A Park Lacking and My Response

Today was the first playgroup for More Than Moms, A New Kind of Playgroup.  We met at the Catonsville Park over off Rolling Road.  I’ve been here several times, but I guess I haven’t stayed long enough for my son to need to go potty…until today.  If you’ve never been here before, you should know that the bathrooms are located across the parking lot on the outside of the Senior Center building.  Want to guess where I’m going with this?  Yep, they were locked.  Now, granted my 4 year old is a boy, so he’s used to just whipping it out and peeing where ever he would like, but let’s just say, I’m lacking experience in that particular form of art.  I was mortified that the moms I was with had no where for their kids to relieve themselves except on God’s green Earth.  Beautiful, just beautiful.  Oh and the water fountain down by the volleyball courts had obviously been “out of service” for a while now.  Good thing I travel with water bottles.

After arriving home, lunching up the kids, and putting them down for nap, I drafted this email to Councilman Sam Moxley.  I’ll let you know if he responds.

Dear Mr. Moxley,

I am a resident of the Oak Crest Community in Catonsville. Today I organized a playgroup at Catonsville Park on Rolling Road.  I was mortified to find that the bathrooms were locked when I went to take my 4 year old to the restroom.  In the time that we were there, approximately 2 1/2 hours,  I noticed more than 30 people in and out of the park area.

In my opinion, there should be some sort of facilities available for park-goers to use the restroom.  I also noticed that the water fountain down by the water fountain was not working and looked like it hadn’t worked in a very long time.

The people or Oak Crest do a tremendous job keeping the park clean and well kept. I expect that when we use the park, especially in the middle of the day, that we have access to public facilities. If that is too much to ask, I’m hoping you would consider at least putting in a portable potty equipped with a washing station or at least hand sanitizer.  I was very disappointed and embarrassed that my friend’s children had to relieve themselves in the woods.

Please let me know if there is anyway to remedy this situation.

Hillary Pennington

www.morethanmomsmd.blogspot.com