Open letter to Whitehorse mayor and council:
I’m writing on behalf of Tennis Yukon and its request to have an outhouse installed at the Mount McIntyre courts.
As an avid user of the courts in the summer time, I can testify as to the benefits of having facilities there. We can use the curling club’s washroom early in the year, but when it shuts down there are few good options.
All of them require either exposing yourself or travelling to find a place. On busy nights having to take yourself out of a match or have a child that needs attention would pretty well end your participation for the evening. People waiting for a court would frown on your partners holding up the game while you took care of business.
As a matter of history, this has been going on since the courts were built there. Every year the club executive has to jump through hoops and go looking for support to have an outhouse there. For some reason the city’s parks and recreation department seems to feel that people exercising don’t need to go to the bathroom. As an Elder Active player I can testify nothing is further from the truth.
In all the time I’ve been using the facilities up there I’ve never heard a rationale as to why the outhouse should not be there. It seems like a small amount to pay to provide a convenience for people exercising a ways away from facilities.
Hoby Irwin
Whitehorse