No parking means little Bike Week business in South Daytona

SOUTH DAYTONA, Fla. — Carefully laid plans for Bike Week may have hit a major snag that may cost vendors thousands of dollars in South Daytona.

Channel 9's Volusia County reporter Blaine Tolison learned that there were no permits for bike parking along parts of U.S. Route 1 where dozens of vendors often set up.

Pictures of Bike Week in 2011 show a crowd of motorcycles in South Daytona, but things look different this year.

"Bike Week has been really bad this year, absolutely. There is no Bike Week as far as we're concerned out here in South Daytona," said business owner Rich Pagano.

Businesses are blaming the lack of parking on U.S. 1 and a lack of vendors for the decline in traffic.

This is the first year of Bike Week since the city's major facelift of U.S. 1. New sidewalks and palm trees were added, but street parking was taken away.

"It looks nice, but that's all it is. And the signs all say welcome bikers. We don't feel quite so welcome anymore," said biker Bunny Edwards.

Officials with the city of South Daytona said permits to allow parking along the roadway during Bike Week were requested from the Florida Department of Transportation. The city said the request was denied. An FDOT spokesperson said it has no records showing South Daytona ever applied for parking permits.

"The businesses here, we feel that somebody didn't -- somebody dropped the ball," said Pagano.

Either way, business owners said they are losing thousands of dollars. Many said they anticipated a big crowd, so they ordered extra food and beverages. That's money lost to hire seasonal workers and get through the slower seasons.

"Actually, I'd like to see the DOT and the city in the same room with the business owners and get together and figure out what's going to go on in the near future," said Pagano.

Bike Week runs through this Sunday.

WFTV