Santa Cruz residents gather to protest public bathroom closures
A group of concerned citizens are gathering in Santa Cruz to rally against the closure of various bathrooms.
They claim the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department have closed several bathrooms including the one at the Louden Nelson Community Center.
The group says this will lead to people relieving themselves on the street and elsewhere. They believe the bathroom closures target the homeless.
Thursday at noon the group gathered in from of the Parks and Recreation department to raise awareness of the bathrooms closing.
Interim Director of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department, Carol Scurich says the reasoning behind the closure is mainly safety.
“A couple things have happened and the number one thing for us is that people that use the facility, people that use the facility that are there for programs, our teen center is located there, we have lots of youth programs their as well adult and of course senior programs, that people feel safe and comfortable when they go into the restrooms and that just wasn’t happening.”
Scurich says aside from vandalism, other illegal activities including drug use are happening too often, “this isn’t the first time that we’ve locked the bathrooms and Louden Nelson, over the years we’ve done this a few times.”
The group protesting today says they acknowledge vandalism happens, but they do not think closing the restrooms to the public is the answer.
“We don’t dispute that there are vandals who hit bathrooms, we don’t think the whole community should be held at ransom for the actions of a few,” says homeless advocate Nicholas Whitehead.
Another advocate, Philip Posner agrees, “I just hope that the city of Santa Cruz will make a decision the homeless people and the public have a right to have a place to go to the bathroom when they need to.”
The city says they will continue o work on the problem and hope to eventually re-open the restroom at the Louden Nelson Community Center to the public, but meanwhile there are others available.
For more information on Public Restrooms available in the downtown Santa Cruz area click here.
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A group of concerned citizens are gathering in Santa Cruz to rally against the closure of various bathrooms.
They claim the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Department have closed bathrooms at San Lorenzo Park and Louden Nelson Community Center.
The group says this will lead to people relieving themselves on the street and elsewhere. They believe the bathroom closures target the homeless.
Today at noon, they will gather to voice their concerns and call for change.
KION’s Ashley Keehn will have the story at 5 and 6 p.m.
