Fort Worth opts not to require COVID masks in city buildings, libraries, rec centers
Visitors and employees in Fort Worth libraries, recreation centers and other city buildings will not be required to wear COVID masks, after the City Council narrowly voted against a mandate.
The vote was 4-5, with support for the ordinance coming from sponsors Elizabeth Beck and Chris Nettles, as well as fellow council members Carlos Flores and Jared Williams.
“We are begging you, on bended knee, to help our community,” Beck told other council members. “The delta variant is raging through our community. It keeps the people that use our great facilities across the city safe.”
But five council members cast no votes, including Mayor Mattie Parker, Leonard Firestone, Michael Crain, Cary Moon and Gyna Bivens. Several opponents said the proposal was an attempt to get Fort Worth involved in the political debate over masks that has created tension among cities, counties and school districts and Gov. Greg Abbott, who has refused to let local governments pass mask mandates.
Some of those local governments, including the Fort Worth school district, have defied the governor and imposed mask mandates anyway, leading to lawsuits.
“I’m not going to support this motion. I view it as political theater,” Moon said.
Parker added that some components of the proposal were confusing, including provisions that made masks mandatory yet didn’t provide a civil or criminal penalty.
Bivens said she opposed the ordinance at least partly because there had been no previous discussion on the matter, and most city leaders knew nothing about it until Friday night, when the agenda for the coming week was being put together.
Many city employees knew nothing of the proposal until they learned about it in news stories, she said.
Several residents addressed the council on both sides of the issue.
Al Alu, who lives in far north Fort Worth, told the council the mask requirement would essentially prevent people who didn’t wear masks from having access to city services.
“You’re taking away my rights to come to City Council,” he said. “You’re not going to let me in the building. I did not elect you to make decisions for me and my family. I elected you to fix my streets.”
But council member Chris Nettles noted that hospitalizations have soared in recent weeks, including a growing number of life-threatening cases at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
“You’re worried about your mask and your nose,” Nettles said to opponents, “but kids are suffering right now.”
