The only permanent standalone public restroom in downtown Fairbanks is closed, probably for the rest of the summer, after vandals caused between $10,000 and $15,000 in damage, according to John Haas, parks superintendent for the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
The restroom is located between the Rabinowitz Courthouse and the Morris Thompson Cultural and Visitors Center.
The incident happened on July 22. Vandals pried the locking mechanism from the steel security door, lifted up the door and entered the restroom, which is locked at night with a steel door “to stop vandals and vagrants from doing mischief.”
“Obviously, it didn’t work,” Haas wrote in an email to the News-Miner. “They ripped the locking mechanism out of the steel door, destroyed the electrical control box for opening and closing the door, and partially pried the electrical conduit off the concrete exterior of the building.”
Inside, they broke several electrical boxes off a wall and smashed various surfaces with a pry bar or hammer, Haas wrote.
“It appears they slept in the restroom overnight and left dozens of broken bottles and cigarette butts,” he said.
Someone also defecated against the exterior walls of the restroom and along the pedestrian path between the restroom and the courthouse.
“Unfortunately, we encounter people using the park as an outdoor toilet pretty regularly,” Haas wrote.
He doubts the restroom will be reopened this year.
“This location gets beat up regularly, but no one has ever broke in at night using tools and then using those tools to damage the structure,” he said.
Haas added that the Growden Park restroom has had partitions ripped off the walls twice this summer, but the vandal did that by climbing on it and repeatedly kicking it.
“I’d say bringing tools to damage a building is new,” Haas said.
Donnie Hayes, director of borough parks and recreation, said he hasn’t seen this level of vandalism at Griffin Park in awhile.
“Unfortunately, Griffin Park does see a significant amount of vandalism and spray paint tagging that has to be addressed,” he said
Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 907-459-7545, at abohman@newsminer.com or follow her at twitter.com/FDNMborough.
