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Waterfront Park’s New Restroom Opens Today

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-gets-waterfront-restroom-as-problems-persist-citywide/

Seattle gets waterfront restroom as problems persist citywide

March 25, 2025

Seattle is adding a shiny new public restroom on its revamped downtown waterfront while continuing to struggle with cleanliness and availability problems at other park restrooms across the city.

Six all-gender stalls will open Tuesday on the waterfront’s new promenade. Located between Union and University streets near the Great Wheel, the restroom is part of an $800 million-plus waterfront overhaul that began in 2019 when the Alaskan Way Viaduct was torn down.

The toilets will serve locals and tourists as they stroll and bike between the Seattle Aquarium, Colman Dock, the waterfront’s new Overlook Walk and other attractions, officials said Friday, showing off the open-air restroom’s translucent canopy, sturdy diaper-changing station and brightly colored tiles.

“The idea is that you make it welcoming and people feel really safe,” said Joy Shigaki, president at the nonprofit Friends of Waterfront Park, which plans to staff the restroom with a full-time attendant. “That’s our commitment.”

Mayor Bruce Harrell can point to the project as a positive step to improve hygiene access in Seattle after years of complaints and degradation.

“Expanding access to clean, safe public restrooms is essential in creating welcoming and inclusive public spaces,” Harrell said in a statement.

At the same time, the city is failing to ensure that its 129 other restrooms in parks are consistently clean and available, according to a recent audit.

Ongoing problems

A report published last month by the Seattle auditor’s office dinged Seattle Parks and Recreation for dirty restrooms, inaccurate information and spotty oversight.

The department aims to clean every restroom two to three times daily but has failed to hit that target consistently across the city, the audit found. Among 50 restrooms the auditors visited, half were dirty and 15% lacked supplies.

The department has an online dashboard with information about restroom availability, but it’s unreliable, the audit found. Five of the 50 restrooms the auditors visited were closed despite the dashboard saying they were open.

Park restrooms are important to Seattleites, the audit found, so closed restrooms “can lead to frustration.” Park users consistently mention dirty restrooms as an area of serious concern in surveys, the audit also found.

Such problems are nothing new: A Seattle Times reporting series in 2023 detailed the many challenges people face when trying to find public restrooms in the city and the consequences that flow from those challenges.

Park restrooms can be dicey, transit restrooms are almost nonexistent, libraries close at night and many stores have clamped down on toilet access. It makes life harder for parents, commuters, people with disabilities, delivery drivers, tourists, homeless people and almost everyone else, leading people to pee behind bushes, drive rather than take transit and simply avoid the city.

In 2023, Harrell’s administration said improvements were coming, including the new waterfront restroom, a slew of park restroom renovations and more maintenance to combat rough use and rampant vandalism. Meanwhile, a “participatory budgeting” process that gave Seattle residents a chance to vote on various projects earmarked $7 million for 24-hour restroom access.

But a hiring freeze ordered by Harrell in 2024 and other budget constraints hampered restroom cleaning, reducing park maintenance by 10,000 hours last summer. At the last minute, the City Council redirected most of the restroom money earmarked via “participatory budgeting” to other needs.

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February’s park restrooms audit recommended more resources for cleaning, better tracking, better coordination and smarter planning. Seattle Parks mostly concurred with the audit recommendations.

“We are committed to improving the public experience of our restrooms,” Parks Superintendent AP Diaz wrote in November, saying his department would hire more workers and upgrade more restrooms for winter use soon.

“Key opportunity“

The new waterfront restroom, which cost about $2 million, is a bright, handsome structure. Its sinks and one of its toilet stalls are wheelchair accessible. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. most of the year and until 10 p.m. in the summer.

It may even stay tidy, because it will be staffed by the Friends of Waterfront Park attendant, deep-cleaned by city workers and watched by waterfront security guards. Experts on public restrooms say staffing and constant cleaning are crucial.

“The key opportunity and kind of privilege we have here” on the waterfront, versus other parks, “is we have dedicated staff,” said Marshall Foster, director of Seattle Center, which is managing the waterfront for the city.

Besides keeping tabs on the restroom, the Friends of Waterfront Park attendant will give directions to people exploring the waterfront. A new Pier 58 playground is under construction nearby. Pike Place Market is just up the hill.

The restroom’s test will come this summer, as crowds of cruise ship tourists and locals stream past. Millions are expected to visit the new-look waterfront.Seattle is adding a shiny new public restroom on its revamped downtown waterfront while continuing to struggle with cleanliness and availability problems at other park restrooms across the city.

Six all-gender stalls will open Tuesday on the waterfront’s new promenade. Located between Union and University streets near the Great Wheel, the restroom is part of an $800 million-plus waterfront overhaul that began in 2019 when the Alaskan Way Viaduct was torn down.

The toilets will serve locals and tourists as they stroll and bike between the Seattle Aquarium, Colman Dock, the waterfront’s new Overlook Walk and other attractions, officials said Friday, showing off the open-air restroom’s translucent canopy, sturdy diaper-changing station and brightly colored tiles.

“The idea is that you make it welcoming and people feel really safe,” said Joy Shigaki, president at the nonprofit Friends of Waterfront Park, which plans to staff the restroom with a full-time attendant. “That’s our commitment.”

Mayor Bruce Harrell can point to the project as a positive step to improve hygiene access in Seattle after years of complaints and degradation.

“Expanding access to clean, safe public restrooms is essential in creating welcoming and inclusive public spaces,” Harrell said in a statement.

At the same time, the city is failing to ensure that its 129 other restrooms in parks are consistently clean and available, according to a recent audit.

Ongoing problems

A report published last month by the Seattle auditor’s office dinged Seattle Parks and Recreation for dirty restrooms, inaccurate information and spotty oversight.

The department aims to clean every restroom two to three times daily but has failed to hit that target consistently across the city, the audit found. Among 50 restrooms the auditors visited, half were dirty and 15% lacked supplies.

The department has an online dashboard with information about restroom availability, but it’s unreliable, the audit found. Five of the 50 restrooms the auditors visited were closed despite the dashboard saying they were open.

Park restrooms are important to Seattleites, the audit found, so closed restrooms “can lead to frustration.” Park users consistently mention dirty restrooms as an area of serious concern in surveys, the audit also found.

Such problems are nothing new: A Seattle Times reporting series in 2023 detailed the many challenges people face when trying to find public restrooms in the city and the consequences that flow from those challenges.

Park restrooms can be dicey, transit restrooms are almost nonexistent, libraries close at night and many stores have clamped down on toilet access. It makes life harder for parents, commuters, people with disabilities, delivery drivers, tourists, homeless people and almost everyone else, leading people to pee behind bushes, drive rather than take transit and simply avoid the city.

In 2023, Harrell’s administration said improvements were coming, including the new waterfront restroom, a slew of park restroom renovations and more maintenance to combat rough use and rampant vandalism. Meanwhile, a “participatory budgeting” process that gave Seattle residents a chance to vote on various projects earmarked $7 million for 24-hour restroom access.

But a hiring freeze ordered by Harrell in 2024 and other budget constraints hampered restroom cleaning, reducing park maintenance by 10,000 hours last summer. At the last minute, the City Council redirected most of the restroom money earmarked via “participatory budgeting” to other needs.

Sign up for Evening Brief

Delivered weeknights, this email newsletter gives you a quick recap of the day’s top stories and need-to-know news, as well as intriguing photos and topics to spark conversation as you wind down from your day.

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