Unsavoury activities, aromas plague $50,000 public toilet in Tomkins Park

Calgary business owners and shoppers on 17th Avenue S.W. are raising concerns that a $50,000-per-year public toilet has become a blight that is unsanitary and a haven for illegal activity.

"I can only speak for myself in saying that I'll never go back in there, and anyone else who's had a similar experience as me would probably come to the conclusion really quickly that the general public doesn't use that washroom," said Brady Ackroyd, who was walking in popular Tomkins Square along 17th Avenue.

The toilet is located there as an option for pedestrians and shoppers visiting the trendy shops of Mount Royal Village.

"Unfortunately, I did use it once," Ackroyd said. "The smell will hit you immediately. It's disgusting, it smells similar to an outhouse. Of course, there were syringes on the floor, as well as some cookers that the consumption site provides approximately four blocks from here."

The self-cleaning, single public toilet was unveiled by the city in 2008.

The state-of-the-art toilet features an electronic sliding door and stainless steel sensor-operated sink. It self-flushes when someone washes their hands or opens the door to leave — and after 10 minutes, sounds an alarm if they don't.

"This bathroom, I believe, serves as a hideout to get off the cameras, out of the cold and almost like a shelter for any Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to drink or use drugs or have sex or any other type of illegal activity and be out of the general public's eye," Ackroyd said.

'Little bit sketchy'

Mehdi Badel, another pedestrian in the park, ventured in with CBC's Danielle Nerman to check on the conditions. It was a brief visit.

"I don't want to use this washroom because there was no soap. There was no toilet paper. And there was garbage," he said. "I found it kind of a little bit sketchy because I think you know homeless people go in, and then I don't know what's going on there. So I feel like I don't want to use this washroom even if I'm really, you know, in an emergency."

The city is facing pressure to do something about the increasing complaints.

"I mean, this is one of the challenges that we have with a lot of public infrastructure. We build it really, really strong. And it's a self-cleaning bathroom, it's very, very expensive," Coun. Evan Woolley told the Calgary Eyeopener.

"It was built to be bulletproof. And it is. And there are costs associated with that. I'm really frustrated to hear what that operating cost is, particularly as we are looking closely at reducing our budget. And so $50,000 a year to run a public toilet is way too much money."

Site to be monitored

Woolley told host David Gray that the toilet was deemed necessary as a public facility to serve shoppers and tourists.

"The feedback at that time was that there's not a place for people to use the bathroom, particularly in and around Friday nights," Woolley said. "People were using the alleys and corners of buildings and the like, and there's all sorts of problems associated with that."

Woolley added that the city's opioid situation may be playing a role in the problem.

"As our opioid crisis and methamphetamine crisis has continued to skyrocket, we've started to see that bathroom maybe not provide the value that it initially was," he said. "It's also really important that we look at this in the context of our larger mental health and addiction strategy. This isn't a place for unsafe consumption. And so we really need to take a close look at this."

Wooley said the city's parks department is looking at the issue, and the city plans to consult with area businesses and residents, and to monitor the site.

"We're going to get someone to go and watch it for a couple of days and just get some qualitative data," he said. "We know how many flushes, we measure how many flushes it gets. And so we'll make a decision in the coming few weeks about its long-term viability."

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.