Beating Back Biker Discrimination

Delray Beach motorcyclists prevail - for nowClick-2-ListenBy Michael LaForgiaPalm Beach Post Staff WriterTuesday, October 16, 2007
DELRAY BEACH — Looking out at a grizzled, bandana-and-leather-clad crowd this evening, the city commission put off a proposal to ban raucous motorcyclists from a five-block stretch of Atlantic Avenue, saying the city's noise problems need more research.

Last week, Mayor Rita Ellis, who said she heard complaints about bikers revving their engines in the bustling downtown district, asked city attorney Susan Ruby to research an ordinance that would ban motorcycles.

Bikers, business owners, patrons all disgruntled Opponents of the proposal said existing noise regulations should cover engine noise without resorting to a ban.

At tonight's meeting, Ruby offered commissioners two options for amending an existing ordinance, one that included a motorcycle ban and one that didn't. Before discussion began, Ellis noted she was disappointed that "our guests on motorcycles" had roared down the avenues in a show of unmuffled defiance over the weekend, after word of the proposed ban spread.

The suggested changes, up for first reading tonight, would have made motorcycles off-limits on Atlantic between Swinton and southbound Federal Highway, a corridor lined by shops and bistros."I believe that this is entirely in the best interest of our downtown," the mayor said tonight before discussion began.City commissioners Woodie McDuffie and Brenda Montague, however, said they would rather work with bikers toward a solution than ban them from the popular throughway, which runs from Interstate 95 to A1A.

McDuffie said the city had a noise problem, not necessarily a biker problem."What I would like for us to do is not single out one group of people, one motor vehicle," said McDuffie, addressing the motorcyclists who packed the audience and spilled out into the lobby. "We are willing to work with you."In the end, the city commissioners decided to follow a suggestion of city police Chief Larry Schroeder, who recommended the city survey business owners to get a better sense of what was causing noise problems on Atlantic. He also proposed waiting 90 days after the survey to see whether the corridor quiets down.

The city commission voted 4-0 to approve the ordinance option that omitted a ban on motorcyclists, pending results of the study. The bikers, who had gathered in the parking lot 2 1/2 hours before the issue came up, cheered the decision. Backs were slapped. Graying ponytails swished against leather vests."For now, it appears we have prevailed," said Rosco Sessa, national president of the Enforcers motorcycle club, who helped organize protests of the proposal. After the vote, the jubilant bikers poured out of the commission chambers, hopped on their hogs and roared away in the rain.