I started this editorial on Monday, but COVID-19.
I began writing it Tuesday, but coronavirus.
My publisher gave me some suggestions, but the ’VID, so, you know.
Throughout this worldwide pandemic, we’ve heard stories of communities, large and small, finding innovative and creative ways to adapt.
Yet in Sedona and the Verde Valley, governments large and small, have instead found ways to not do things. Towns, cities and school districts in our area have canceled, delayed or postponed events and activities often with little or no discussion whatsoever with the public and the taxpayers they serve.
While some mention specific reasons why COVID-19 specifically might cause problems or difficulties, most now say “we can’t ’cause, uh, COVID,” like 7-year-old children. Bureaucrats now see it as the perfect excuse to not do their jobs, but look like they’re being careful. Perhaps we should take their lead. Get caught speeding? Tell the cop “COVID.” Late for work? Tell your boss, “COVID.” Get a cavity? Tell your dentist, “COVID.” They’ll all understand. But COVID- 19 is a virus, it’s not a magic word.
Most recently, the city of Sedona decided to cancel two scheduled events and one postponed from the spring, purportedly because the governor said “no.”
Of course, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey didn’t say that because Ducey is nothing if not a political coward — he issues “executive orders” related to coronavirus with loopholes big enough to drive a truck through. Ducey did not issue a stay-at-home “order,” it was a suggestion. He did not “order a statewide mask mandate,” he let councils decide. He did not reopen schools, he gave that power to school boards and created such misleading rules that the four public school districts in the Verde Valley couldn’t agree.
And he did not ban all gatherings of 50 people or more; he let local councils waive the restriction if they took undefined “precautions” — which are as vague as Ducey himself.
We assumed elected officials had discussed these cancellations. They hadn’t. Surely they were given a heads up. They apparently weren’t. They only found out when the rest of the city did. That’s unsettling for local governance and disturbing for democracy in general.
The Pumpkin Splash always takes place at the city-owned pool, and the swimming that takes place makes mask wearing difficult.
The Sedona Stumble may be pointless if runners can race on the same trail at the same time.
Shh, don’t tell the Sedona Red Rock High School cross country team running together at the same time on today’s Page 9A.
However, Halloween in Uptown is one of the two large annual events the city hosts. The city already canceled the other — the St. Patrick’s Parade and Festival — at the start of the pandemic. But children and parents in Sedona and across the Verde Valley look forward to it every year.
Halloween in Uptown isn’t really a “city” event. It’s run by the Uptown merchants who stay open late, provide candy to attendees, decorate their store fronts, and offer various activities on the private and public spaces in front of their businesses.
It was started by Uptown merchants long before the city incorporated, then shepherded for 20 years by Sedona Main Street Program, which acquired some permits, stored equipment and got the word out. But merchants still ran and still run the event.
It’s saddening that such a major, community-focused event would be canceled without debate by unelected city staff, while the elected officials ignore their duty.
Not one council member we spoke to said they would look into it or ask for a vote.
We shouldn’t be surprised, though. Zero council members own a business in Sedona and zero have young children. They didn’t talk to any businesses nor families, and apparently neither did any city staff.
Even if the city cancels its involvement, Uptown businesses could still host trick-or-treating and some plan to, which the city said it would likely not prevent. If Ducey’s order was law — it’s not — the order prevents gatherings of 50 people more, but the hundreds who go to Uptown don’t all stand in the same place. They don’t check in nor buy tickets. Uptown is a mile long and they spread out. People are wary of crowds as it is. Those wary of the virus won’t go anyway. The event takes place outside. COVID-19 rates have fallen in Arizona. Rates are low in the Verde Valley. Most people wear masks out of habit. Lots of costumes already involve masks. Uptown is packed for hours every day and the city does nothing — but Halloween is … different, because, COVID?
If city council isn’t running the city, then what’s the point of council? Let’s just vote for a consul once a year like the Roman Republic of old that can run things as a dictatorship with a council that just rubberstamps … oh, they are doing that already.
Halloween is still a month away and there’s plenty of precautions the city could implement if council members would take time away from debating the pressing, hot-button issues of in-lieu parking fees, sidewalk widths and climate surveys.
But they won’t, because COVID.
That’s fine. They lost the public’s respect, because COVID.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
