Spokane parks levy could bring much-needed bathroom renovations

SPOKANE, Wash. — Harmon Park could be getting a makeover soon, and according to community members, it’s about time.

“We have people come to the park. They peer in there and think I don’t know if I’m going to go in there,” said Lee Williams, a volunteer with Friends of Coeur d’Alene Park.

For the last few months, bathrooms haven’t been an option for visitors because they were locked during the winter months. However, Carl Strong, the Park Operations Assistant Director, explained that seasonal closures don’t always prevent vandalism.

“You’ll see the trash, broken bottles. If you peek inside, you’ll see needles, foil from fentanyl. It happened. All of it happens in our bathrooms,” Strong said.

This is why improving public restrooms in Spokane parks remains one of the community’s top concerns according to previous outreach surveys.

“I live here and I’m a grandparent. I want to bring my children to the park. Other parents want to bring their children to the park. The first thing you want to know is, is there a restroom? When children need to go, they need to go,” Williams said.

A design team is evaluating which bathrooms need to be renovated versus replaced if the $240 million parks levy passes in November. Garrett Jones, Parks and Recreation Director, noted that Harmon Park would receive a complete renovation.

“This whole park – Harmon Park – as far as Together Spokane and the Parks Levy gets fully renovated,” Jones said.

Jones also highlighted accessibility as a key focus of this levy.

“We have some restrooms in our park system. We don’t have sidewalks. We don’t have pathways that go to our restroom facilities. We need to increase that accessibility,” he said.

Visibility is a major priority for these new bathrooms. The goal is that parents feel safe letting their kids use the bathroom on their own because they can easily keep an eye on them from a nearby park bench.

The levy would increase the maintenance staff by 50 percent, giving the Parks Department capacity to clean some locations twice in one day — which Strong says can be necessary during peak season — and take preventative measures against vandalism.

Voters will decide on the $240 million parks levy this November.