CDTA: Use coded padlock for 24-hour toilet access at police station

Chronicle Managing Editor Cathy DeDe writes: The City of Glens Falls and CDTA are nearing a solution to providing access to the bathroom in the entry to the Police Department when City Hall is closed.

Mayor Diana Palmer said at the May 26 Common Council meeting, “CDTA has offered to install…a padlock with a number code on the door. That might be a nice compromise to make sure that people who really need it have access” and “it won’t just be open all of the time for any number of behaviors that might be happening in there.”

“That’s were we left it,” the Mayor said. “The police chief seemed happy with that compromise. I’ll take it back to the Board of Public Safety and let them know.”

Dennis Brower, formerly of Queensbury, now of Glens Falls, raised the issue.

“I really felt it was a good idea to have it open for the public, particularly for the fact that the library has limited bathroom capabilities for people.

“It surprises me we don’t have more facilities. You don’t want to push them to the Queensbury (Hotel), and that’s kind of the alternative for a lot of people. Just my two cents, anyway.”

Ward 5 Councilman Sean Palladino noted there are public bathrooms also at the Murray Street Playground in his ward. “So there are options.”

The bathroom in the police department lobby closes when City Hall does at 4:30 p.m. The police allow access after hours upon request, but it has led to messes in the bathroom, a city employee told the May 13 Board of Public Safety meeting.

Police Department Social Worker Darlene Hafner argued the bathroom should be unlocked and available for public use 24 hours a day. “It’s a basic human need to use the restroom,” she said, adding that people are using City Park to meet that need because “there’s no public restroom in the park.”

— With reporting by Ben Westcott

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