The City of Myrtle Beach lived through 5 weeks of violence since it reopened the beaches May 15, 2020. Multiple shootings highlight most weekends downtown.
Barricades now line the city street of Ocean Boulevard, scaring off many mid American families. The barricades have done nothing to stop the shootings.
As a result, Myrtle Beach city leaders adopted a resolution on Wednesday. The new resolution proclaims weekends as “extraordinary events.”
As of June 17, 2020, all weekends leading up to the Fourth of July weekend will be considered an extraordinary event.
An extraordinary event allows the police department to implement a curfew. Such a curfew would require all tourists to be off the streets of the city by 9 p.m. Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock put forward a public safety plan for the “extraordinary event”.
The city of Myrtle Beach will close Ocean Boulevard every Friday, Saturday and Sunday around 9 p.m. during the “extraordinary event” weekends.
The ordinance also gives police permission to temporarily shut down a business if police determine that it poses a public safety risk and that business has been warned.
The closure of Ocean Boulevard, was controversial and brought great concern to the business community.
“You’re talking about enacting policies that will negatively affect us even further. You will have businesses that don’t survive this,” said Michelle Kerscher, the general manager of the Gay Dolphin.
“We would all lose so much to be shut down at a certain time Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” Rachel Beckerman, brand manager for the SkyWheel, added.
As WMBFnews reports: A second reading is planned. The second reading will:
- Declare events of any description with an anticipated or actual estimated attendance of greater than 10,000 people to be an extraordinary event
- Declare the “NOPI” and “Mustang” (and other similar events) to be an Extraordinary Event based upon the history of disorderly, unruly, and sometimes unlawful behavior, including but not limited to noise ordinance violations, motor vehicle violations and resulting traffic congestion
- Declare Memorial Day Weekend (Thursday through Monday), July 4th (from July 2 to July 7), and Labor Day Weekend (Thursday through Monday), as extraordinary events
- Delete section referencing motorcycle events immediately preceding and on Memorial Day
- Authorize the chief of police (with the concurrence of the city manager) to temporarily close businesses when it is necessary to ensure the safety of the public. Such action to be taken only upon the failure of at least one previous effort to achieve compliance, and to be effective only from the moment of such order until that business normally reopens (but not sooner than four hours)
- To authorize the city manager to impose a curfew in certain areas of the city as necessary to maintain public safety and good order.