SooToday received the following letter addressing the controversial topic of self-cleaning public washrooms.
I have never attended or watched a city council meeting before, but I was very interested to see what council would do when the matter of a self-cleaning bathroom for downtown was put on the table. Interesting enough a 4-4 vote meant it would not be submitted for the upcoming budget.
As a public bathroom downtown has never seemed to be an issue in the past, I am assuming it is now on the table as a result of the many difficulties our city is presently experiencing. I am definitely not against a public bathroom however I feel a $300,000 plus single bathroom is addressing only a symptom of the real problem.
Until the city, agencies and people with actual lived experience join together to come up with a viable plan moving forward, I am afraid all our well-intentioned “bandaid” solutions will not address the real underlying problems and not get the results hoped for.
I am well aware there is no magical easy solution but I do feel that the people in charge of AFS, Ken Brown, SOYA, Lodge 137, Helping Hands, Salvation Army, Soup Kitchen and so many others have valuable learned experience and trusted relationships with a large percentage of our vulnerable, at risk population in our city. I read that the founder of Lodge 137 said for the cost of the one single self-cleaning bathroom ($300,000 plus) she could run a 24/7 drop-in centre that would provide a place to rest, bathroom facilities and a safe place to come in out of the weather for a year.
That seems, to me, a great value for the money and a much better solution to the real problems facing members of our great city.
All people need to feel valued, trusted, safe, respected, listened to and cared about. Our city and its residents are in trouble. My hope would be that all interested parties would be able to come together and work as one to hopefully face the real problems and come up with action plans that can help address them.
Gayle Russell
Sault Ste. Marie