Video Warning – Viewer Discretion Advised
There are 10 porta-potties available from Hibernia Street to Paul Currelly Way.
Now the problem is getting people to use them and refrain from doing their business in the great outdoors along the Cobourg shoreline.
A Cobourg resident recently took video of a person apparently relieving themselves at the entrance to the boardwalk at the bottom of Division Street.
Bryan Lamontagne took the video last Wednesday afternoon.
Lamontagne and his dog are a fixture at the bottom of Division Street by the boardwalk.
While Lamontagne was sitting at the bench area to the boardwalk he noticed a woman step behind the sign by the Victoria Park walkway.
The woman went right behind the sign and “dropped her pants, bent over” and went about her business in broad daylight.
“People were walking by, looking at them in disgust. I yelled at them that there was a bathroom on the other side of the parking lot (less that 15 metres away).
“They just ignored me.”
Lamontagne said he visits the area everyday, twice a day to give his aging dog a short walk.
Unfortunately he says, it’s not uncommon.
“I’ve seen it before.”
“Where they just step off behind the sign and do their business, but it’s the first chance I’ve had to get a (video) of it.”
“I have no idea how you’re going to control it.”
People also relieve themselves at the west beach.
“It’s not the locals doing it.”
“It’s out-of-towners. They do the same thing all over the west beach.”
Lamontagne refers to out-of-towners because when he looks at the license plates the vehicles are from the greater Toronto area.
Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf said, “it’s a smack in the face to us.”
VandeGraaf said everyone of the senior leaders in town is trying to make the best of things during COVID-19.
“The town has done a really good job in creating opportunities for porta-potties and it’s really disheartening to see.”
Calling it “unacceptable” VandeGraaf said if they received a complaint on what was caught on video, he would see it as a criminal investigation.
VandeGraaf said police have received numerous complaints from people living along the shoreline.
“As recently as Monday morning we had a conversation with town staff and we had heard some complaints around the west beach.”
The Emergency Control Group has worked hard for the people who visit the lakeshore area. There is actually more washroom facilities now then there was before COVID-19.
The washrooms are also cleaned twice a day.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
