The Monday morning quarterbacks were deep into overtime this
week. With the 10th Independence Day motorcycle rally
– official or otherwise – behind us, people around Hollister are
busy analyzing what happened, what didn’t and whether or not there
were too many police officers in town.
The Monday morning quarterbacks were deep into overtime this week. With the 10th Independence Day motorcycle rally – official or otherwise – behind us, people around Hollister are busy analyzing what happened, what didn’t and whether or not there were too many police officers in town.
Cops are like insurance – it seems like a waste of money until you need that resource. There were no major problems in Hollister last weekend. Police exhibited professionalism, and the people who like to ride loud motorcycles and hang out on weekends mostly behaved themselves.
While a lot of people are participating in a round of recrimination and blame assignation, at least one person is taking a different approach.
Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini, an outspoken supporter of a motorcycle event, is already at work to see what might be pulled out of the ashes of the event.
That’s a good thing. To understand fully what’s at work here, it’s important to take a look at the event’s history. In 1947, some bikers – mostly recent veterans of World War II, history recounts – came to town for races, got a little beery and some bottles were broken. Some of them landed in jail, some in the hospital and a legend was born.
Fifty years later, some local folks decided to put together an organized rally to commemorate the anniversary of what most agree was something of a non-event, and the Hollister Independence Rally Committee was born. The self-styled promoters of the event never were able to generate sufficient revenue to pay the staggering costs of law enforcement, and the conversation degenerated into discussions about how much police protection is sufficient.
With only a few months to go before this year’s rally, HIRC made it clear that it could not guarantee paying the freight on law enforcement this year, either. With the city of Hollister struggling financially, the majority of the City Council elected to cancel any official event.
In our view, that was the only responsible approach, given the lack of a qualified event promoter. HIRC had a decade to prove itself, and it was past time to call in the bets. As far as law enforcement staffing, we would prefer to leave that decision to professional law enforcement agencies.
As the exhaust fumes clear, it’s good to know at least one person in City Hall is thinking clearly. Scattini already is establishing a committee to look into the feasibility of mounting a sanctioned event next year. It’s a discussion worth having.
Here’s our take: if the rally is to survive, the city needs some guarantees from an event promoter. We would propose that the city solicit bids from promoters, and demand that the successful bidder carry adequate insurance and supply a bond for law enforcement costs. Further, we urge the city to set a venue where admission can be charged and crowds contained. The municipal airport is just such a site. Containing the event would allow promoters and the city to control crowds, extract admission fees and do all the things that should have taken place when the event got started in 1997.
The event is a boon to many local merchants, some of whom claim to make six months’ receipts in one long weekend. But it’s unfair to ask local residents to subsidize a financial headache that offers them little or no direct benefit.
Scattini’s approach is right on the money. The community needs to involve itself in a discussion that leads to a profitable, safe event.
