The public bathrooms in Kennedy Plaza have become the latest touchstone over what should happen at the transit hub in downtown Providence.
Closed to the public since the COVID-19 pandemic started more than a year ago, the bathrooms in the passenger terminal at the plaza have remained closed even as the city and state have started to reopen public programs and buildings.
Managed by the R.I. Public Transit Authority, the bathrooms were shuttered to the public because the agency cannot enforce the Transportation Security Administration’s requirement that people wear masks inside, according to Scott Avedisian, CEO of RIPTA.
Avedisian said he wants permission from the city to build a separate bathroom for the drivers, separating them from the passengers who are using the facilities.
But Avedisian said the city has told RIPTA that the transit authority will need to leave the leased facilities at the plaza within the year. A letter released Wednesday from the mayor’s office sought to dispel that notion.
“The answer would be to have an external entrance to the restrooms, for the public, from outside,” Avedisian said. “And build restrooms in the building ... for drivers only, that drivers could access. But I can’t put money into the building because the city planning department has told us they plan to kick us out within the year.”
In recent months, Kennedy Plaza has been the focal point of opposition to a plan by the R.I. Department of Transportation to divide the central bus depot at the plaza across three sites. Critics say the plans to move many of the bus routes out of Kennedy Plaza are unfair to RIPTA riders, many of whom are low income and minorities, and are a result of influence from downtown property and business owners who want to see a different use for the plaza.
The rerouting plans haven’t been finalized, and now the bathroom dispute lingers, too.
But one observer thinks the bathroom dispute is part of an underlying issue – that some people downtown are uncomfortable looking at poverty. Sam Bell, a Democratic state senator in Providence, described the masking mandate from the TSA as an excuse. Wealthier communities would be trusted to follow COVID-19 safety protocols without an enforcement presence, he said.
“Kennedy Plaza puts the realities of poverty right in front of some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Rhode Island and it makes them deeply uncomfortable and they don’t want to look at it,” Bell said. “That is the underlying driver, in my opinion, of the source of conflicts over Kennedy Plaza.”
The city, for its part, has pledged to resolve the bathroom issues.
Mayor Jorge O. Elorza on June 15 sent a letter to RIPTA leaders promising to find a solution, describing the bathrooms as a “critical public health need.” The city, he said, has no intention of booting RIPTA from the facility. Its future vision includes an active RIPTA presence at Kennedy Plaza, in the existing terminal and with multiple bus berths, the letter states. Four new public bathrooms eventually will be added to the building, according to the letter.
In the short term, Providence City Hall bathrooms are open to the public during regular business hours. And the skating rink bathrooms have been retrofitted for private access by drivers.
“The city views access to public restrooms as a basic human necessity, and good public policy,” Elorza wrote.
Where does this leave the traveling public that remains at Kennedy Plaza?
For now, it leaves the public without access to public bathrooms, said Patricia Raub, president of the Rhode Island Transit Riders, an advocacy group for RIPTA users. The organization has been asking for reopened bathrooms for several months, she said.
In recent weeks, another group, Project Weber/Renew, also called on RIPTA to reopen the facilities.
“It’s not so easy to find another [bathroom] downtown,” Raub said. “I’ve been in this situation myself.”
Fixing the problem should be easy, she said. RIPTA needs to pay for security to ensure people wear masks when entering the facility, if the concern is meeting TSA requirements.
Rather than renovations or new entrances, “it would be worthwhile if RIPTA used some of its money that it got from the pandemic [relief aid] from the federal government to hire a couple of security guards. I think it’s an easy fix. Get enough masks that you can hand one to someone if they’re not using one.”
When asked about hiring security, Avedisian cited past problems in Kennedy Plaza. The security guards hired had no police authority and no ability to make arrests. He said on two occasions, temporary public bathrooms were installed on the plaza, only to be vandalized or set on fire. The last company he hired to maintain portable bathrooms said that its workers feared they would get jabbed by hypodermic needles they found when cleaning the toilets.
Avedisian said with other cities, there is no issue. RIPTA has had no difficulty in Newport or in Pawtucket, where bathrooms are maintained by the city of Newport and the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, respectively.
“We have consistently partnered with anyone who will work with us,” Avedisian said.
Cliff Wood, president of the Providence Foundation, said the board hadn’t taken a position on the issue, but he said he felt it should be resolved because people who cannot use the bathrooms are using the streets or buildings downtown instead.
“There should be bathrooms down there for people,” Wood said. “It’s not just for the bus-riding population. We have a lot of public programs.”
Having a clean, functioning public restroom is likely to cost more money than people may think, and it requires meticulous maintenance and supervision, he said. But it’s worth it, Wood added, because Providence needs public bathrooms downtown as a humane and practical solution.
Wood noted that the city has three beer gardens that will open in the coming months.
“Think through that,” he said. “We just have to decide to spend the money.”
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at MacDonald@PBN.com.
It’s so sad that there is a small, criminal part of the populace that wants to mis-use and destroy the amenities the public pays for.
Time to get tough with the criminal element, and get them off the streets and into jail (and treatment where available) so decent, law-abiding citizens can enjoy the beauty of Providence!