Mayor of Port Aransas on Texas Coast Says He Can No Longer Enforce Beach Closure Order
Monday, August 10, 2020
Posted By Sanford Nowlin on Mon, Aug 10, 2020 at 10:20 AM
- Wikimedia Commons / Gloria Bell
- A July order closed vehicle access to Port Aransas beaches in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Port Aransas Mayor Charles Bujan posted on Facebook Sunday that his city will longer enforce a beach closure order issued in July to combat the spread of COVID-19.
“The city can no longer afford providing 24-hour day policing of the county beaches closure order,” Bujan wrote. “We have depleted all of our overtime budgets.”
The mayor added that the order, handed down by Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales, was also creating safety issues since people were parking in town to access the beach, blocking streets used by EMS and fire trucks.
Canales’ order closed the beaches to cars, trucks and golf carts in a bid to prevent crowding as COVID-19 case numbers rose. The rule applies to beaches in Port Aransas as well as Padre Island and Corpus Christi.
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