Published: October 10, 2007 11:54 pm         

City officials looking at shutting down park bathrooms except for public events

Vandalism is a problem in park restrooms nationwide, and Enid is no exception.

Some of the vandalism is so bad city officials here are considering closing public restrooms at the parks except for special events, said Jim McClain, public services director.

“When you have public restrooms, and you try to keep them open for the public, unless they are maintained regularly they will become filthy and dirty, and become places people shouldn’t use,” McClain said.

“They have filled the commodes with sand and everything. Unless they are checked on and serviced regularly, they aren’t the best thing for the public to use,” he said.

Cities across the United States have begun shutting down restrooms in parks and only opening them during special events, McClain said. In another tack, he said, officials are looking at restrooms with a different design that are much easier to maintain.

Problems with vandalism seem to plague the smaller parks, as the larger recreational areas — Meadowlake, Government Springs and Crosslin — have seen few problems.

McClain’s proposal to close the facilities drew some opposition from Enid Park Board members Ryan Jackson and Ron Janzen at a Tuesday meeting.

Jackson said he does not understand closing the restrooms, as a family taking children to the park should have restrooms open for them, he said.

“If a child has to go to the bathroom, the parents must load up the kids and drive somewhere,” Jackson said.

He said he understands there is a vandalism problem, but he doesn’t understand why restrooms must be shut down in all the parks, when there seems to be a problem in only one or two parks.

“I haven’t been informed of any problems at Meadowlake or Crosslin Park. If the people who live around the parks would take some pride in them, they could help stop some of that stuff. I think they should be left open,” Jackson said.

Janzen said he is adamantly opposed to closing park restrooms.

“What it boils down to is they claim people mess them up and they become a disease factory. We’ve had public restrooms for a hundred years and while they aren’t as clean as our homes, we expect that,” he said.

Janzen called the idea of closing the restrooms “stupid.”

“The real reason is they don’t want to clean them up. They aren’t spending much time now,” he said.

Janzen worked as a park consultant for two years and said he checked the restrooms every few days. He said if crews go in with disinfectant and a garden hose twice a week it would solve the problem, although he said there still would be isolated problems.

“If you have gone to the expense to build them and the public expects them, it’s something we ought to provide,” Janzen said.

In the past, park restrooms have been winterized and closed during December, January and February, when there weren’t park visitors but were open the rest of the year.