Toilet Vandals

Torrey Pines State Reserve is one of San Diego's treasures enjoyed by visitors and locals alike. Behind the scenes, the park is maintained by a dedicated crew of rangers and maintenance specialists who work year-round to keep up the park's buildings, trails, and facilities. So it was a disheartening discovery about five months ago when the rangers found that six of the park's primary restroom toilets had been destroyed by vandals.

The reason the repairs are still in progress, explained Andy Bayshore, the park's maintenance manager, is that the replacement toilets are not off-the-shelf items and had to be special ordered. Bayshore also mentioned that clean, well-maintained restrooms provide a good first impression to visitors. "If folks think the restrooms are a mess, then they may think that the rest of the park isn't so hot either," Bayshore explained.

Sadly, he also noted that vandalism is endemic to many southern California parks, and that 30-40 toilets have been destroyed by cherry bombs over the past year. But the good news is that the new toilets have arrived and will once again be providing visitors with a great first impression as early as next week.