Bermudians are divided over the value of public toilets and whether they are breeding ground for criminal activity and poor hygiene or an added convenience in a city.

City of Hamilton Mayor Lawson Mapp said there is no definite date set for the demolition of the Par-La-Ville Park toilets but it is still inevitable that they will be taken from their current Queen Street location.

One public toilet user told his trip to the convenience had been ?fantastic?.

Eric Slope continued: ?I think it?s a bad idea to get rid of them because of the tourists. A park needs toilets and these are visible from the road.?

But Brian Birdell said: ?I?m happy that they are being destroyed. I only use public bathrooms when it?s an emergency and I couldn?t even use that one because it smells so bad.?

Nicky Khan, a new resident to the Island, declined a request to experience the public bathrooms.

She said: ?No, I wouldn?t go in there.?

Another fellow park-goer said she never uses public toilets, even if it is an emergency.

?I don?t use them (the Par-La-Ville Park toilets) anyway. I don?t use public toilets for hygiene purposes,? said Sonia Hunt.

Other toilet users found the need for accessible public bathrooms more important than hygiene.

Heath Foggo said: ?It wasn?t clean in there but it?s not a good idea to get rid of them. There aren?t enough public toilets in the city. I try not to use them, though.?

Lou Mingo had similar sentiments. He said: ?It?s not too bad in there. But there is a need for more toilets in the city.?

He suggested that the public toilets, which are currently the Lemon Tree Cafe?s neighbour, exchange places with the restaurant.

?They need to get the toilets off the street.?

But public toilets? facing the street reduces criminal activity, according to Godfrey Smith.

?A park must have a bathroom because it?s a convenience,? he said. ?These bathrooms are better because they?re facing the road and it helps combat all the different issues that can arise in public bathrooms.?

Enhancing the entrance to the park is one of the reasons the public toilets are being torn down, said Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Kelly Miller.

?The toilets have become a detriment to the city,? she added, citing that criminal activity had caused the Corporation to close the toilets at 9.30 p.m.

Other public toilets in the vicinity include the bathrooms at Number One Shed and Albuoy Point. They close at midnight and 10 p.m. respectively.

But Theresa Airey said: ?They are (the Par-La-Ville Park toilets) always clean and are more convenient then crossing the street.?

And having bathrooms in a park are ?absolutely necessary? said George Skinner.

?It was clean and pleasant in the bathrooms and it is absolutely necessary to have the bathrooms, especially for tourists,? he said.

Bernadeta Wielocha, a tourist from Canada, said: ?It?s really nice in there. I come from Canada and you can?t find anything like that there. It was nice and clean and I thought I would have to pay when I came out.?