Public restrooms near downtown Indianapolis’ Old City Hall closed for repairs
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The portable public restrooms on Alabama and New York streets were installed toward the end of February next to downtown Indianapolis’ Old City Hall, but they were closed Wednesday for repairs and upgrades.
Andrew Merkley, the administrator for the city government’s Division of Homelessness Policy and Eviction Prevention for the Office of Public Health and Safety, said his office is working with an outside vendor to fix the public restroom as quickly as possible. It’s unclear when they will reopen.
Merkley said, “The restroom at Old City Hall is part of the city’s efforts to provide safe and dignified restroom and hand washing stations to the unsheltered community.”
He said in the meantime anyone who needs a public restroom can use the two public restrooms at the SPARK on the Circle pocket park on the southwest quadrant of Monument Circle. Many that we spoke to in the unsheltered community at the old city hall building were unaware this was an option.
George Williams, an Indianapolis resident experiencing homelessness, said it has been difficult without the facility. “They use this washroom all day. All morning. All afternoon. All evening. One day, I was sleeping on this area here and I woke up and it was locked. It’s been tough. Real tough. It’s hard.”
Thomas Bridgeforth said he is no longer experiencing homelessness but is frustrated at the lack of available facilities. “When you’ve got to use it and you can’t get to that one. I’m not trying to be a dog, people, but that’s what I become.”
Both men said the public restroom was not without issues.
Williams said, “It was bad. I think this is the reason why they close the washroom. It was abused. They abused the washroom.”
Bridgeforth said, “We have a problem with the water thing here because we can’t clean our hands. We need to be able to clean our hands.”