With park bathrooms closed due to coronavirus, Modesto to put in portables for homeless
Modesto expects soon to install portable bathrooms for homeless people after closing its park bathrooms about two weeks ago because of the new coronavirus pandemic.
Many of the other options for homeless people have closed, including the library and fast-food restaurants, which are operating only their drive-throughs.
“Everybody goes in the alleys, man. It’s like ridiculous,” said Kevin Walker, a 52-year-old homeless man who was in Enslen Park on Thursday afternoon with his dog, Oreo. He said there is a portable at a construction site near Enslen where the workers “allow certain ones to use it as long as we don’t dirty it up.”
Modesto spokesman Thomas Reeves and Deputy City Manager Scotty Douglass said the portables would be placed in areas of high need in the city based on input from the Police Department and Stanislaus County’s Office of Emergency Services. They expect the portables could be in place within a week.
Reeves said Modesto will start with a limited number as a trial run. He said the city is working out the details, but if vandalism becomes a problem at any of the portables, the city could remove those portables. Police will step up patrols where the portables are placed to ensure they are used as intended. Reeves did not know if the city would post signs or do outreach with the homeless to let them know the consequences of vandalism.
The city is looking for hand-washing stations as well, but those may be difficult to rent because they are in short supply. The city could rent portables with hand sanitizers.
Modesto has closed its approximately 72 parks and other city facilities to the public through May 3, though the closures are subject to change based on when the pandemic is contained.
On why portables were not provided sooner, Reeves said the city has been working on this since it closed the park bathrooms, adding this is just one of many issues it has had to address during the pandemic.
“This is a high priority for us,” he said. “I’m sure it’s not as fast as many would like, but we are doing something. We are acting on it.”
Stanislaus County will put in portables
Stanislaus County also is working on installing portables and hand-washing stations, according to Royjindar Singh, a spokesman with the Office of Emergency Services. He agreed the hand-washing stations may be difficult to rent.
“We don’t have anything in place yet,” he said. “We are working to set that up, where they would go and what it would look like.”
On why this has not happened sooner, Singh said the county also has been working on many projects in response to the pandemic.
He said they include leasing hotels and motels to provide shelter for people who are at high risk or have symptoms, including homeless people and seniors in care facilities. (Singh said the county is nearly compete with securing the lease agreements.) And the county is adding hospital beds in case the surge overwhelms local hospitals.
Walker, the homeless man in Modesto’s Enslen Park, said it is good news the city is bringing in portables but said it would be faster, easier and cheaper if Modesto simply reopened its park bathrooms.
“What’s the difference?” he asked. “It would save the city a lot of money if they just opened the bathrooms.”
Modesto parks to stay closed
Reeves said Modesto has closed its parks during the pandemic, so it would not make sense to reopen the bathrooms. He said portables are a better solution because unlike park bathrooms, they will be open 24 hours a day and at the very least will have hand sanitizer. He said they will be maintained on a regular basis.
A check of several parks Thursday where homeless people typically gather in large numbers turned up few of them. Singh, the OES spokesman, said many homeless people are camped along the Tuolumne River.
Homeless people still have other options for restrooms. For instance, grocery stores are open. And the restrooms at Modesto’s Downtown Transportation Center, which serves as a hub for city and county buses, were open Thursday.
The Modesto Gospel Mission lets homeless people use its bathrooms 24 hours a day. Executive Director Jason Conway said the mission has not seen an increase in use since the pandemic.
Reeves said the money to rent the portables and wash stations would come in part from the nearly $720,000 California recently awarded to Stanislaus County and the Stanislaus Community System of Care to keep homeless people safe and healthy during the pandemic.
Oakdale installs portable at Meyer Park
Singh said the county and its cities can use that funding for a variety of purposes, including portables and hand-washing stations.
Reeves said Modesto surveyed Stockton, Tracy, Manteca, Ceres, Oakdale and Turlock. He said all reported closing their parks and restrooms. He said some have installed portables or are doing so, others have not yet made a decision, and some have decided not to.
He declined to give specifics for each city.
But Oakdale reported to The Bee that it put in a portable bathroom March 27 at Meyer Park and is waiting for hand-washing stations, which should arrive soon. Turlock officials said they are not putting in portables and are relying upon the city’s nonprofits to provide homeless people with restrooms.
Turlock’s emergency operations center will continue to monitor the situation and may change its plans on offering hygiene stations.
Bee reporters Kristin Lam and Erin Tracy contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 11, 2020 at 9:00 AM.
