Augusta residents, city leaders call for change at Diamond Lakes Park

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Earlier this year, American Rescue Plan funds were moved towards helping fix the closed public restrooms at Diamond Lakes Park.

It’s been brought up multiple times since then.

Commissioners Sean Frantom and John Clark wanted the money to go to Diamond Lakes to address the failing restroom and fountain facilities.

City leaders are expected to talk about it again on Tuesday.

You can find beautiful views contrasted with more than a dozen porta potties. They are a replacement for the closed bathroom facilities.

It’s an issue that’s been going on since before the pandemic, and while city leaders addressed this issue months ago, some visitors say the smell is becoming a problem.

Harold Davenport is a South Augusta resident. He said, “I feel like it’s a shame.”

Davenport has been walking through Diamond Lakes five days a week for over five years and is getting sick of the smell.

“You got flees, gnats, mosquitoes. I’ve been that. It happened to me when I was in the army. You go in there to use the bathroom, and guess what? You got mosquitoes in there doing more harm than you doing,” he said.

It’s why Commissioner for District 4 Alvin Mason is bringing it up again at commission.

“I brought this up about four or five months ago, and we allotted over $500,000 to fix these restrooms. Here we are four or five months later, and I still see the exact same thing,” said Mason.

Mason and Davenport feel something needs to change soon.

“If you look at one of the doors over there, they got some green tape or something on the lock portion of it. What do people do? If they got to use the bathroom bad enough and there’s nobody around...guess what they going to do,” Davenport asked.

We reached out to Augusta’s Central Services, who’s in charge of opening the main restrooms back up, and Interim Director Ron Lampkin says they are fully functioning, but only for events that use the entire tower.

Copyright 2022 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.