Copyright The Philadelphia Inquirer
A small crowd gathered around the new Philly Phlush unit at Clark Park in West Philadelphia on Monday morning, their phones eagerly at the ready, waiting for the inaugural user of the park’s first public bathroom to emerge. As John Schaeffer cracked open the door, his face flushed with pride and his right hand raised in an enthusiastic thumbs up, the crowd burst into thunderous applause. “I’d like to start by thanking my mom for teaching me everything I needed to know for this moment,” Schaeffer said. “It took a lot. It put up a good fight, but I think it’s ready for prime time.” Two years after it was initially slated to be installed, Clark Park’s Phlush unit is finally up and running. The Friends of Clark Park — who organized Monday’s wonderfully silly and wonderfully West Philly grand opening — couldn’t be happier and honestly, neither could I. As a huge proponent of these free, standalone bathrooms that are part of Philly’s pilot public restroom project, I was thrilled to see the third one finally debut. Ben Sirolly, president of the Friends of Clark Park, said having a permanent restroom is something users of the park have asked for not just for years, but decades. “Clark Park is a park that is used by people from across the city, from all across West and Southwest Philadelphia, and this will help people have better access to the park and enable them to feel welcomed and enable them to use our park at anytime,” he said. “So we are thrilled that the city has brought a restroom to Clark Park.” Until Monday, the friends group used its own money to fund porta potties at the park, an expensive burden that’s now been lifted from them thanks to the city-funded (and maintained) Phlush unit. Friends of Clark Park board member Carol Jenkins had the brilliant idea of selling lottery tickets for a chance to “Be the Phirst to Phlush” when the bathroom opened. “It just popped into my brain,” Jenkins said. “At my age, you have to grab the ideas before they fly away.” The group sold about 50 tickets for $1 each. The winner was drawn Saturday, as news of the impending opening spread. Unfortunately, that individual was unavailable to come to the potty party at 9 a.m. on a Monday and so their friend, Schaeffer, signed on to be a pinch pee-er, an undercarriage understudy, if you will. A West Philly resident who frequents Clark Park, Schaeffer said the new restroom was a “fantastic asset” for the public space. He prepared for his duty Monday by drinking espresso and “wooder” and by stretching before he entered the bathroom, which was decorated with brightly-colored balloons and a giant red ribbon by Lauren Hoffarth, senior project manager with the city’s Health and Human Services Department. Schaeffer saluted the gathered crowd before entering the bathroom and as he opened the door to step inside, I was sure I heard a faint “Wow!” reverberate off the interior metal walls. Despite the peer pressure from the crowd outside, Schaeffer wasn’t struck with stage fright and conducted his business like a true professional. He lauded the Phlush for being professional too. “It’s a for-real bathroom,” he said. The only hiccup came when Schaeffer went to wash his hands in the unit’s exterior sink and found the soap hadn’t been filled (but the water and hand dryer worked like a charm). The city’s Phlush history Philadelphia’s potty pilot project called for six Portland Loo standalone units — which the city rebranded as Philly Phlushes — to be installed across the city over five years at an annual cost of $656,864. The first two opened in 2023 — one at 15th and Arch Streets in Center City and the other at Fotterall Square Park in North Philly — under former Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration. Clark Park was always slated to be the third site, but the project got clogged up for two years on various issues, including the permitting process, which took more than seven months. All of the bathrooms, which are free to use, include a changing table, toilet paper, toilet seat covers, free menstrual products, and free naloxone. A team of “public restroom specialists” keep the units cleaned, stocked, and functioning by visiting the bathrooms every two hours. A potential site has been selected for the fourth Phlush, but the location hasn’t been announced yet, while the fate of the remaining two units in the pilot project is uncertain. James Garrow, director of communications for the Department of Public Health, told me this summer that a fifth Phlush is “likely” but a site is not expected to be chosen until next summer, and that a sixth Phlush “will not be possible with the pilot’s current funding.” Philly has long lagged behind other metro areas when it comes to the availability of public bathrooms. As I have from the beginning, I beg Philadelphia officials to not only find a way to bring the full scope of this project to fruition, but to expand it across the city. Nearly every person I’ve talked to over two years who’s used a Phlush has asked me to tell our city leaders one thing: We need more. And if they doubt me, folks holding a literal potty party — with balloons — at 9 a.m. on a Monday should be proof enough of how happy these bathrooms make people.
