Free restrooms
Hats off, gloves and scarves too, to Amy Miller and Shenna Younger for their first-hand exploration of what it’s like to be homeless in Port Angeles. (PDN, Dec. 9)
Double bonus points for inviting city leaders to follow suit and deepen everyone’s understanding of this heartbreaking issue.
It’s one we share with most every community across the country.
Yet one aspect calls out for special attention that impacts tourists, visitors and the homeless: the potty problem.
We don’t have enough well-placed public restrooms available.
Traveling in rural Australia, I was struck by the simple solution adopted in most every small town: a parking lot large enough to accommodate tour buses with a block of toilets in the center.
The “toilet block” efficiently served local shoppers as well as busloads of tourists.
The crowded streets of Paris have over 400 free “Sanisettes,” public toilets that are suitable for disabled as well as able-bodied.
The city even provides a location map.
Free is important, I discovered, picking up my young daughter at a Canadian airport.
She got off the plane green and airsick. We dashed for the restroom, only to find every stall with a lock that required exact change, in Canadian.
She threw up on the floor.
Sorry folks, we had no choice.
It’s no big secret: young or old, homeless or not, when you gotta go, you’ve gotta go.
Port Angeles needs to address this pressing issue.
For everyone’s benefit.
Diana Somerville,
Port Angeles