In the lead up to the Sept. 28 Anchorage Assembly meeting (which continues Sept. 29 with public testimony starting at 6 p.m.), Mayor Dave Bronson urged residents to turn out in opposition to a proposed mask mandate that he says will divide the city and turn residents against each other.
Bronson posted a short video in which he criticizes the mandate as violating the freedoms of Alaskans.
He said the mask mandate will “turn neighbors against neighbors, customers will become enemies, and Alaskans will be pitted against Alaskans as they will be asked to report mask mandate violations or businesses not requiring customers to wear them.”
“To be clear, I share the Assembly’s concern about the COVID-19 virus and have increased access to testing, vaccinations, and monoclonal antibody treatments city wide,” Bronson stated on his Facebook page. “But this mask mandate ordinance is based on bad policy that infringes on the freedoms guaranteed to every Anchorage citizen by our federal and state constitutions.”
Bronson said he is not against masking but is “simply pro-liberty.”
The Assembly meeting continues on Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 6 p.m. Click here for details on the mandate proposal and for information on how to testify.
