The bathrooms downtown are a long-standing issue. If you’re trying to be a place that encourages tourism and visitors, they need public bathrooms.
HARLINGEN — For years, city officials have planned to build restrooms in the growing downtown area known for drawing crowds to the historic Jackson Street business district.
Last year, city commissioners held back on the proposed project after bids aimed at constructing a restroom building came in too high.
For now, officials are scrapping those plans, stemming in part from concerns of steady vandalism hitting the city’s public restrooms.
Earlier this week, commissioners agreed to tap $105,995 to buy a mobile restroom unit along with a $50,000 towing truck, planning to set up the unit at Lozano Plaza during a growing number of Jackson Street events such as Downtown at Sundown and Art Night.
Vandalism concerns
During a meeting, Commissioner Michael Mezmar suggested dipping into the Harlingen Community Improvement Board’s budget funded through sales tax revenue to build restrooms “to do it properly and well.”
But concerns of vandalism led to him to vote for a mobile restroom unit, he said during Wednesday’s meeting.
During a presentation, Javier Mendez, the city’s parks director, recommended the purchase of the mobile unit, citing concerns of vandalism hitting the parks’ public restrooms.
“We do get a lot of vandalism,” he told Mayor Norma Sepulveda, who asked about park restrooms’ maintenance. “It seems like a constant or consistent issue.”
Going mobile
During discussion, Sepulveda said she was taking Mendez’s recommendation for a mobile unit after considering a restroom building.
“I like the idea of the initial plan of having the restrooms out there because I think there’s a lot of shopping that goes on in that district, but I don’t know about having this type of structure,” she told commissioners. “It seems like the mobile would be more cost effective when you think of the maintenance and all the work that the park’s department has to do to keep that up and clean.”
Mobile restroom features
The air-conditioned mobile restroom unit, about 27 feet long and 8 feet wide, “is like a mobile home,” featuring separate men’s and women’s restrooms along with a restroom meeting the Americans with Disabilities Act’s requirements, Mendez said.
During downtown events, officials have been renting a similar mobile unit, he said.
“We like it,” he told commissioners, adding the mobile unit will cut the cost of renting portable restrooms. “It’s self-contained. It’s mobile, so we can move it anywhere. We can use it at several events.”
Meeting downtown’s daily needs
On Thursday, Bill DeBrooke, a downtown property owner who’s been leading the drive to revitalize the area for nearly 35 years, said the decision to place a mobile restroom unit downtown during events won’t serve visitors who come to shop there everyday.
“I think it’s great,” he said, referring to commissioners’ decision to buy the mobile unit. “But if they don’t have it there everyday, it’s not great. It certainly would help the presentation of downtown if it was there all the time. It doesn’t change our everyday problem. There ought to be a place downtown so people can use it there all the time.”
Background
Last June, commissioners held off on a project aimed at constructing a restroom building after the lowest bid came in at $365,626.
“The bathrooms downtown are a long-standing issue,” DeBrooke said. “If you’re trying to be a place that encourages tourism and visitors, they need public bathrooms.”
Now, many shoppers stop in at restaurants to use their restrooms, he said.
“We have more businesses downtown today than we’ve ever had,” he said. “Our restaurants get hit particularly hard because people walk in, go the bathroom and walk out. It puts undue pressure and load on the restaurants.”
