A tribute to Ted Kennedy

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R.I.P

Ted Kennedy

More on Motorcycle Custom Builders Joining SEMA

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CUSTOM BUILDERS,
from the pages of www.BikerNet.com

MORE ON SEMA MOTORCYCLE COUNCIL EFFORT-- I got a return phone call from Will Woods head VP of Councils for SEMA. I told him about the interest of the motorcycle community in joining SEMA but that you wanted to have a MC council so that the motorcycle community would not feel left out in the cold. To advise on direction for bikes, etc. He said that he understood and that a MC council should not be a major hurdle. However he did say that talks would have to be conducted so that you all could express your thoughts and expectations of SEMA and they could do the same. Then both side could see if it was a positive move for all.

Florida pulls a sneaky one...who's surprised?

I hailed my home state as Florida off and on since 1963. So when my friend Rogue sends me these little updates regarding Florida Leg. workings...I will post them.
Chessie


It appears that the Florida Legislature tabled HB 5007A to let everyone believe it was a dead issue and then snuck the same wording into CS/SB-40a and it has passed both the house and the senate and sent to the governor.

This bill contains the changes to funding for Florida Motorcycle Safety Education Program. The bill will have the money moved from motorcycle rider education to the Florida Department of Transportation.

People can e-mail and phone Governor Charlie Christ and ask him to remove it from the bill before he signs it.

In 2008 the Florida legislature raised the fee for motorcycle licensing and not 6 months later they are raiding the fund.

This is Not A New Fee it has been going on for years It Is A Increased Fee

No one has ever explained how this money is being spent But I can not see where it is on rider education.

The last I heard the now Mandatory Classes are $295.00 and Up.



Here are some numbers of money generated. WHERE IS IT??????

http://www.flhsmv.gov/html/safety.html

General Reports

Revenue Report FY 2000-2008

[each year is a separate PDF]



FY July 2007–June 2008

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $1,669,207.50

Total: $1,669,207.50



FY July 2006–June 2007

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $1,516,345.00

Total: $1,516,345.00



FY July 2005–June 2006

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $1,433,232.50

Total: $1,433,232.50



FY July 2004–June 2005

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $1,254,595.00

Total: $1,254,595.00



FY July 2003–June 2004

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $1,123,210.00

Total: $1,123,210.00



FY July 2002–June 2003

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $95,675.00

Total: $95,675.00



FY July 2001–June 2002

Motorcycle Safety Education

State Revenue: $820,152.50

Total: $820,152.50



FY July 2000–June 2001

Motorcycle Safety Education

FY 00/01 State Revenue: $811,365.40

FY 99/00 State Revenue: $676,366.17



FY July 1999–June 2000

Motorcycle Safety Education

FY 99/00 State Revenue: $678,366.17

FY 98/99 State Revenue: $630,825.70



---------------------------------------------

NOTES:

http://www.flhsmv.gov/html/FactsFiguresFY2006/GenRevCol.htm

General Revenue Collections

MC not separate

--------------------------------------------------------

http://www.flhsmv.gov/hsmvdocs/2007SunsetReport.pdf

Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles

Agency Report to the Sunset Advisory Committee

January 2007



Page 26:

Motorcycle Safety Education Fees



FY 2004-05 Actual Cash Receipts: 1,241,160

FY 2005-06 Actual Cash Receipts: 1,427,653

FY 2006-07 Estimated Cash Receipts: 1,470,483



Page 32:

Program: Florida Highway Patrol

Budget Entity 7610010



The following are grants awarded to the department from DOT and the US Department of Justice. If the FHP was abolished and assuming the same federal monies are available, these amounts would still come into the state; however, they would be awarded to other agencies or entities. Other agencies would have to establish policies and procedures meeting federal requirements to ensure grant funding continues. Policy development by various local agencies could result in a mixture of policies that conflict or fail to meet federal requirements.



MC only:

Statewide Motorcycle Safety Public Information-$159,294.81

Grant from NHTSA through DOT



Motorcycle Safety Training Program - $75,206.60

Grant from NHTSA through DOT

-------------------------------------------



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https://apps.fldfs.com/fsaa/searchCatalogResultsDetail.aspx?id=34023

CSFA State Fiscal Year 2008-2009

CSFA Number:


Rogue

Sturgis Freedom Fighters

Motorcycle Hall Of Fame Member 2005

www.bikerrogue.com

My thoughts on Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach

By now everyone knows the story. The government and the people of Myrtle Beach have spoken. There will be no more sponsorship of bike weeks from the city of Myrtle Beach.

I have heard people lamenting this decision; these people of course do not live in or near Myrtle Beach, but instead, are vendors or participators of the yearly event. I know, I’ve heard all the reasons why people who don’t live in the area give for the “plus” or “bonus” that comes from hosting such large events, but from my experience, I stand along side the people of Myrtle Beach, and applaud the balls it took to wean themselves from the fast money teat.

Now, I’ve never been to Myrtle Beach, but I did live less than 75 miles south of Daytona for many….many years. I started going to Daytona for spring bike week in 1978. I stayed at the Cabbage Patch Campground, back when it actually was a cabbage patch. I stayed at the ABATE campground during its infancy. I actually met Big Daddy Roth (I met him back in the early ‘60’s), and I can actually remember a time when you could walk down Main Street without having to weave through the spectators like you were a lava flow making its slow but sure way to the sea…I can remember when I didn’t have to park the bike in order to get around downtown, I could actually ride without fear of major engine damage due to overheating. I remember when the Boot Hill was still nothing but a hole in the wall, and I remember getting drunk and stumbling across the street to the cemetery…just to wander around and be alone. It’s not like that now there, and I’ll bet the fine people of Myrtle Beach have just as many fond memories of their town… how it was before the circus set up their tents…and invited all their rude, drunk, disrespectful friends to town.

Forgive me if you think I’m calling you rude and disrespectful. I imagine that you, just like me, are in general a very fine citizen of your town, your county, your state, and your country. But if you have ever come to Myrtle Beach and rode your bike into town and rapped your pipes at a red light or stop sign, then your were disrespectful. If you ever flashed your tits while riding on the back of your man’s bike…then perhaps the citizens would think that as being disrespectful. If you ever drove through a residential neighborhood late at night, looking for your rental house….with perhaps four of your closest buddies behind you…then it could be construed that you are being disrespectful. If you ever cut somebody off at a light…and chalked it up to being a tourist and not knowing where you were going, then you were being disrespectful.

As for the amount of money events such as these Bike Weeks attract to the area, frankly speaking…sometime money isn’t worth what the community loses or gives up. Let’s think about this for a moment. A community hosting such a large event, eventually loses it’s “small town” feel. It loses it’s friendly attractiveness, not because of any one particular reason, but for a myriad of reasons. But let’s just choose a few for the moment. It’s hard to be friendly to people who come to town for a week, and demand so much from the city and it’s citizens. It’s really hard to feel friendly towards people who think nothing of keeping you up all night with buzz of their machines…cruising the streets 24/7. Clogging the roadways turning getting to work from an affair that should take 15 minutes into an hour of inconvenience and rudeness. Often times finding parking for your everyday activities is out of the question. Why? Because people are now charging 5.00 to 10.00 dollars for parking spaces that are normally free when the circus isn’t in town.

Sometimes, people in these communities start to realize that when such large masses of humanity converges on their towns…no matter how good the community has gotten at serving the masses…they discover the money isn’t worth what they lose with the small town feeling of hospitality they take such great pride in. They see quite a bit of damage to the city once the bikers leave town. Litter, graffiti, and just plain filth left by people with an indifferent attitude. It’s not their town, they are paying for the citizens to put up with their “privileged” attitudes. Quite frankly, I think Myrtle Beach has tried to work with the multitudes of bikers who come each year…but once you grow from an event that attracts hundreds…or even a few thousand, to an event that attracts nearly a half million people in a weeks time…you have to decide what your willing to give up, and what you aren’t.

So you see, it takes balls to be a city that has enjoyed the biker bucks for so long…to stand back and say…”ENOUGH….WE’VE HAD ENOUGH!” We don’t like what we have become. It’s not you…it’s not that your bikers…it’s just that we have lost our identity…we have lost the sense of our community, and we just want it back. We want our streets, we want our beaches, we want our self respect back!”

Good for you Myrtle Beach. Good for you.
Chessie