BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The results are in, and people who go to Pardee Park in Palo Alto overwhelmingly want the city to add a bathroom.
That’s a change from when the city considered installing a restroom in 2008 and 2015, and neighborhood opposition stopped the project from moving forward.
Some residents still oppose a restroom, but they’re in the minority.
In an unscientific survey with 1,171 responses, 960 people said they support adding a bathroom while 211 people were against.
“The lack of a public restroom at Eleanor Pardee Park is primitive, unhygienic, inconvenient, annoying, and an ongoing embarrassment,” one resident said.
“Let’s remove the need to urinate in the bushes,” another resident said.
Other residents said they’ve found toilet paper in the bushes or had to leave children’s birthday parties early.
Parents whose kids play soccer at the park and seniors who use the community garden were particularly in favor of a restroom.
The city received 84 responses from people who live outside of Palo Alto who all support a bathroom.
In opposition, residents who live in the Crescent Park neighborhood said the bathroom would attract the homeless and drug dealers.
“I’m concerned that a restroom would serve as a ‘safe’ place for the druggies to smoke in, especially at night,” said one resident.
Opponents say a bathroom would attract crowds and have people stay at the park for longer, when they like the park how it is. They said the money should be spent on something else.
“In addition to the cost of building and maintaining the restroom, it also invites unhoused and teenager activity,” one resident said.
“There is no need to bring extra people and extra problems to this nice small neighborhood park,” another resident said.
On both sides, residents said they want the bathroom to be locked from sunrise to sunset. Several residents said they want a dog run first.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Commission will discuss the survey results on Tuesday (March 24). Council in June will consider approving a budget with funding for a bathroom.
Council in September 2017 approved a parks plan that said the city would pursue restrooms in parks that are larger than two acres and have amenities that encourage visitors to stay.
The plan identified seven potential locations: Bol, Bowden, Pardee, Johnson, Ramos, Robles and Ter- man Parks.
Ramos, Robles, and Rinconada Parks have received bathrooms in recent years.
Rinconada Park was moved up the list because its playground was replaced and the neighboring Junior Museum and Zoo was upgraded, Community Services director Kristen O’Kane told council’s Finance Committee last year.
The two-stall bathrooms cost $600,000 to install, Assistant Director of Public Works Holly Boyd said at the same meeting.
Pardee Park is 9.6 acres. It’s the second largest neighborhood park in Palo Alto behind Bol Park, which is undergoing a renovation that includes bathrooms.
Restrooms at the Cubberley Community Center are under construction and should open in the coming weeks depending on the weather, Assistant Director of Community Services Steven Castile said in a re- port for commissioners.
A restroom near the Magical Bridge Playground at Mitchell Park is funded for design and construction, Castile said.
But the timeline for beginning the project is still being determined because a public works engineer recently resigned, Castile said.
I don’t know if the city’s leaders understand this, but they’re inviting a lot of homeless people to their residential parks. Just wait until the word gets out. And you won’t want to get tough and remove their tents from the parks, you’re too Progressive to do that. So get used to some new neighbors, and all of the problems they will bring. Good way to reduce property values. If you live next to a park, put the house up for sale now.