Excloosive: How a rogue Portland Loo public bathroom mysteriously ended up in a Germantown park

While reporting my six-month follow-up on Philly’s public bathroom pilot project this month, I got wind from a source that a Portland Loo unit was installed in Vernon Park in Germantown.

That’s odd, I thought, because the city’s pilot project — which began last year and will place six standalone Portland Loo bathrooms across the city over five years at an annual cost of $656,864 — doesn’t include a unit in Germantown.

Two Portland Loos (which the city renamed Philly Phlushes) are up and running in Center City and North Philly, a third is slated for Clark Park in West Philly this year, and the remaining three locations haven’t been chosen yet.

So in the name of doo diligence, I drove over to Vernon Park to check out the tip. Loo and behold, there it was, a shiny new Portland Loo bathroom behind fencing, with a fancy new water fountain nearby.

Had I stepped in some great latrine scheme happening at the highest echelons of city government?

While anything is possible in Philly, after days of digging to the bottom of this mystery like a honey dipper in a privy, it appears this may be a classic case of the left cheek of city government not knowing what the right cheek is doing.

Those aware of the Portland Loo in Vernon Park told me they were surprised to learn of the city’s public bathroom pilot project through media coverage last year, and those involved in the city’s pilot project were surprised to learn about the restroom in Vernon Park from me.

That’s because the Vernon Park Portland Loo isn’t part of the city’s pilot project, which was spearheaded by the Managing Director’s Office and is run by the Department of Public Health. It’s an outlier, a rogue public bathroom if you will. Like the cheese, it stands alone — and like forgotten cheese, some worry that it may start to stink if more attention isn’t paid to it.

According to Angela Miles, president of Friends of Vernon Park, a Portland Loo was first proposed for the park back in 2019 (before the city’s pilot project) by Councilmember Cindy Bass’ office.

Rebuild — former Mayor Jim Kenney’s soda-tax-funded investment project to improve parks, rec centers, and libraries — was getting underway, and Vernon Park was identified as a Rebuild site. Bass requested a bathroom as part of renovations and said the city’s Parks and Recreation Department recommended the Portland Loo.

Community members were excited to get a much-needed bathroom at the park, Miles said, but first, they wanted to know if there was a plan to maintain it.

“We know the city is big and a lot of projects can focus on capital improvements, but not a whole lot towards maintenance,” she said. “Our concern we expressed to all stakeholders is that if it’s locked, broken, or smells bad, it’s almost worse than there not being a restroom.”

After delays due to COVID-19, site improvements began at the park. The bathroom was considered phase II, but ongoing questions about maintenance remained, Miles said.

When the Friends of Vernon Park saw my coverage last summer about the launch of the city’s public bathroom pilot project and read that a team of dedicated public restroom specialists are budgeted to keep those bathrooms clean, they reached out to Rebuild to see if their bathroom would be included, only to be told their loo wasn’t part of the pilot project.

» READ MORE: Loo review No. 3: How Philly’s new public bathrooms are dooing after six months

“We’re trying to understand why this particular unit is outside the project’s scope,” Miles said.

Bass said she was also surprised to learn about the city’s public restroom pilot project through media reports. She said she tried to find out why the Vernon Park bathroom wasn’t included in it, but got “no real answer.”

“I’m looking at the news just like everybody else and I’m like ‘What? Excuse me?’” she said. “Vernon Park was supposed to be the first. It seems as if the Managing Director’s Office was not talking to Parks and Rec, but everybody in the Kenney administration probably was not communicating effectively, that’s the best I can offer … I think it’s lack of coordination.”

Miles said her group reached out to Bass’ office at least five times for answers about a maintenance plan but got no response. In August, the group sent a letter to Bass, Rebuild, and Parks and Rec, asking that the planned bathroom be put on hold until a maintenance plan was in place.

“Think of it like this on a smaller scale: You wouldn’t purchase a cell phone with no service plan — it would be useless,” the letter read.

Bass acknowledged receiving a letter about “some concerns, but they were the same concerns from some time ago.” She said she didn’t recall the letter asking for a response (it does) but is open to speaking with the group. Beyond that, she didn’t say why requests by Friends of Vernon Park went unanswered by her office.

“I don’t want to lose time focusing on ‘There’s no maintenance plan,’ ” Bass said, adding that she’d rather have the unit in place and figure out a plan later than have no bathroom at all.

In September, construction began on the Portland Loo at Vernon Park — seemingly without a maintenance plan — and it remains behind fencing and inaccessible today. The bathroom, which cost $180,000, and the water fountain, which cost $13,000, were approved by Parks and Rec, paid for with Rebuild funds, and supported by City Council, Parks and Rec spokesperson Charlotte Merrick said via email.

According to a November 2023 report from Rebuild to City Council, $310,000 has been allocated for installation of the unit, including new water and sewer lines, demo of the sidewalk, and protective bollards. Merrick said that is a “do not exceed number,” and installation may come in under that.

As for maintenance, Bass said her office has suggested only opening the bathroom for permitted events so people wouldn’t have to rent port-a-potties, but that seems to go against the very idea of a public bathroom, especially one in which the city is investing $500,000.

When asked, Merrick said Parks and Rec will maintain and support the Vernon Park loo through the department’s operating budget, but for the first few months the health department’s public restroom specialists will service the bathroom. Merrick said Parks and Rec has no plans to install other Portland Loos.

If we don’t want these public bathrooms to go down the toilet, the city needs to get on the same page.