SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Seattle mom says Green Lake bathrooms are reserved for the homeless
May 15, 2021, 8:56 AM
Green Lake Community Center. (Seattle Parks Dept photo)
(Seattle Parks Dept photo)
A Seattle mom says she was stopped from using the public bathroom at Green Lake because it is reserved for the homeless.
While playing at the park with her 18-month-old daughter, Kristen went to use the restroom, but found that they were blocked off with tape. When she asked at the community center what was going on, she was told by a staffer that the bathrooms were reserved for the homeless, and that she needed to use a port-a-potty instead of the public restrooms.
Tension grows over encampment near Green Lake
She told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show, “The woman behind the desk at the community center said that the bathrooms are currently reserved for our unhoused neighbors. I was taken aback because I didn’t know how to respond.”
This meant squeezing with her young daughter into a port-a-potty that she said was unhygienic to the point of hazardous.
Kristen feels betrayed as a taxpayer, when she cannot even get access to basic human necessities at a park that her tax dollars fund.
“We cannot be expected to just go in the streets,” Kristen said. “It should be available for everybody.”
Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
