Desiderio Neighborhood Park (Photos – cityofpasadena.net, GoogleMaps).
“Necessary but contentious” is not a term that one would normally associate with a bathroom, but at the Monday night meeting of the Pasadena City Council, the location of a million-dollar restroom near a public park in the lower Arroyo became an issue of extended debate and discussion.
By Garrett Rowlan
The restroom, as part of a neighborhood park in the now-under-construction Desiderio Project, was slated for a location on the lower Arroyo that would be in a spot of ingress and egress to the Rose Bowl. This was a problem, residences in the area complaining that it would be a pit stop location causing possible traffic tie-ups during public events and, anyway, was too close to the nearest residence.
Those numbers were either 50 or 82 feet or some number in between, grumblings about the location and revised numbers being the order of the evening. Another number was 620, the size of the facility, already scaled down from a previously proposed 850, though other public speakers wanted a building even smaller.
Another number not discussed but of concern was the distance from the unfortunately but accurately named Suicide Bridge looming above. Many have seen fit to use that locale as a jumping-off point for their exit from this life, and placing a restroom there would cause possible witnessing, by children and others, of sights that have already left the community traumatized, in the words of one speaker.
Rita Moreno speaking at the Pasadena City Council meeting on Monday, July 23, 2018 (Photo – Garrett Rowlan).
The debate got testy when, at one point Rita Moreno, speaking not as a member of the Recreation and Parks commission, pointed out that the question of where to put the restroom was part of a larger historical process, where residents of the area resisted the introducing of low-cost housing. At this, council Steve Madison bristled, saying that Ms. Moreno was wrong, that the ribbon-breaking ceremony showed how welcoming the established residents were. Vice Mayor John J. Kennedy, stated that Ms. Moreno did, indeed, have a point. At this juncture, everyone more or less agreed to disagree, and the discussion moved on.
In the end, public pressure obliged the Council to kick back the bathroom idea to staff as several residents had jockeyed for another site for the restroom, closer to the children’s play area and away from the landing pad of those who’d lost hope in life.
By 9:15, Council moved on to another development issue, the construction of a structure at 233 North Hudson, near Walnut, where residents complained of traffic, loss of privacy, and other ills of urban living. These issues, claimed the builders, had already been discussed and addressed as best possible, and the appeal was denied.
> Video of the Pasadena City Council meeting on Monday, July 23, 2018 was not available at publication time.
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