Several public restrooms on the chopping block in San Diego’s proposed city budget

SAN DIEGO — In 2024, San Diego State researchers designated the city of San Diego's public restroom system as insufficient. The researchers said the low number of restrooms and the failure to maintain them could usher in infectious diseases, similar to the deadly hepatitis outbreak that broke out in 2016 and killed more than 20 San Diegans, most of whom were unhoused. 

The lack of access to restrooms may soon get worse.

As a $250 million budget shortfall looms, Mayor Todd Gloria proposes significant cuts to programs, including closing dozens of restrooms in some of San Diego's most-walked and visited areas. If passed, approximately 26 restrooms will close citywide, resulting in an even more insufficient number of restrooms than researchers had found in 2022. 

The reduction in employee hours to maintain the restrooms could save approximately $1.6 million.

Under the current budget proposal, Mayor Gloria is calling for the closure of 13 of the 28 restrooms in Mission Bay Park, including restrooms at North De Anza, Playa II, Tecolote, Fiesta Island, HospitalityPoint, Ventura, Ski Beach and Crown Point. 

In addition, five other restrooms in Pacific Beach, including Kellogg Park, Children's Pool, and PB Drive, would close.

Rounding off the list are eight other restrooms, including seven in Balboa Park, as well as the closure of the Gaslamp Square restroom and reduction of operating hours for the Civic Center restrooms from 24 hours a day to 16.

"The reduction of comfort stations and restroom locations is a way to balance the real budgetary needs of the department," Ben Cartwright from the City of San Diego said.

According to proponents and the Mayor, the proposal is needed to keep recreation centers, parks and swimming pools open. 

However, this proposal has drawn criticism from public health experts who argue that the potential savings do not justify the impact on public health and sanitation. San Diego State Professor Megan Welsh Carroll, the author of the 2024 study and the co-founder of the Project for Sanitation Justice in San Diego, warned that closing even one public restroom could have widespread consequences for residents and tourists. 

"This is going to be bad for public and individual health and basic dignity," she said.

Critics argue that the estimated savings from this measure are insignificant compared to the overall budget deficit and the potential public health risks.

"The amount of money that's being saved by cutting public bathrooms and the workforce needed to maintain it is really a drop in the bucket, and I don't think that it's good, responsible city management," Carroll said.

In 2024, Carroll and SDSU researchers released a study titled "There is no place to go in America's Finest City:  Basic sanitation deprivation is punishment in San Diego, California, USA."

The report found that "San Diego does not merely neglect [water, sanitation, and hygiene] infrastructure, but also actively impedes public access to [sanitation] resources."

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria's official budget proposal is expected to be released on May 14, at which point more details about the potential restroom closures and other cost-saving measures may become available.