After axing the city’s annual motorcycle rally last month,
Hollister’s City Council is now charged with advertising the
cancellation to those outside the community, however the Hollister
Independence Rally Committee has refused to lend its Web site as a
vehicle to spread the word to the masses.
Hollister – After axing the city’s annual motorcycle rally last month, Hollister’s City Council is now charged with advertising the cancellation to those outside the community, however the Hollister Independence Rally Committee has refused to lend its Web site as a vehicle to spread the word to the masses.
In addition to disseminating the news through local media outlets, the city also wanted to put a bulletin on HIRC’s Web site to reach a broader audience, but committee members refused to help out, said City Manager Clint Quilter. HIRC’s Web site, www.hollisterrally.com, has been the main source of information on the rally for the last nine years, and Quilter, at the direction of Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller, wanted to use the site to make sure rally-goers know the event has been canceled this year.
“I would have liked it if (HIRC) had said yes,” Quilter said Thursday. “But I don’t think they wanted to participate in not having a rally and I understand that.”
HIRC Treasurer John Loyd had originally brought the idea of letting the city use the Web site to HIRC’s board of directors last month, but the board voted against the idea. In an e-mail to Quilter, Loyd said the board gave a “variety of reasons” for not letting the city use the site.
“The bottom line was that directors did not want the rally’s web site used for this purpose,” Loyd wrote. “The URL is registered to HIRC through 2011. Please direct city employees to stop their inquires into the use of our domain name and web site.”
The dates for the 2006 Hollister Independence Rally are still posted on dozens of motorcycle enthusiast Web sites, many of which direct visitors to HIRC’s now defunct site, with no mention that the event was canceled.
Getting the news out is crucial in order to prevent a huge gathering that the city can’t control and to make sure bikers don’t flock to Hollister expecting an organized event this year, Quilter said.
“We don’t want to discourage people from coming to Hollister,” he said. “But at the same time we’re not prepared for 120,000 people coming to the city expecting an organized rally.”
The city put out press releases after canceling the rally and dozens of newspapers covered the story, including the Los Angeles Times, San Jose Mercury and San Francisco Chronicle. Quilter said the city has jumped at every opportunity to publicize the cancellation, but didn’t have any additional plans to spread the word.
HIRC’s refusal to help the city broadcast the news via its Web site further goaded many City Council members already frustrated that the non-profit group went bankrupt before paying the city the $250,000 it owed for law enforcement costs during last year’s rally.
“To me this is just like sour grapes,” said City Councilman Doug Emerson – one of the three council members who voted to cancel the rally citing financial and safety concerns. “It sours the relationship the city had with HIRC.”
Mario Encinias, a member of HIRC’s board of directors, refused to comment on the issue. Fellow director Karen Mulligan said HIRC’s relationship with the city of Hollister “was a real sore subject,” but declined to further comment.
And in an e-mail to the Free Lance, Loyd said the city should stop trying to high-jack HIRC’s Web site and focus on the hordes of bikers that are still planning to invade Hollister.
“The people are coming, even though they have been told that there will be no official rally. I doubt that an announcement on the rally’ s Web site is part of the city’s safety plan for that weekend,” Loyd said. “Since we know that people are coming the city should probably focus on a plan and not worry about HIRC’s Web site.”
HIRC, which organized the city’s signature event for nine years, filed for bankruptcy in January after giving thousands of dollars to local charities, but before paying more than $350,000 it owed to 94 creditors, including vendors, phone companies and the city. Quilter said the city doesn’t expect to be reimbursed for the $250,000 HIRC stills owes it for hosting last year’s biker rally.
Emerson said he just wants to make sure the bikers that do come this year know what to expect. Although he is predicting somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 bikers to turn out for this year’s non-event, Emerson said he isn’t expecting any problems. Hotels in Hollister, Gilroy and Morgan Hill have been filling up with reservations for the June 30 to July 2 weekend for months and innkeepers haven’t heard of many bikers canceling. Local business owners and law enforcement officials are also planning for a scaled-down motorcycle invasion this year.
“We know people are going to come, we just want them to know the facts,” Emerson said. “I don’t think we’re going to have a riot and if the bikers come in and do create a problem, I’m certainly not going to be in a position to support the rally next year.”
Brett Rowland covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
