Starting at 2:30 p.m. this coming Sunday, the Market Common will host the 2017 Mayoral and City Council debates.
As of today, incumbents have not committed to participate. Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce President Brad Dean has stated that the chamber can not sponsor the debates as Brad Dean says he believes the incumbents do not support public debates.
Also, all major local media, including talk radio WRNN 99.5, WBTW, WPDE, and WMBFnews are refusing to promote the Market Common debate event.
The Market Common Debates are the only featured debates of the 2017 campaign season.
With a current emphasis on re-allocating Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce tourist tax dollars towards downtown city police and infrastructure, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber has not been overly enthusiastic about having publicly held debates.
With the current climate of high crime, high debt, a tax payer funded library, eminent domain, beach access parking issues, boulevard barricades, and beach bacteria pollution, incumbents are hoping to skip the debate and avoid the voters publicly as well.