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Who's gonna pay for the cleanup? and damage? liability? I can't imagine opening a business and then the gov. requires you to provide public acces to your bathrooms. Most restaurants don't mind since you may order something while you're there.
Looks like another "unfunded mandate" to me...
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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Mabe each subdivision should provide one or two at the top, as there is where the population is coming from.
Gordon J Tilley
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What a chance for the County and the Downtown Association to do something sweeping and beneficial for residents and visitors alike.
Maybe the old fire station could be converted to a passive solar bathhouse with showers and toilets.
I think it is the decent thing for any community to provide at least one public restroom facility. You shouldn't have to buy something in order to be able to go.
No, I do not think restaurants should have to open their luas to the public. It costs to clean them, and usually they end up being kind of disgusting.
Like the restrooms at Borders in Hilo, are often funky. Customer is kind of a loose term there and no one is watching anyway, but the point is, too little facility for too much use, and the result is not pleasant.
I don't think a public shower should necessarily be near the public restrooms.
I mean, the restrooms are for everyone, including tourists, whereas the showers are for people who don't have showers ... different clientele.
Maybe parents might not want to take their kids to restrooms which are also a gathering place for people without showers. No offense meant to all you Punaweb people who are still working on getting a water system, but having been around people who just camp full time or squat and with no other ambition -- some are not too savory. Or rather they are overly savory.
A long time ago I lived off the grid at a place with no shower, and we used pay showers at the nearby state park. Coin-operated. Most people can scrounge up some change ...
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You're right Kathy that parents may not want to take their kids to a location that's a gathering place for people without showers. Unfortunately that's the Pahoa Aquatic center.
Pahoa could use a public bathhouse (for locals and camping visitors alike). Maybe a private sector bathhouse is viable. Coin operated or whatever.
The pool is for swimmers, and should focus more on youth and youth aquatic programs, and less on the multitude of unbathed.
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Public restrooms and showers should be available for those who want them and I think a coin operated system for showers would be great.
It is unfair for businesses to have to provide restrooms for people other than their customers, and to have to clean up after those people too. Have a heart though, there have been many times when I have been out shopping and needed a rest room. Think of pregnant women and men with prostate problems, let alone the homeless. Public urination is unclean and really should not have to happen. And of course men have it a lot easier than women in that regard too.
Perhaps someone could connect with the coalition for the homeless in Hilo and see what can be done. I am not sure that is the name, but we stumbled upon this building in Hilo when we went to the Chripractor last week and it said it was some sort of a homeless organization. It looked like an old motel building. Maybe a public shower or rest room would be a good cause for the chili cook off proceeds.
Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany
Devany Vickery-Davidson
East Bay Potters
www.eastbaypotters.com
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