By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle
Sometime between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning vandals struck the Gyro Park washrooms in Osoyoos, smashing dispensers breaking toilet and soap dispensers right off the wall in both the men’s and women’s washrooms.
The senseless destruction has closed both washrooms – the busiest public washrooms in town – ahead of the start of spring and summer events in the park, including the Osoyoos Easter Eggstravaganza on Apr. 19, which is barely two weeks out.
Rod Risling, Osoyoos Chief Administrative Officer said the vandalism is reported to the RCMP as a matter of procedure but isn’t optimistic the perpetrators will be caught.
Risling notes that unfortunately the washrooms had just been given a fresh coat of paint for the upcoming peak season and now the paint is blistering off the walls because of the soap splatter.
The women’s washroom with locked gate and sign indicating the reason for closure with graffiti tagged sign on right side.
Don Urquhart photo
“It’s just disappointing,” Risling says wearily, noting this isn’t the first time the washrooms have been vandalized. A quick scan of the archives shows nearly a decade of on again, off again vandalism including graffiti, fires being set inside, intravenous drug use and what was described by former town councillor C.J. Rhodes in 2016 as “brazen sex acts”.
“It’s just disappointing because we waste a lot of staff time, taxpayer dollars, and one of the most important things, a facility that should be enjoyed by the public is closed.”
He didn’t have an estimate from town staff at the point the Times Chronicle spoke to him but the larger problem he highlights is that most of the dispensing equipment is on backorder. “We don’t have an estimated time. In fact, our group is already worrying about the Easter event,” he said.
