Lompoc city officials won’t pursue playing host to a segment of the Amgen Tour of California for 2012 after all, following a lack of support by the majority on the City Council.
But the issue of bringing the internationally renowned bicycle tour to the city will likely come up again very soon.
On Sept. 6, the council voted 3-2 to shelve the idea for the time being, citing a lack of time to prepare and recruit enough volunteers to raise the $100,000 necessary.
“We came in at the 11th hour, and Amgen actually gave us some extra time to meet the [deadlines],” Councilman Bob Lingl told the Sun. “It’s unfortunate we came into this so late, but considering all the paperwork that needed to be done and the volunteers that would have been required, we thought it would be best to hold off right now.”
“As I said at the meeting, if we can’t do it right, we might as well not do it at all,” he said.
Councilwoman Ashley Costa was successful in negotiating an application deadline extension with tour officials, but moving forward would have required a small army of volunteers to drive the fundraising effort.
City officials expressed their interest in keeping the issue alive for next year, pointing out that they would like to see the newly hired economic development director work on a feasibility study for 2013, as well as work with the Chamber of Commerce on a fundraising strategy.
This article appears in Sep 15-22, 2011.