Thanks for this article. I was walking with an older visiting relative in downtown Plymouth last winter who really needed [to find] a public restroom and ended up relieving himself behind a garage!
I spoke to Lea (Filson, See Plymouth’s CEO) about it then, so it is good to hear about her advocacy.
There is one other public bathroom at the Destination Plymouth visitor center on Water Street that is open seasonally whenever the center is open.
Plymouth compares so badly to other towns such as Newport and Salem, that have year round full service visitor centers.
Another related issue you could explore is the totally inadequate and rundown condition of the facilities and bathrooms at Plymouth’s ocean and pond beaches where nonresidents have to pay.
At Long Beach, there are two stalls in the women’s bathroom at the main parking lot for all the women and town staff at the beach on a packed summer day, with not even porta potties way out on the beach for all the people and the town staff who are out there for hours! That just does not work and invites people to resort unsanitary options on the beach or in the water.
At Morton Park there again are two stalls, no ADA stall in the women’s room, in a rundown building. Same thing at Fresh Pond. The only decent bathhouse is at Hedges Pond only because it used to be a church summer camp. When Plymouth bought the camp, we inherited one set of decent facilities.
These should all be priorities for this town and town funding. I was a Town meeting rep and these facilities were on [a] list of priorities but never got funding.
Plymouth gets state funding for visitor services and to promote tourism. Use this money for BRs.
Wynn Gerhard