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Lack of restrooms near Alba Park causing problems downtown The gazebo at Alba Park in Medford is commonly used by the homeless as a shelter and sleep area. Biowaste cleanups around the park have tripled since Hawthorne Park got a $1.65 million upgrade in 2015. Mail Tribune / Jamie Lusch Sunday Apr 2, 2017 at 2:00 AM Apr 3, 2017 at 6:52 AM Nick Morgan Mail Tribune @mtcrimebeat Every Saturday outside the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church of Medford, a gardening service removes multiple instances of something most of us flush away. About four piles of human waste are removed each week from the church grounds, located across the street from Alba Park, said church pastor Murray Richmond. Up until last year, a church volunteer did the cleanup. "He just got tired of cleaning that up every single week," Richmond said, adding that the problem started in 2015, about the same time Hawthorne Park closed for renovations. The church isn't alone in having to clean up such messes. At the March 16 Medford City Council meeting, Sunrise Cafe owner Ed Chun said that twice in one week he had to bring a shovel from home to handle waste found in the alley behind his business. Park Maintenance Superintendent Tim Stevens said cleanups of human feces and urine have tripled on city-owned property near Alba Park over the past year. Three to four times a week, park maintenance staff clears biowaste from the park and the nearby Carnegie building. Last year, such cleanups were conducted once a week. At an Alba Park picnic table Tuesday, Leanne Copple, homeless for a year and a half, said she watches her food and water intake to ensure she can use a public restroom in the middle of the day. On weekends, Copple said the bus station restroom on Front Street is the best and only option for her and many other homeless people. That's a four-hour window on weekends. The bus station is open from noon to 4:15 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. "You gotta time it out right," Copple said, though she acknowledged that not every homeless person is as conscientious as she tries to be. "For the guys that drink, they just go anywhere." It's common for homeless men to relieve themselves on the old Carnegie Building or on bushes at Alba, according to Steve LaBelle, who has been homeless for two years. He said the front steps of the Carnegie Building already smell like urine again after city staff pressure-washed it last week. Even in the middle of a weekday, LaBelle said it's a challenge orchestrating a public restroom where he won't encounter resistance. He said he tries to vary the public restrooms he uses, in part because staff at the nearby Jackson County Health and Human Services building recently glared at him for coming in a third time to use their facilities.  "It makes you feel uncomfortable," LaBelle said. Over the weekend, LaBelle said he observed an elderly homeless woman in the gazebo at Alba Park who was unable to get to a bathroom in time. LaBelle also admitted he's had to relieve himself outside before. "I'm pretty sure everyone's gone outside at least once," LaBelle said. At the church, the hardest-hit area is a garden in a recessed alcove, according to Richmond, who said people are trying to be discrete. Richmond said he considers the issue a matter of human dignity.  "Nobody wants to use the bathroom in public," Richmond said. "There's no place for them to go."  Richmond's church reaches out to the homeless population weekdays with donations, and Richmond said he understands factors within the homeless population that lead to the problem, such as their mental health issues and living from hand-to-mouth. "Organization is not one of their strong suits," Richmond said. "Timing when they go to the bathroom is almost non-existent." Richmond, however, times cleanups as close to church services as possible.  "We don't want our parishioners to have to deal with that Sunday morning," Richmond said. "From a merchant's point of view, it's bad business." City staff tasked with biohazard cleanup must wear personal protective equipment such as eye goggles or face shields, disposable nitrile gloves and coveralls, according to Stevens. After the physical waste is removed with tools, staff hose down or pressure wash contaminated surfaces before finishing with cleaners and disinfectants.  "Sustainable-earth cleaning-disinfecting products are utilized as part of the process to ensure that all potential biohazards are mitigated," Stevens said. Biowaste cleanups are nothing new, according to Stevens, who said they've "always" been a problem throughout Medford parks, but the frequency of cleanups near Alba seem to have risen at the same time cleanups at Hawthorne Park have dropped. Hawthorne Park was closed from April to October 2015 while it underwent a $1.65 million renovation that included a new playground, splash facility and restrooms that are closed after dark. Biowaste cleanup is "less frequent" at Hawthorne since it reopened, Stevens said, which he attributed to increased LED lighting throughout the park and increased Medford police night patrols, which has created an environment "less inviting for unwanted behavior." Stevens attributes the biowaste problem generally to bathrooms being closed at dark and a lack of restrooms generally near Alba Park. Heather Everett, administrative director of the homeless outreach program Rogue Retreat, says part of the problem is that there's no place where the homeless are allowed — meaning the problem doesn't go away, it just gets moved to another place.  "When you're homeless, nobody wants you anywhere," Everett said.  An additional challenge for homeless residents is that there's no maps showing them where to find restrooms or water fountains downtown. Melissa Mayne, of the outreach organization Compassion Highway Project, said a solution that met homeless people's basic needs would greatly reduce the messes impacting others downtown. "They have no other option," Mayne said. Medford city Councilor Kevin Stine said he looked into reopening the dedicated restroom facility next to the Carnegie building, but the plumbing was too old. Everett said the facility needs a complete renovation to be functional, and she's looking into ways to raise funds for the restrooms. But there's resistance to the idea, she said. "Everybody's worst fear is that, 'If you build it, they will come,'" Everett said. In the wake of similar problems five years ago, Ashland installed a portable toilet not far from the entrance to Lithia Park, which remains in use today, according to Michael Black, director of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Commission. Homeless people had been urinating and defecating in public because restrooms closed early, archives show, and the council approved the portable toilet on a one-year trial basis in 2011, which was approved indefinitely in December 2012. The annual operating cost of $1,800 yearly for the portable toilet was less than the $8,000 for custodial services and repairing vandalism to the park's restroom facilities, according to archives.  Black said that despite occasional vandalism to the portable toilet, the solution is "working out." "We will either clean it up or have the vendor repair it when needed," Black said. Stine said he supports a portable toilet near Alba Park. "If you put trash cans at Alba Park, it doesn't mean they all get used," Stine said. "I think people would much rather use a porta-potty than elsewhere." LaBelle, Copple and other nearby homeless at Alba Tuesday said that even a single portable toilet would make a "big difference." Mayne also expressed support for a portable toilet. "You can't just hold going to the bathroom," Mayne said. "It's not humane." Though a winter overnight warming shelter nearby closed for the season Friday, Copple anticipated the lack of basic amenities won't be enough to move the homeless along elsewhere. She said many homeless won't leave Alba because it's rare to find a place where they feel safe. As long as people comply with park rules — such as keeping dogs leashed and refraining from smoking or drinking inside the grounds — Alba Park is a place near the police station where the homeless are allowed to be. "No one has nowhere to go that's safe," Copple said. — Reach reporter Nick Morgan at 541-776-4471 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @MTCrimeBeat.