defeat the current Mayor and City Council members in November.
Single Member Districts means that City Council members would be
elected the same way as US Congressman or state legislators. They
must reside in and be elected by the citizens who live in their
voting district. (One person, one vote in their respective district
race.) This gives the individual voter more power and the ability
to vote for the candidate who then would represent the will of the
voters in their district. Therefore, a voter from the north part
of Myrtle Beach could not elect the member from the south end, etc.
The Mayor should be elected by the entire city.
HELP, BOOST, and a number of pro-tourist groups
have formed a coalition called “TAKE BACK MYRTLE BEACH.”
These groups have the common goal of replacing the Mayor and City
Council with people who have the best interest of the whole city
at heart. As we strive to elect accountable officials interested
in representing the interests of all, we ask for your support.
This support can be physical or financial and we believe
that a grass roots effort by reasonable people will put Myrtle Beach
back on the right track.
We are going to take back our beach. We need to register voters
living in the Myrtle Beach city limits and need petitioners to completely
fill out the petition forms. You can mail the completed voter registration
form directly to the Horry County Board of Voter Registration. Corporate
memberships and completed petition forms can be mailed to: Help
For Myrtle Beach, PO Box 3556, Myrtle Beach, S.C. 29588, or we can
pick them up.
It’s David against Goliath, and David needs your help.
If you have any questions, please contact Trevor
Tarleton: 843-446-9765
Click
here for a copy of "The Truth About HELP"
