“We have closed the Riverfront Park bathroom because somebody has taken it upon themselves to build a fire in the bathroom,” Felton said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Repeated vandalism has led to the closure of public bathrooms in Town parks in Davis. The announcement was part of a Town Council meeting held Wednesday, June 12th at Davis Town Hall. Town of Davis Office Manager Joni Felton discussed the issues that have been affecting the restrooms at the City parks. “We have closed the Riverfront Park bathroom because somebody has taken it upon themselves to build a fire in the bathroom,” Felton said.
The fire, according to Felton, was fueled by the supplies in the bathroom. This was followed up with further vandalism in the form of clogging the toilet with the new supplies, Felton said. “(They) used the supplies to do it and then took all of the new supplies and put them in the toilet,” Felton said.
According to Felton, a lack of volunteers has led to the site being targeted. The need for volunteers, according to Felton, also extends to general maintenance of the site. Felton said she, alone was cleaning and maintaining the site. “It really becomes a hassle when there is just one of us checking them and one of us cleaning them and there’s not enough people to volunteer to daily check them,” Felton said.
According to Felton, the issues has been ongoing with the recent incident being the second to occur. In the first incident, Felton said that someone had been living in the structure. “The first time somebody was living in it,” Felton said. “This time I am done.”
Vandalism and abuse of facilities are also occurring at other Town administrated parks, according to Felton. There have been incidents at Tucker Boulder Park, as well Felton reported. “We also had a mess at the Boulder Park,” Felton said. “I will leave out the details, but I had to clean that one up as well. So, if that one continues to get abused, I will also lock that one, as well and there will be no public bathrooms.”
The incidents, according to Felton, are being perpetrated by adults. “This is definitely adults that is doing this. Its not children being stupid or mean, it is adults,” Felton said.
The area currently has no camera coverage capability, Felton said. According to Felton, the area of Riverfront Park does not have access to the wifi needed to install cameras. Of the three park facilities, only the Community Center has camera coverage, according to Felton. Tucker Boulder Park also lacks wifi capability, Felton said. “The Riverfront Park cannot have cameras because there is no wifi down there,” Felton said.
The Town is considering placing temporary toilet facilities at the site, according to Felton. No determination has been made on the implementation, Felton said. Town of Davis Mayor Al Tomson said that the children that use the parks are the reason the Town is discussing implementing temporary facilities at the site. “There is a discussion on whether to do a port-a-john at this point,” Felton said. “That gets maintenanced by people every week. It hasn’t been clarified yet whether we are going to do that or not.”