Heading To An Amarillo Park? Use The Restroom At Home First.

The colder weather is starting to set in here in Amarillo, which means people are starting to look for those indoor activities to stay busy and have fun with. However, sometimes the kids just want to get out and run around, and the parents just want to be outside and away from enclosed areas.

We still have some very nice days on tap with the temperature, in fact they're more like PERFECT days to be outdoors. Not too hot, not too cold. Sure, as the sun goes down it gets chilly quick, but we want to be outdoors when that sun is out.

One of the more popular destinations to go is one of Amarillo's many parks. They're the perfect destination. Open space for the kids to run around in, playgrounds for them to burn some energy, and just the peacefulness of being outside for the parents.

When you take the kids to the park though, you anticipate their going to need to use the restroom at some point. This is where the problem comes in. The City of Amarillo has closed the public bathrooms out there for the year, which means there's nowhere for those kiddos (or parents) to relieve themselves.

The reasoning behind closing the restrooms is because with the colder weather setting in at night, Amarillo's homeless community is using them as shelter to be able to sleep and stay out of the elements. They close them to limit damage to those restrooms and enhance safety.

While I can understand their reasoning for doing this, isn't there some kind of compromise we can come up with for these still somewhat warmer days of fall? Maybe have them open from say 10 am to 5 pm? The sun is out and people are out enjoying the parks during those times.

I still have baseball teams using the fields at some of these parks for practice, and when a 9 or 10 year old has to go, they have to go. I ran into this exact problem just last week. I asked them if there was any way they could hold it and they said no. They had two options. One, leave practice and run to a convenience store, or two, find a bush or tree. Neither is ideal.

Like I said, I see where the city is coming from, but let's see if we can find a way to achieve two goals at once here.