Were willing to take Mayor pro tem Craig Browns word that city leaders have no plans to close the beaches during Labor Day weekend, as they did with very short notice just before the long Fourth of July holiday.

Its understandable, however, that some in Galveston, especially in the business community, are skeptical and worried about a repeat of that last-minute July decision, which delivered a substantial financial blow to many attempting to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Once bitten, and all that.

Part of the problem is city leaders cant or wont talk in any detail or with any assurance about what might make them close the beaches again. Thats not unique to them; its a problem with the whole pandemic management program at every level.

The thing that will call the tune and decide our fates is a nebulous, pulsating cloud of mostly unnamed, much less defined, data points. Its somewhat akin to being back in the hands of the oracles and at the mercy of signs and portents.

We all must suck it up and drive on, but for how long and to where exactly; who knows?

No matter whether that was inevitable or because of some avoidable systemic failure, it has inevitably caused people to doubt and divide into camps of believers and non-believers. In fact, the story of COVID-19 every day reads more like a tale of religious schism.

Be that as it may, its not on the heads of local leaders.

The uncertainty Galveston leaders have expressed about managing tourism during this pandemic is the most understandable and forgivable.

The city council is made up of volunteers with no special expertise in epidemiology, or necessarily business, for that matter, attempting to navigate their own professional and personal lives through an environment well beyond their control.

Theyre in the same boat as the rest of us, except theyre caught between constituencies whose agendas and recommendations, or demands, are both valid in context and exactly opposite in effect open, close, now, later, do, dont.

One decision might kill people, the other kill businesses and jobs.

Its hard to find a spot to build compromise in a landscape of such diametric absolutes.

We have to give leaders, especially the local volunteers, some room to err on the side of caution.

What we reasonably can expect even from them, however, is refrain from dropping anything heavy on our heads just out of the blue, as Galveston leaders did before the Fourth of July Beach closures.

This is not just a question of inconvenience. Businesses such as those accepting reservations must be able to communicate with customers or face their wrath.

It was wrong for the city of Galveston to have allowed hotels and beach rental operators, to name a couple, to continue booking rooms without even an honest heads-up that closing the beaches was under serious discussion.

Whatever else it does, the city cant do that again.

More broadly, the keepers of the data points should consider maybe cooking them down to something digestible.

If its too soon to reopen schools, just for example, whats the basis of that argument and what should we look for to change?

A few benchmarks would, if nothing else, give us something to root for.

Michael A. Smith

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Galveston must keep its word on sudden beach closures - Galveston County Daily News