St. John's shuts down Bannerman bathrooms, blaming increased vandalism with tent encampment nearby
Council is asking province to install porta-potties on Colonial Building grounds
As a tent encampment protest continues near Colonial Building in St. John's, city council is closing the bathrooms at nearby Bannerman Park, blaming vandalism the city says has damaged the bathrooms' plumbing and hardware, and a lack of staff to keep them clean.
St. John's Mayor Danny Breen says the bathrooms pose health and safety issues for park visitors and staff.
"There's been a significant amount of damage done to the bathrooms. You know, there's such things as toilets ripped from the floor, there's been human waste on the floor. Clogged toilets and sinks with needles, and it just created a very unhealthy situation and a significant amount of damage," St. John's Mayor Danny Breen told reporters at city hall Wednesday.
"The staff said that no longer were they willing to work in those conditions, so we don't have the staff to clean up and to keep the washrooms in the condition that they're required to be [in] to be healthy. So we were forced into the situation of closing them."
The announcement comes two days after Memorial University social work students and their professor deposited a porcelain toilet at city hall to urge the city to keep Bannerman Park bathrooms open after 8 p.m. for the people living in the encampment.
Instead, the city is asking the provincial government to provide porta-potties on Colonial Building grounds.
John Abbott, minister of transportation and infrastructure, said that won't be happening.
"If the city is changing access to the public facility, that's up for them to respond to," he said.
Abbott said portable toilets aren't a solution to bigger problem of homelessness.
"What we want and what we're encouraging for each individual that's down there is to take up our offer for shelter, and other supportive housing, and then we will work with them in terms of a long-term solution."
Breen said he hopes the provincial government will take action but said the situation isn't about finger-pointing.
"We don't have a lot of flexibility here. We don't have the staff to clean, or to maintain the washrooms. So we do have a problem, but hopefully we can figure out some way to address the situation with the province," he said.
"When you look at the night that we're expecting tonight, I mean, the Colonial Building grounds are no place for people to be living. So we really need to find them safe and supportive housing."
Ahead of Wednesday evening's snowstorm, the province is advising people at the encampment to contact its emergency shelter line — 1-833-724-2444 — for assistance with temporary accommodations.
Breen encouraged residents of the encampment to go to the warming centre established at the Safe Haven Shelter on St. Clare Avenue to get out of the impending weather, but acknowledged transportation would have to be arranged.
'I'm scared people are going to die'
As of Monday, there were about 30 people living at the tent encampment, set up shortly after a similar one was established on Confederation Hill to protest the province's homelessness problem.
The Confederation Hill location exposed people to high winds and it eventually dissolved, with some people moving to the rear of the downtown Colonial Building, which is better shielded from the elements.
Nicole Noble, who lives in the camp, says she's upset the bathrooms have been closed.
"I lost faith. I cried, I screamed. I totally just said there is no God if this is going on," she said. "I'm scared people are going to die."
MUN social work professor Julia Janes, who was part of Monday's protest, called the decision to close the washrooms a "ridiculous turn of events." She said staffing isn't a good enough reason to close them.
"It's distracting us from the end goal, and the end goal is housing for all, immediately," she said.
"We need to step up maintenance. This is a maintenance issue, and the city has the capacity to do so.… This is a matter of survival."
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With files from Henrike Wilhelm
