WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM: Bathrooms in city parks can get messy

By Joe Olenick<br><a href="mailto:olenickj@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Joe</a>
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

July 16, 2008 12:29 am

— A few residents have concerns over the public bathrooms in the City of Lockport’s parks.
One resident said that with her small children, she spends a fair amount of time at city parks and often comes across the public bathrooms.
“As any mother knows, if you spend any time at a city park with young children, they are going to have to use the restrooms,” she said. “In the City of Lockport, that is sometimes a big problem.”
Restrooms are often messy, she said, with things such as water on the floor, graffiti with explicit writing on the wall and wads of paper on the floor and ceiling. A few restrooms lack supplies such as toilet paper, paper towels or soap dispenser and some have hand dryers that are out of order, she said.
City Parks Superintendent Michael Hoffman said the bathrooms in the parks are cleaned and restocked daily by the parks department. However the department is up against a few challenges, such as a constant stream of traffic the restrooms face every day. Some of those people are causing problems, themselves.
“We’re replacing toilets and sinks every year,” Hoffman said. “The soap doesn’t stay there.”
He said soap dispensers, sinks and urinals have been ripped out of the walls. Bars of soap and rolls of toilet paper have been found plugging up the toilets.
With bathrooms accessible 24 hours a day, such as the ones in Outwater Park, it is hard for the department to keep up with the constant flow of people. A possible solution would be having someone watch the bathrooms, but there is also the cost issue, Hoffman said.
“We’re short-staffed, and we try to control the overtime,” Hoffman said. “It’s the off hours and weekends where the problem is. But we have to pay to have people there.”
Having someone there would also mean locking the bathrooms and ending the 24-hour accessibility.
Hoffman said residents can help by watching kids or reporting anything suspicious they may see. He said the department is open to suggestions to try to keep the bathrooms up.
“We’re trying our best,” Hoffman said.
Altro Park on Willow Street is run by the youth department, although the parks department cleans it. Hoffman said the bathrooms there should be better than most, because attendants and other staff are around.
Contact reporter Joe Olenick
at 439-9222, ext. 6241.

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