Hollister - Despite the pleas of a handful of people who stepped forward to defend the Hollister Independence Rally Committee, the City Council voted Monday to discontinue that group's contract with Hollister to organize the city's annual biker rally, leaving the event's future uncertain.After nearly an hour of discussion, during which three people stepped forward to defend HIRC and the Hollister Independence Rally, the council voted three to one to discontinue the non-profit group's contract to organize the rally. Councilman Robert Scattini cast the sole dissenting vote. Mayor Pauline Valdivia was absent.
"It's a tradition in Hollister. It put Hollister on the map," Scattini said prior to the vote. "My take is I'm going to support the rally this year as it is."
Though HIRC lost the contract, council members said that they are open to exploring alternative organizers for a rally this year.
But, citing financial and public safety concerns, Scattini's colleagues on the council saw things differently. Just before the council voted, Councilwoman Monica Johnson summed up the feelings of the majority.
"It really comes down to: Can we continue to afford it the way we've been doing it?" she said. "Bottom line: We can't."
This year's rally, which drew about 120,000 people, left Hollister with a $360,000 public safety bill that will have to be paid out of the cash-strapped city's general fund, according to Councilman Doug Emerson. The only verifiable revenue that the 2005 rally brought into the city is $68,000 - $52,000 from the sale of temporary business licenses and $16,000 from sales tax on merchandise purchased from vendors, he said.
The rally, and HIRC, have been under fire for quite some time now. Several weeks ago, Hollister Police Chief Jeff Miller blasted the rally in a law enforcement report, stating he cannot guarantee adequate public safety staffing at future events due to the escalating threat of violence between rival motorcycle gangs. Last month, a majority of council members discounted an economic impact report on the rally submitted by HIRC, which stated that the event brought more than $370,000 into the city, saying it lacked factual data.
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