Riders With a Cause
Event to Fight Stereotypes About Bikers
— by Drawing 50,000 to Downtown Miami

“Impacts of tourists are felt throughout South Beach when large numbers of them converge during major holiday weekends.”

The National Association of Black Bikers held a similar event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., last year. File photo courtesy of NABB.

By Bonnie Schindler

Teaming up with the city of Miami, the National Association of Black Bikers and the Latin American Motorcycle Association want to shatter unsavory images of motorcyclists by showing South Florida what they are really like during the first annual 2006 Miami International Bikefest Weekend, August 31 – September 3.

“NAAB’s membership strays far from the traditional stereotypical biker type,” the organization states in event overview documents submitted to the city of Miami. “They are homeowners, with disposable cash, whose median income is $80,000 annually.”

The weekend will consist of parties, exhibits, concerts and bike rides, many of which will be held in Bayfront Park. The official Bikefest kickoff block party, on Friday, September 1, will be hosted by BET VJ Big Tigger and has a projected attendance of 25,000. As of press time, actresses Gabrielle Union and Essence Atkins had been announced as part of the celebrity lineup expected for the weekend event. Big Tigger’s Street Corner Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists those living with HIV and AIDS, will receive a portion of the event profits.

By the next morning, the population of participants is expected to double as approximately 50,000 women and men – young and old – jump on their hogs, choppers, and scooters at Lyric Theater, head south on NW Second Avenue, west on SW Seventh Street, east on SW Eighth Street, north on Brickell Avenue and on into Bayfront Park.

And while the NABB and LAMA strive to reverse stereotypes about motorcycle riders, event participants will be allowed to live on the wild side while throttling their bikes on the Miami streets, as they are not required to wear helmets in the state of Florida if they are over age 21 and can show proof of insurance, according to the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety.

The city of Miami is looking forward to the mass of participants, consumers and tourists because “Labor Day weekend in downtown Miami is typically not a very busy time in terms of tourism,” Miami Communications Director Kelly Penton said. “The city [therefore] welcomes events that will bring business to the area during this time.”

A similar event held last year in Myrtle Beach attracted more than 150,000 people and had an estimated economic impact of about $15 million, according to the NABB event overview.

Penton said Miami officials could not predict what impact International Bikefest Weekend will have on their city. “We do not have final figures from the organization or participating hotels on the anticipated economic impact, and it would be premature to make a prediction at this time,” she said.

Despite Bikefest’s centralization in the city of Miami, some Miami Beach residents are bracing for strain.

“Miami is on the mainland, with many major and arterial roadways for traffic circulation, [and during] the holiday weekend, there will be more open lot parking and curbside parking than during the week,” said South Beach activist Frank Del Vecchio. “Miami Beach, on the other hand, is fully built up. It does not have an exclusively, or nearly so, commercial downtown. Residential is intermixed with commercial throughout Miami Beach, and the South Beach tourist destination in particular.”

The causeways, Del Vecchio said, will be impacted by the thousands associated with the bikers’ festival, as many of the participants will head to popular motorcycle bars such as Wet Willie’s on Ocean Drive. The roadways leading to the beaches will also be gridlocked with locals and tourists likewise out during the long Labor Day weekend, he said.

“Impacts of tourists are felt throughout South Beach when large numbers of them converge during major holiday weekends,” Del Vecchio said. “There is bound to be gridlock, conflicts between cars, motorcycles and pedestrians, parking and double-parking problems, etc.”

During a similar but separate event, Myrtle Beach felt a strain between the bikers, the cars and pedestrians, but not only because of the attendance levels; the problems also centered around race, said Janice Davidson, publisher and editor of Bikers USA, a motorcycle enthusiast’s magazine.

“Unfortunately, Myrtle Beach has a history of discriminating, according to many bikers who have attended, and according to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People who [sued] the city of Myrtle Beach and some of the city officials,” Davidson said.

According to Davidson, Myrtle Beach officials claimed it needed to set up different traffic patterns for the Black Bike Week than it had for Bike Week, a predominantly white biker event, because there are actually more bikers and pedestrians during Black Bike Week.

But at the conclusion of the litigation arising after the 2004 black rider rally, Federal District Court Judge Terry L. Wooten ruled that the actions of the city were racially biased, and that Myrtle Beach officials must enact “substantially similar traffic patterns” for both events.

In addition, Davidson said there have been reports of some shop owners closing during Black Bike Week. “The shop owners claim their reason is that the crowds are more unruly, and deny that they close due to racial reasons.”

Separate from the 2006 Miami International Bikefest Weekend, the Black Bike Week is not presented and organized by NABB. In fact, Keith Hyman, founder and CEO of the National Association of Black Bikers, said all of their events were “highly regarded” in Myrtle Beach. Adding that while the Association is shifting gears and heading south of the Carolinas, they had no incidents in the three years of NABB events in the city.

NABB, a nonprofit organization focused on promoting and protecting the interests of black motorcyclists nationwide, is dedicated to ensuring the voice of the black biker be heard when legislative matters are discussed, according to the association’s mission statement.

But NABB welcomes all nationalities and races.

And unlike Black Bike Week in South Carolina, the 2006 Miami International Bikefest Weekend could be a melting pot – an idea publisher Davidson is keen on.

“I have never seen an event which is called a white motorcycle event or Latino motorcycle event, [and] there has been a move to begin calling the Myrtle Beach Black Bike Week by new names such as Myrtle Beach Sportsbike Week,” she said. “Personally, I enjoy motorcycle events that appeal to, and invite, all races; I'm very happy Miami is welcoming NABB, and I am pleased to see that all motorcyclists regardless of heritage are welcomed to the event in Miami.”

But sometimes good intentions can still lead to discrimination, and according to Hyman, motorcyclists endure the wrath of police officers.

“Motorcyclists in general are often times isolated; African-American motorcyclists are not an exception to this,” he said. “As a non-discriminating organization, we support the rights of all law-abiding motorcyclists to not be profiled or targeted by law enforcement and/or city officials during events and casual/organized rides.”

But Hyman is not worried about the high number of arrests reported during Miami Beach’s Urban Beach Weekend, a hip-hop themed event, which resulted in 1,010 arrests, and sparked complaints by the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We were warmly invited and welcomed by mayor of Miami Manny Diaz,” Hyman said. “Mayor Diaz specifically requested that NABB give ‘favorable consideration’ to his invitation to bring the 2006 Miami International Bikefest to the city of Miami. We expect their full support.”

The city of Miami doesn’t expect any problems either. “The city of Miami has a very diverse community and our Police Department has extensive experience with large-scale events: Mardi Gras, Carnival Miami, Calle Ocho, just to name a few,” Penton said. “They will treat this like any other large-scale event, ensuring the safety of the participants and the surrounding community while allowing participants to enjoy the event.”

Plus, Miami International Bikefest Weekend’s participants are hardly motorcycle gang members, Penton said. “The group putting together this bike fest includes a demographic of older professionals that enjoy spending their off-time biking.”

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com.