Families frustrated over locked bathrooms at Seward park, but city says they won’t reopen

SEWARD, Neb. (KLKN) — The bathrooms in one Seward park have been closed for more than a year.

As the weather warms up, people said they’re getting tired of the inconvenience.

For Kathy Hartmann, the visit to Centennial Park gets cut short when her grandchildren need to use the restroom.

Hartmann said she and her grandchildren go to the park at least once a week, and she walks through there multiple times throughout the week.

“I was very upset about it because a lot of people use the city park,” she said. “They use it every day from morning to night. It’s very inconvenient for families to have to find a place for themselves or their kids to use the bathroom.”

City officials said the bathroom closed in November 2023 because of vandalism.

Then the septic system failed, and the city council decided it was too expensive to replace an old system.

So, the restroom is now permanently closed.

The city’s reasoning?

Centennial Park is right next to other city parks and the fairgrounds, and there are restrooms there.

But someone from the fairgrounds said it often locks its restroom out of fear of vandalism.

When a Channel 8 reporter checked on Tuesday, the bathroom at the fairgrounds was indeed locked.

So, families said those other restrooms aren’t always an option.

It can take at least five minutes to walk from Centennial Park to the other bathrooms.

Hartmann said that’s not easy if you have a lot of kids in tow or have a disability.

She lives nearby and said people knock on her door asking to use the restroom.

“A lot of people that don’t live close, the closest bathroom would be Pac N Save grocery store,” she said.

As for the vandalism that shut down the restroom in the first place, Hartmann said parents should hold their children accountable.

“I think a lot of it is teenagers are bored, and there’s not a lot to do in town anymore,” she said.