Timing of Fort Worth ‘Rockin’ the River’ concerts amid COVID-19 surge was a sour note
Schools are closed. Bars, too. Business reopenings are paused. Restaurants are struggling to hang on. State and local leaders are begging people to stay home as much as possible to ease the spike in COVID-19 cases.
So what was a local government entity, the Tarrant Regional Water District, thinking when it promoted weekly summer events to bring people to Panther Island Pavilion to drink, listen to live music and tube the river?
The first Saturday event, known as Rockin’ the River, was halted when attorneys for Fort Worth expressed concern that the water authority hadn’t sought city permission. The water district contends that, as a local government, it has power under Gov. Greg Abbott’s emergency declarations to conduct events.
For now, the concerts are on hold, awaiting input from the attorney general’s office. But even if the district prevails, the district should rethink these events. If necessary, it’s board should step in and stop them.
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J.D. Granger, executive director of the Panther Island/Central City project, said he took every possible precaution to make the weekly events safe. Occupancy was cut to 25% and entrants would have their temperatures checked. The grounds were marked to enforce social distancing, and five lifeguards were to ensure tubers stayed apart, Granger said. Microphones would even be changed out between bands’ sets.
The goal, Granger said, was to provide a safe outlet for stir-crazy Fort Worth residents and to prove that recreation can go forward in the coronavirus era with careful restrictions.
“We can experiment to do it the right way,” he said. “If something can be gleaned that private industry can build on, let us do that.”
And, he argued, “if we don’t figure out a way to do something, people aren’t going to follow the rules.”
Granger has a point. We’ve said often that we have to learn how to function as normally as possible while still taking precautions against the virus. Figuring out safe ways to reopen, from schools to restaurants to sports and other recreational events, is the most realistic way to go forward until a vaccine is available.
But the timing for Rockin’ the River is terrible. Tarrant County’s caseloads appear to be leveling off as mask mandates kick in, but we’re still in danger of an outbreak that would overwhelm our health infrastructure. More broadly, Abbott has warned of possible new shutdowns, and local officials around Texas are begging for the ability to roll back reopening in their jurisdictions.
The water district’s legal argument seems like a reach. Abbott’s initial order and a subsequent amendment ban outdoor gatherings larger than 10 people without explicit approval from a city mayor (or the county judge for unincorporated areas). The orders do explicitly exempt “local government operations.” However, it gives as examples “county and municipal governmental operations relating to licensing (including marriage licenses), permitting, recordation, and document-filing services, as determined by the local government.”
In other words, the intent is to allow for the operation of vital government functions — not recreational activities.
Granger also notes that the district may have more legal freedom as an operator of beaches. Perhaps, but it has a responsibility to pitch in and send a unified message that fighting the virus is our top priority right now. Legal or not, a beer-fueled concert series isn’t the way to do that.