Anti-Bike Week Rally

Although rain showers and threatening skies kept the turnout below expectations, organizers of the rally to express grievances about the excesses of Motorcycle Week last evening were not disheartened. "Considering the weather, I'm happy," said Harry Schilling, who spearheaded the effort. "It's a start."

Some 75 people, many of them elderly, gathered in the parking lot outside City Hall, many of whom signed a petition circulated by group calling itself the Laconia Citizens Action Committee for a Motorcycle Week Referendum urging the City Council to put the rally to a vote. Voters, the petition proclaimed, should be given an opportunity to choose between a 10-day event, a four-day or no event at all.

Moreover, the committee called on the City Council to address 13 issues rising from the rally. Apart from obvious concerns about excessive noise and speed, traffic congestion and sanitation, the list also includes "fiduciary interests by local and state government employees and representatives," the relationship between the city and the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association (LMWA), and municipal expenses for the rally.

In a statement read to the City Council, Schilling referred to Bike Week as an event that has "outstripped our city services," inconveniences many for the sake of a few, "does nothing for the image of our fine town," "is an assault on your senses for nine days," and "no one claims responsibility for."

Schilling told the council that 142 residents had signed the petition calling for a referendum and organizers expected to gather another 90 signatures shortly.

Mayor Mark Fraser explained to Schilling that since the city does not legislate by referendum, any referendum would be nonbinding. Although a nonbinding referendum could be placed on the ballot by a simple majority vote of the council, the mayor said that state law barred referenda from the ballot in a presidential election year. Therefore, Fraser said a referendum could not be put to the voters before November 2005.

Without questioning Fraser's explanation of the process, Schilling reminded the mayor of the other issues the committee raised apart from the referendum, which he said the council could address at any time.

Speaking for the LMWA to reporters after the rally, Rick Fink of O'Neill, Griffin, Bodi, a Manchester advertising agency and public relations firm, stressed that the rally has become "a world class event because it is nine days." He added that the rally annually added $200 million to the local and state economy. If the rally were shrunk to a weekend, he said "you could say goodbye to lots of the people and lots of the money." As for the grievances expressed by the petitioners, Fink said that "the door is always open at the Association and we'll always hear your complaints."