The Downtown Restroom Feasibility Team undertook one of the most challenging projects a DIY Lowell Project Team has tackled: to either demonstrate or advocate for a public restroom in downtown Lowell, providing dignity for the unhoused and an amenity for tourists. They conducted interviews with other towns, inventoried current restrooms, completed a survey of the unhoused population, and discussed the issue with nonprofit and city officials.
The highlights of their research were put into the following presentation. For more information, or to comment on the idea, email info@diylowell.org.
If the presentation does not appear below, please click here to download the PDF.
This is brilliant. One of the best contributions to the city ever, even before acting on it.
I would like to see downtown work toward finding funding for a self-cleaning installation eventually. I think timed self-cleans would also deter folks lingering.
I also worry about the proposals seeming not to include anything 24/7. The reality is that we have unhoused people in the city, the unhoused gravitate toward cities where there are more services , and people need to relieve themselves at night too. And the LTLC, even if it has restrooms open at night, and downtown, are not near where many of them tend to live.