City Looking at Cost of Installing Restrooms in all Parks

Have you ever had to use the restroom at a park, but had nowhere to go?

City representatives are flushing out some ideas so you can get a little relief when needed. It won’t be cheap.

“I would love to have that, just like I would like every worker in this city to have a $150,000 salary,” said City Representative Lily Limon, “But we’re just not going to get that.”

El Paso has 242 parks. Only 38 have restrooms because city policy only allows for the installation of restrooms in parks larger than 12 acres.

The installation portable restrooms would cost the city in between $1 and $2 million every year, according to city officials.

“When constituents are out there playing, they’re drinking water, Gatorade and when they have to go, they have to go,” said City Representative Carl Robinson, “It’s a health and safety issue.”

Robinson told ABC-7 he has received complaints about kids at parks going to the restroom behind trees or behind bordering property walls and fences.

Installing restrooms at the renovated San Jacinto Plaza, a two-acre park Downtown, would have cost $400,000 so the city decided against it. “It does have to be an ‘all or nothing’ because that’s what’s fair to everybody,” said City Representative Michiel Noe.

Noe indicated he would be in favor of installing restrooms at all parks, but brought up maintenance costs. “We all know the bathrooms get vandalized constantly,” he said.

A city committee is going to review the issue, explore costs, and analyze how other cities addressed the issue.