Daytona may consider vendor ban - News

OFF THE WIRE
By EILEEN ZAFFIRO-KEAN, Staff writer
I guess they didn't learn anything when Rossmeyer moved out to Destination Daytona or from Myrtle Beach's insane attack on vendors which bankrupted many local merchants.


http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2011/02/11/daytona-may-consider-vendor-ban.html
DAYTONA BEACH -- For decades, the Main Street landscape during Bike Week has been shaped by throngs of roaring motorcycles and a gauntlet of temporary vendors selling everything from giant turkey legs to T-shirts.
Those vendors will disappear from the picture if the city's elected officials follow the lead of City Commissioner Pam Woods. At next week's City Commission meeting, Woods said she'll suggest the city outlaw the outdoor salespeople to return the tavern-dominated Main Street to the days when it included a mix of businesses and drew people 365 days a year.
The idea of a vendor ban is a divisive one, with longtime beachside merchants supporting the ban, saying it could rejuvenate local businesses, and Main Street property owners saying it would destroy a longstanding and profitable tradition.
Still, Woods says it's time to talk about it again. "It's been a concern of mine for years," Woods said. "All you have to do is drive down Main Street to see how good it's been for that street . . . There's empty buildings most of the year."
Woods will need at least three other commissioner votes to put an end to the Main Street itinerant vendor era, and it's not clear if that will happen.
If it does happen, it probably won't be at Wednesday's meeting. Three other commissioners and the mayor say they want to study the idea before they make up their minds. If there are changes, they most likely won't kick in until next year.
"I think we're going to have to tread slowly on this and do some research," said new City Commissioner Patrick Henry, who said he's "not taking either side" for the moment. "There's legal issues and how it affects the rest of the city ... We'd open a precedent to other areas of town banning it, too."
If the city's going to talk about itinerant vending, then the discussion should involve the whole city, Mayor Glenn Ritchey said.
"I'm not prepared to say Main Street is the only area that should be in the conversation," Ritchey said.
Some Main Street business owners, who make thousands of dollars each year leasing space outside their stores to the out-of-town vendors, don't have to ponder the idea to decide how they feel.
"I'm highly disturbed," Froggy's Saloon owner Denny Honeycutt said Thursday. "It's got everyone on Main Street upset ... They're trying to break Main Street."
Helen Humphreys, owner of Humphreys and Son Jewelers on Main Street, said it would be "really sad" if the temporary vendors were banned from her road.
"It adds flavor to the experience," said Humphreys, who has vendors selling sunglasses and T-shirts on her property during Bike Week. "We have a lot of fun. It's the excitement of special merchandise."
She said it would be "shortsighted" of the city to impose a blanket ban on Main Street.
"There has to be a reasonable middle ground there," said Humphreys, who sits on the city's Main Street Redevelopment Board. "I'd love to see more permanent business, too."
Woods said her purpose isn't "to be punitive."
"We need to truly have a year-round economy," she said.
Woods also argues the entertainment zone the city wants to create in the core tourist area is never going to take off if Main Street remains a corridor mainly lined with bars and shops that sit empty most of the year.
Woods has the support of several State Road A1A businessmen, who say the temporary vendors have cut into their profits for years with unfair advantages.
"We're here year-round paying the taxes, and they just come for a little while and leave," said Dave LaMotte, manager of one of the Salty Dog surf shops on A1A.
"Itinerant vending for all intents and purposes is an experiment we tried to revitalize Main Street and it didn't work," said Paul Politis, owner of Gator Beach and Sports on A1A. "If Main Street is going to have a chance to be a viable business corridor then itinerant vending has to go."
City Commissioner Rob Gilliland isn't convinced temporary vendors are solely to blame for sliding profits at beachside businesses. Destination Daytona drawing bikers to the Ormond Beach area and the bad economy are probably bigger culprits, he said.
Like Henry, Gilliland wants to do some research on the effects itinerant vending has on the local economy. But unless he sees some new facts and figures, he probably won't back Woods' idea.
"To me that's a 'shoot first, aim second' action," Gilliland said. "A lot of the people who look like vendors are actually the businesses themselves selling food."
The argument that the vendors take all the Bike Week profits out of town isn't accurate, Humphreys said.
"You think I let a vendor set up on my property without paying me a really large sum of money?" she asked.
Humphreys said she also continues to make jewelry sales inside her shop during Bike Week.
If the city doesn't back off, it could wind up putting some Main Street businesses out of business, she said. Bikers who show up and don't see vendors are going to wonder where the party is, she said.
"The harsh reality is we're in brutal times," she said. "We may be dangerously throwing out the proverbial baby with the bath water."

By the numbers
Here's a roundup of the number of vendors during Bike Week and Biketoberfest, and the amount of money the city collected in vendor fees.
BIKE WEEK
Year; vendors; city revenues
2008; 204; $109,444
2009; 162; $89,600
2010; 152; $84,300

BIKETOBERFEST
2008; 128; $76,800
2009; 108; $64,800
2010; 87; $52,200
Source: City of Daytona Beach