黑料福利社

The city of Yakima won鈥檛 be unlocking its park restrooms for use this year.

Yakima Parks and Recreation Manager Ken Wilkinson told the 黑料福利社 in an email that the city typically keeps its park restrooms closed from the start of the year through April 15 to minimize the risk of pipes freezing. In the past, the city has placed portable toilets at parks during those months聽鈥� but following significant cuts, that hasn鈥檛 been possible.

At this point, there are no plans to reopen restrooms or place portable toilets in the parks due to budget shortfalls.

At the end of last year, the Yakima City Council balanced the city鈥檚 budget with roughly $9 million in cuts. Those cuts included roughly $380,000 from the park maintenance budget, which is used for things like mowing and watering. The funding was also used to pay for all of the restroom supplies for the park restrooms, and to hire six temporary employees to clean and restock the restrooms seven days a week, pick up trash and repair restroom vandalism.

鈥淲e have been very clear that the $380,000 cut to Park Maintenance is significant,鈥� Wilkinson said in an email. According to previous budget presentations, the figure represents around 16% of the total parks maintenance budget.

Carol Masterson, a Yakima resident who lives near Kissel Park, told City Council members at a recent meeting that she鈥檚 concerned about the potential sanitary and health consequences of closing the restrooms, and the impacts on families, older adults and everyone in between who uses the city鈥檚 parks. Masterson suggested finding other ways to cut down the budget, like reducing watering and mowing schedules.

鈥淢oney is tight, but this is something that's important. It's as important as water in the grass. It's as important as, you know, keeping the park open period,鈥� Masterson said on Tuesday. 鈥淥therwise, just put a chain across there and say, 鈥楽orry, we're broke. You can鈥檛 go play.鈥欌��