When you gotta go, you gotta go – just not in downtown Prince George.
The conversation of public bathrooms came up at this week’s City Council meeting during a presentation of the initiatives being made in the downtown core.
Councillor Cori Ramsey started the conversation, but it’s not the first time council has addressed the issue.
“It was brought up quite a lot during the election and the community has expressed a need for it. There’s been a bit of pushback because of the downtown environment and the homeless population,” she said to MyPGNow.
According to her, the maintenance of a public washroom downtown is something that the city is hesitant to take on, as there can be an accumulation of needles, garbage and overall, the facilities can be misused.
Ramsay noted that many other cities, including Smithers, have found alternatives to maintenance costs such as different forms of self-cleaning bathrooms.
Councillor Terri McConnachie offered a practical angle to the discussion.
“Everybody poops. There, I said it.”
“People need public bathrooms, it should just be a given. We know what the roadblocks are, let’s focus on the solutions and make it happen.”
She went on to suggest a motion that administration staff comes back to Council with more information on how the restrooms could be implemented, and what maintaining them would look like.
“Having public washrooms is really just having a dignified space for anyone that needs to go to the washroom. It’s not just the homeless population that will benefit from this; seniors, parents with young children – everyone that needs to go,” said Ramsay.
“Everyone goes to the washroom, and everyone will benefit from a public washroom.”
Administration staff said they would be able to get information together in fairly quick order, as much of the research has already been done.