Some people appear to be upset school has started back up and took it out on Glur Park’s men’s public restroom.
The men’s and women’s restrooms at Glur Park were cleaned like normal and looking good on Tuesday, Aug. 15. But shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16, City officials discovered the men’s restroom at Glur Park, near the intersection of 26th Avenue and 28th Street in Columbus, had been decimated.
The plastic toilet paper dispenser had been torn off the stall wall, ripped into multiple pieces and then shoved into the toilet and urinal along with all of the toilet paper. The trash can was obviously kicked down, scattering garbage all around.
It comes on the heels of the City Parks and Recreation team repairing the toilets near the tennis courts in Pawnee Park for $600 apiece after people lit fireworks in the toilets on July 4.
Glur Park restrooms had been open all summer long without any issues until Wednesday. Now, they’ll be closed indefinitely until the City figures out how to prevent it from happening without having to spend a fortune to do so. Glur Park is a popular drop-off spot for students before going to nearby schools, so anyone could have done it.
“I don’t know who it was, but we just want to remind citizens to not treat bathrooms like this because it costs money every single time,” City Parks and Recreation Director Betsy Eckhardt said. “We have to figure out a solution to the vandalism issue because it costs hundreds of dollars each day for stuff that is destroyed. And it’s well beyond our budget and anyone else’s budget to be able to sustain that.”
Eckhardt said she hopes people will keep in mind others when using the parks so that everyone can enjoy them. Vandalism issues hinder the public in using the parks to their fullest potential and limit amenities that can be offered when the department has to keep fixing the same things over and over because people vandalize them.
“It’s very frustrating for our maintenance staff who goes every day to clean them and try to keep them usable for the public,” Eckhardt said. “They feel like they’re doing a lot to make our parks better, clean and useful for all, yet there is no respect from some in the community to also help take care of those parks.”