Park restroom vandalism gets worse in the summer

Though vandalism of park facilities is all too frequent, it doesn’t mean staff shrugs off the damage.

“Part of this is what we expect, although our hope is not to be dealing with vandalism,” said Kate Thomas, director of the borough’s parks and recreation department. “It does get worse in the summer,” consuming staff time and repair efforts.

Though 99% of people are respectful, enough are not that it is a frequent challenge for staff, Thomas said last week.

Vandalism has included trash cans dumped on the floor at public restrooms; toilet paper stuffed into the plumbing, blocking the toilets from flushing; human waste spread about; firecrackers set off in the facilities.

The restrooms at City Park were vandalized late June, with the facilities at Shoemaker Bay hit a week earlier.

“If the vandalism continues, we will consider closing the restrooms to the public in an effort to avoid significant damage and continued additional maintenance,” the parks and recreation department said in a June 29 posting to Facebook.

“It would take a substantial issue for us to close the restrooms,” Thomas said later in the week. The facilities are open 24 hours a day at City Park, Shoemaker, Volunteer Park, Petroglyph Beach and downtown behind the Elks Lodge.

Keeping the restrooms clean is a daily chore for staff, in addition to all its other work. “We do all the trash cans and all the municipal green spaces from Shoemaker Bay all the way into town,” Thomas said.

Department staff includes Thomas and two other full-time employees, with seasonal help. In addition to restrooms and grounds upkeep, the department manages multiple other recreational facilities and programs in town, including the community center, swimming pool, ballfields and RV park at Shoemaker.

The department asks people to call them at 874-2444 or the police at 874-3304 to report damage.