Thinkstock
Re: “Put in dog parks, but not public restrooms?,” March 22 Perspective article.
Dennis Ryerson’s article was excellent. He makes a strong case for Denver building and maintaining public restrooms not only within our city parks, but also in the urban areas of the city.
We live in the Bible Park area of southeast Denver, where the public bathrooms have been closed for years. Several “temporary” porta-potties have been erected instead, and they have now achieved permanent status by default.
How many times have I been in Washington Park when the bathrooms there were closed? The people of Denver utilize their parks all four seasons of the year, not just in the summer.
The Denver Parks and Recreation Department and those who fund this department need to reassess their priorities. If public parks are there for the common good and health of the community, what does not providing public bathrooms within these parks say about those in charge?
Carolyn Perna,Denver
This letter was published in the March 29 edition.Unless you live in a bubble of denial, you know the metro area attends to the needs of dogs more than humans. Itap easy to get funding for a dog park, promote allowing dogs in restaurants, raising funds to help abandoned dogs, or pass legislation to name shelter dogs and cats as the state pet. Now try to gain the public’s interest in school funding, school lunch programs or assistance in heath care, and the level of importance wanes. Thus when the issue of providing public restrooms for our human citizens is proposed, it gets one bark on the five-bark rating system. Then again, the issue of sanitation and public urination and defecation has never been an issue of importance with the dog-centric public, as witnessed in any public park, neighborhood lawn, bike path, or with any free-standing pole or bike rack — so why attend to the need for public restrooms?
Stan Hrincevich,Littleton
This letter was published in the March 29 edition.
Submit a letter to the editor via this form or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail.
