Downtown Public Restrooms
At a glance
- What: a series of orders about public bathrooms for the homeless and downtown visitors. Related to Public Camping Ordinance - Disrupting the Cycle.
- Where it stands: open. On 2026-10-13, Satya B. Mitra's order on rented mobile bathrooms and showers in municipal parking lots and Kathleen M. Toomey's cost and funding report were adopted.
- Next: not in the record.
The orders
- Khrystian E. King's September 22 order to find permanent public bathrooms starting in District 2 plus temporary porta-potties.
- Robert A. Bilotta's order to fund bathroom monitoring staff with opioid settlement money (adopted 9/29).
Votes and outcomes
- King's amended order was denied 5-6 on 2026-09-29 and reconsideration denied 3-8 on 2026-10-06.
- 2026-10-06, under privilege: King withdrew his original order and the Council adopted Bergman's 'consider a process' version plus the BID study request.
- 2026-10-13: Mitra's order on rented mobile bathrooms and showers in municipal parking lots and Toomey's cost and funding report were adopted.
Discussion time
About 28 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).
| Meeting | Minutes |
|---|---|
| 2026-09-29 - City Council | 28 |
Log
- 2026-10-13 - City Council — Mitra's mobile bathrooms/showers order (13a) and Kathleen M. Toomey's cost and funding report (13b) adopted under suspension (carried over from 10-06 suspension; the captions do not cover them). In public participation Abby Mortillaro, Gary Hunter ('Picture this. 1995. We need bathrooms in the city'; suggested porta-potties like those used for events and construction) and Idella Hazard pressed for restrooms downtown; Mortillaro asked for 24/7 access, trans-inclusive facilities and more locations such as parks and the Common. Khrystian E. King later listed public bathrooms among the topics of orders Council has sent the City Manager.
- 2026-10-06 - City Council — Reconsideration of Khrystian E. King's order denied 3-8 and a Rule 30 suspension (moved by Robert A. Bilotta) denied 3-8, with the Clerk reading that a reconsideration motion is not debatable. The held items 17b to 17d were then taken together: Morris A. Bergman reported that Shrewsbury Street and Canal District business groups he phoned were surprised and unconsulted; King and Bilotta said outreach was always intended and a business was ready to fund temporary relief; Eric D. Batista said there is no budget line, he asked Health and Human Services for options and costs, and a public process and bidding would follow; Joseph M. Petty said the day center (April or May) and winter shelter (late November or December) would add toilets and showers; Gary Rosen and Tony Economou opposed porta-potties and wanted existing facilities and maintenance planned first. King withdrew 17b; Bergman's 'consider a process' version (17c) was adopted with Satya B. Mitra's rented mobile restrooms and showers motion and Kathleen M. Toomey's cost and funding report; King's Downtown BID 'Quality of Life' study request (17d) also adopted. Public speakers (Fred Nathan, Abby Mortillaro, Gary Hunter, Nathalie Gibson, Chrissi Bates) backed more public restrooms; Bates asked for a gender-neutral one.
- 2026-09-29 - City Council — Robert A. Bilotta and Khrystian E. King's opioid-settlement bathroom monitoring order (10f) adopted. King's order (10g) for permanent bathrooms starting in District 2, temporary porta-potties, a timeline report and community and business input was denied 5-6 (for: Bilotta, King, Luis A. Ojeda, Gary Rosen, Joseph M. Petty; against: Morris A. Bergman, Tony Economou, John P. Fresolo, Satya B. Mitra, Jose A. Rivera, Kathleen M. Toomey). Bilotta said the Canal District has had the problem for years and that Miami hired a formerly unhoused person for its program. King said private business partners offered to fund and maintain porta-potties and asked how quickly the city responds to human waste on public property (follow-up the next morning; owners must clean private property). Bergman moved a softer version asking the City Manager to "consider a process", citing the need for business and resident input, Commissioner Seema Dixit's pending encampment report, and funding; King declined it as a friendly amendment, saying outreach was already under way, and added a community and business feedback clause to his own order. Rosen read his January 2021 and June 2026 restroom orders and suggested, half jokingly, locking City Hall bathrooms on Tuesday nights as an experiment. Eric D. Batista said the city should run a public process with businesses and residents rather than pick sites itself, and Economou asked what happens when a porta-potty is vandalized. After the denial, a dispute arose over whether Bergman's wording was the same order (point of order about refiling); King then moved to hold 10g, which was held with four votes (Bilotta, Fresolo, King, Ojeda yes; seven no). That also holds Bergman's amendment and King's request for the Downtown BID "Quality of Life" study. In public participation Abby Mortillaro wanted 24/7 portable toilets as an immediate fix, Kirsten Fraser described automated 10-minute public toilets, and Nathalie Gibson noted many businesses refuse restrooms even to paying customers.
- 2026-09-22 - City Council — King's bathrooms order (10j) and Robert A. Bilotta's opioid-funds bathroom staffing order (10z) were held under privilege at the midnight cutoff. During the camping ordinance debate Joseph M. Petty moved a best-practices report on permanent public bathrooms for the homeless (adopted); Commissioner Seema Dixit said the city is assessing sites and a proposal but has no concrete plan; Morris A. Bergman said siting depends on whether encampments move; Mike Kane (Chamber of Commerce) cited cleanup costs for human waste and needles, and John P. Fresolo said business owners on Water Street face the same problem.
- 2026-09-15 - City Council — Several public commenters asked for porta-potties and public restrooms; during Gary Rosen's homelessness order a councilor (the captions do not make the name clear) called bathrooms in the Canal District a public health hazard and said sending everyone to the library is unfair to it.