#AskJAXTDY | Why was a city park’s bathroom closed on Saturday morning?

Q. Earlier this month, Brett S., a Jacksonville Today newsletter reader, found something strange when he brought a hiking group of about 25 senior citizens to Corkscrew Park, a landscaped exercise area under the Acosta Bridge next to the CSX parking lot along the Northbank Riverwalk. It was about 10:15 a.m., and the city bathrooms at the park were locked.

“Meanwhile there was a park employee in a locked office eating Nillas,” he wrote. “We found it absurd that on a busy weekend it opens at 2 p.m., but opens at 7 a.m. during the week when most people are at work.”

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He asked us:

“Why close a city bathroom on the Northbank Riverwalk on a busy Saturday morning, when lots of people use the riverfront walkway?”

The reader also noted a handwritten note from park maintenance on the men’s room door gave some varied open and close times to “protect citizens.”

A: In response, a city spokesperson said the person eating the cookies was not a city employee, but a volunteer ambassador with Downtown Vision Inc. Ambassadors “provide extra eyes and ears on the street to clean sidewalks and mend building facades…reach out to those in need and… activate shared spaces,” according to the nonprofit Downtown Vision’s website. As for the bathrooms, the city says, going forward, “The restrooms will be opened Saturday and Sunday mornings by 8 a.m. after they are cleaned. Also, the sign has been removed.”

Have a question you’d like the Jacksonville Today team to look into? Email news@jaxtoday.org with #AskJAXTDY in the subject line, and you might see your answer soon.