Small toilet problem irritates Auckland business owners

Jeweler Ernesto Ovalle runs Oronegro, but instead of spending his mornings carving pounamu, he spends them cleaning up human waste.

“If they’re drunk, this is the perfect place for them to pee. And then obviously we’re trying to attract people to our store, and because of the smell and the mess they leave, I have to clean it up.”

And it wasn’t just people taking a leak at the party: Ernesto said that from time to time he saw human feces on his doorstep.

“It’s really disgusting. I thought I’d seen it all, but you know, I was wrong… it’s wonderful.

But he did not blame the public – he said that there were no good alternatives. The only option was two portable toilets on Pitt Street, which were closed every night due to vandalism.

The people on K Road felt that this was not enough.

“On K Road they need more public toilets and better facilities for people like the homeless and people who have nowhere to go,” one person on the street told RNZ.

“You open the door and someone actually dropped a poop right next to the toilet… that’s reality,” said another.

Mui Chhour, owner of Lim Chhour food court, said good public toilets were essential for the busy street.

“We have retail during the day and amazing nightlife at night. People visiting us day or night find it difficult to find a seat if they need to use a public toilet.”

Auckland Council has begun construction of new public toilets on Mercury Lane, off K Road, which are expected to be operational by December. But Chhur did not think this was a suitable place.

“It’s a steep street, it’s a wind tunnel… it’s not a main road with a lot of people passing through.”

According to her, the money would be better spent on toilets at the other end of the road, at the rainbow bridge.

Because Mercury Lane was out of sight of the main street, Chur feared it would become a center of anti-social behavior.

“One problem will be drug trafficking, but there are other activities. It’s not a good idea to put them there.”

In the short term, Chhur’s preference was for the early opening of a new toilet block that was part of the City Rail Link development at Beresford Square.

However, Auckland Council said this would not be possible. The toilet block was a separate building, but the council said it was connected to station systems such as electricity, ventilation and fire control, which had not yet been tested.

Auckland Council community director Rachel Kelleher said she kept hearing from the community about the lack of toilets in the area.

Since 2020, portable toilets in the area have had to be replaced several times due to vandalism and have been closed at night, she said.

She said the construction of toilets on Mercury Lane was part of a wider strategy to provide sufficient facilities for the large number of people visiting the area.

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