SAN DIEGO — The City Council met Monday to discuss and approve its response to a grand jury report about the need for more accessible public restrooms in downtown.
In May, the grand jury released its 22-page report titled: “Downtown Area Public Restrooms in the city of San Diego: Stop Kicking the Can Down the Road.”
The city's proposed response agrees with many of the recommendations and says it's already expanding 24/7 access to restrooms and hand washing stations.
The main goal is to prevent the spread of Hepatitis A among people experiencing homelessness but also provide more restrooms for visitors, workers and residents.
One of the recommendations the city is already doing is making an online map of the bathrooms and hand washing stations in Spanish and English and they support placing the maps throughout downtown.
The mayor's goal is to have bathrooms within a five-minute walk throughout downtown but that's still being explored.
There is not a price tag attached to the recommendations, but Council President Sean Elo-Rivera says they can save money when negotiating with private developers to build public bathrooms that are clean and secure and open for anyone to use.
“The cost of maintenance has been a reason why the city has either closed restrooms in the past or opened more. My office doesn't think that should be a reason not to have restrooms open and we need to make sure that they are not only open, but they are accessible and by accessible we mean someplace someone would feel comfortable using,” said Elo-Rivera.
The city is also encouraged to work with the Port of San Diego, advocates, communities and private developers on implementing more accessible restrooms, but the city says this needs to be a multi-county agency effort.
After the city was granted an extension, the city's response is due on November 10.
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