Latest shuttering of park restrooms due to theft, vandalism points to bigger challenges

Mar. 6—Deeming them a "public health and safety threat," county officials have indefinitely closed the restrooms at Virginia Avenue Park in southeast Bakersfield.

Custodians last Thursday found the bathroom with its locks cut, doors twisted and pipes ripped from the wall, according to county spokeswoman Ally Soper. Upon closer inspection, workers found nearly all the plumbing and electrical equipment in the utility room — which runs water throughout the park — was damaged or stolen. Even the cleaning supplies had been taken, Soper said.

"People came in with what looks like Sawzalls and cut through the steel locks," Kern County Chief Administrative Officer Ryan Alsop said.

Troubles at Virginia Avenue Park and several others illustrate the challenges in a long-running struggle by residents and county officials to shape up parkland that sits in poor and historically underrepresented areas.

"That community deserves to have nice things — to have a nice park," Alsop said.

"If something like this happened at a park in, let's say, in the Seven Oaks area — that'd be in the news," Alsop said. "Virginia Park doesn't get in the news all that much, and it needs to be."

Kern paid $29,000 to fix the restrooms last September after similar damage. Additionally, officials say they spend $36,000 on the park annually to cover maintenance and security.

"It's kind of sad it keeps happening," said Eddie Alvarez, a local resident. Alvarez and his brother Julian regularly go to the park, usually to play soccer or jog the perimeter.

"A lot of homeless people try and stay here," Eddie Alvarez said. "I can't blame them — they just want a place to sleep — but don't take it all out on the park, you know."

In the past several months, there have been 14 reported incidents of vandalism totaling $6,000 in damages, all related to the restrooms at the park. Officials expect this latest break-in will cost upward of $20,000.

"We've had bathrooms completely torched," Alsop said. "People go in, pour gasoline, light them all on fire, or go in with hammers and break the toilets and sinks; graffiti, spray paint — you name it, it's happened."

Each time, the restrooms are closed for an indefinite period.

"At what point does the government's responsibility end?" Alsop asked. "We're going out, investing money, doing the repairs and putting what we believe are good mitigation measures in place ... a lot of work being put in and you still have incidents like this."

Alsop said he was unsure what further changes could be made to protect park restrooms, which are a common site of vandalism and theft across Kern. He's skeptical of adding security cameras.

"I'm not sure that an investment like that is really going to matter," Alsop said. "You'll see some people going in and stealing stuff, maybe you'll get lucky and get a license plate of a car — I don't know," Alsop said.

In 2021, the county completed a series of renovations to Virginia Avenue Park, adding two new soccer fields, an enclosed basketball court, a walking path and LED lighting throughout, among other fixes.

"There's good reasons to have bathrooms there," Alsop said.

With their newest budget, the county plans to spend another $1.5 million in improvements to Virginia Avenue Park, including a new restroom. The current one is rather old and needs to be replaced, Alsop added.

Because of this, the county is considering whether to fix the restroom again or wait until the improvements are made, which would be done within the next two years.

"The question for me is," Alsop said. "Do I go out there and spend another $20,000 in taxpayer money fixing that restroom up, knowing that in the next 12 to 24 months we're going to wind up redoing the whole thing?"

Anyone with information about crimes committed at the park or any public space is asked to contact Kern County Park Rangers at 661-868-7016.