When you “need to go”, you need to go. But what happens when there is nowhere to “go”?
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The answer lies in the “disgusting” smells and “rank” deposits left in shadowed alleyways and carparks along Wagga’s main street.
It is the reason a number of businesses are backing a call for after-hours access to public toilets.
The issue was flushed out last week, after Baylis Street and Station Place professionals revealed cleaning urine, rubbish, vomit and sometimes faeces had almost become a routine weekend chore.
Wagga City Council explained its three amenities facilities were locked daily to prevent vandalism and would require “extensive security” if open any later.
Wagga Funeral Services director Danny Woods and neighbouring businesses agreed late-night public toilets could pose challenges, but without a solution, they said intoxicated residents would continue to use their land as a toilet and they would have to clean it up.
Mr Woods said being greeted by the stench of day-old waste and dumped rubbish on Monday mornings was awful.
He said it was the reason hedges, planted for the benefit of grieving clients’ privacy, had been removed.
“It’s been better since then,” Mr Woods said. “But we would be happy to help find a solution.”
A fellow Station Place businessman said public urination, occasional defecation and littering was “definitely a problem”, although “not as bad as 30 years ago”.
On Baylis Street, Epica Jewellers owner Jake McPherson and Skye McNabb from Aussie Home Loans, said they too would back a move to have public toilets open after dark.
Mr McPherson said the smells – “among other things” – left on Friday and Saturday nights could be “absolutely disgusting”.
“We don’t get too many bad nights,” Mr McPherson said. “But it is an issue.”
With no alternatives after 1.30am lockout, Mr McPherson said he could understand how there may be no choice sometimes.
Councillor Dan Hayes said the issue would need to be discussed further.
He said there had to be a balance between “being responsible” on a night out and what “government should provide”.
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