New Petition: Stand Up For Sanitary Sit Downs

On a visit to the park this afternoon, I noticed that two of the old plastic porta-potties along Spinnaker Way had been replaced with new plastic porta-potties.  Readers of this blog can breathe a sigh of relief, as I now won’t have to post my whole gallery of photos of the disgusting conditions in the old plastic porta-potties.  Honestly, they were revolting.

One of the old ones along Spinnaker Way remains, and it remains revolting; photos below.)

So, two cheers to the City for listening.  But plastic porta-potties are still plastic porta-potties.  Nearby Aquatic Park has permanent restrooms, gender-specific, with flush toilets, sinks, and water fountains.  Is Cesar Chavez Park less deserving?

Plastic porta-potties in the late afternoon of a sunny day get pretty rank.  Even new ones. The ADA unit I looked at this afternoon, next to the parking circle, was usable for sit-down business only in an emergency.  No one should have to sit down on that fixture with the day’s earlier deposits visibly mounding up perilously close to one’s private parts.  Not to mention the fragrance.

Is this the best that the City of Berkeley can offer its park visitors?  If this is considered adequate, then I suggest that the bathrooms at the 2180 Milvia Street city office building be locked for a couple of weeks, directing users instead to a plastic porta-potty on the lawn.  We’ll see how long it takes for enlightenment.

No, plastic porta-potties won’t do at Cesar Chavez Park!   In a short visit to the park this afternoon with my ironing board — the traditional rostrum of the petitioner — I collected the first six signatures on a new petition.  It reads:

PETITION TO THE CITY OF BERKELEY
We the undersigned are visitors to Cesar Chavez Park and we
respectfully request that the plastic portable rest rooms along
Spinnaker Way be replaced with permanent rest rooms with
flush toilets, on a par with other City parks.

You can download a copy here; I’ll start up an online petition shortly.

Among the first signers were two Berkeley women of about my age.   One said, ” Good idea.  Then we won’t have to use the hotel bathrooms any more.”  (Referring to the Hilton Doubletree at the east end of Spinnaker Way.)

Because of anatomical differences too tedious to mention, clean and modern restrooms with flush toilets rank higher on the priority list for the female gender.

‘Nuff said?

Photos of PP1 (Porta-Potty 1, first one in the southeast corner of the park, going from east to west), and this is on a low use day, deliberately not showing inside the bowl: