The BNA understands how important safe, accessible public bathrooms are for people experiencing homelessness, and worked with city manager Jon Jennings in 2017 to add new, outdoor bathrooms at the Oxford Street Shelter, and during the pandemic in 2020 advocated for the new portable toilets that have been placed in locations convenient to social service delivery sites.
Now we are hoping our Senators will support additional safe, dignified bathroom facilities to benefit all Portland residents and visitors.
We were asked to support the City’s request for $1 million in funding from the Senate Appropriations Committee. Our letter is below. We also supported a previous request to Representative Pingree for help from the House appropriations committee, which was sadly unsuccessful.
Dear Senators King and Collins,
I am writing today to voice the Bayside Neighborhood Association’s wholehearted support for the City of Portland’s Community Project Funding request of $1,000,000 toward the new construction of safe, accessible public restrooms.
The BNA represents the Bayside neighborhood, greater Portland’s hub of social services and homeless shelters. More than perhaps any other neighborhood, Bayside understands the community harm that comes from a lack of accessible and safe public bathrooms.
For those experiencing homelessness, it’s not just an inconvenience, it’s a profound indignity that compounds their struggles. For the surrounding neighborhood, it’s an ongoing public health crisis, as Senator may recall from his tour of the Bayside neighborhood in 2018. For years, the unsanitary conditions on walking trails, playgrounds, private property, and sidewalks in front of homes and businesses have eroded quality of life and decreased business revenues.
That crisis only escalated with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent closure of service providers and other public institutions, which were no longer able to admit community members for whom public restrooms are their only indoor option. The strain of the pandemic may ease, but the problems that existed prior will not be alleviated without funding to install clean, welcoming, and safe public bathrooms.
Providing humane bathroom access supports community members at all economic levels and grows strong, inclusive, and vibrant neighborhoods where everyone feels valued. The BNA respectfully requests that you support Portland and the Bayside neighborhood by submitting the City of Portland’s Community Project Funding request to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
Sincerely,
Sarah Michniewicz
President, Bayside Neighborhood Association
