East Hampton Town residents, visitors, and government alike love their beaches, which is one reason why the deplorable state of repair of most public restrooms at them is utterly unacceptable. For some reason, these dingy, gag-inducing bunkers are deemed “comfort stations” — they are anything but. Punk kids sometimes try to kick in their dingy steel service-closet doors (expecting to find exactly what, we wonder), yet this is not an excuse for the lack of upkeep. By way of contrast, we look to Montauk Point State Park, where the well-designed restrooms are not only clean but heated in the winter. The same can be said of the downtown public restroom in Amagansett.
In terms of ecological impact, the town restrooms are considered a big problem, though money for improvements is available. A voter-approved program to use some of the cash in the community preservation fund has paid for some work to divert pollutants from entering groundwater, but the bathroom upgrades have lagged. Standouts in need of fast-track relief include the Ditch Plain restrooms and ones at Havens Beach in Sag Harbor, and Fresh Pond, Indian Wells, and Atlantic Avenue Beaches in Amagansett. Of the 27 public restrooms listed in order of priority in a town report from July, just five had been completed. The rest were still in design mode or on hold.
What should not have to wait are basic upgrades, like more natural light and better ventilation at the existing restrooms. There must be some kind of alternative to the cold and slippery concrete floors at most of them — nonslip ceramic tiles, natural stone, and terrazzo are options. On the walls, a bit of stucco or aesthetically pleasing durable paneling to cover the concrete blocks would help, and, pretty, pretty please, replace the prison-grade toilets. They are insulting, suggesting that the public is not worth spending a little more on. Vandalism is inevitable, but that does not mean beachgoers should be forced to sit on cold steel when they have to go. While our public restrooms may never become a point of pride, they could be made a bit more inviting.