City Howl Help Desk: There's no open restrooms in Philadelphia's Italian Market

THE PROBLEM: It happens at least 15 times a day. Sometimes 25, said Tony Gallo, a waiter at La Lupe, at 9th and Federal streets in the Italian Market.

Someone wanders into the Mexican restaurant and asks not to see a menu but to use the restroom.

"We want to be hospitable to everyone, but we can't," said Gallo about La Lupe's for-customers-only restroom policy. "Could you buy a bottle of water, maybe?"

Gallo has seen - and heard - it all. There was the woman who told him it was against the law not to let her use the restroom. And the guy who promised to buy something and offered his cell phone as collateral. But after he used the restroom, he grabbed his phone and left.

La Lupe isn't the only business nearby that allows only paying customers to use its restroom.

"It's definitely an issue," agreed Emilio Mignucci, owner of DiBruno Bros. and past president of the Ninth Street Business Association.

Often, those in need are tourists who have just eaten at nearby Pat's King of Steaks or Geno's Steaks, neither of which has a rest-room for customers, Gallo said: "They go to Pat's and Geno's to consume the food and come here to eliminate their food."

Joey Vento, owner of Geno's, is sympathetic.

"They have every right to refuse the bathroom," he said, adding that he, too, has to turn people down. Vento will make an exception now and then, like if a customer has a young child, but his restroom is for employees, not customers.

"I feel bad because there's lots of times you have to turn someone down," agreed David James at Pat's.

The city doesn't require take-out restaurants to provide

restroom facilities to customers, said Maura Kennedy, spokeswoman for the Department of Licenses and Inspections.

CAN THE CITY HELP? When the market doesn't provide, people often look to government for relief.

Employees at Pat's and Geno's do refer customers to the public restrooms at Capitolo Playground, at 9th and Federal, which should be open when staff members are present for park activities - typically from 2 to 10 p.m. on weekdays and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays.

But the restrooms aren't an option for middle-of-the-night cheesesteak runs. And Gallo said they are often locked during the day.

"It's definitely there for the public to use if there are staff present," said Recreation Commissioner Susan Slawson. But for safety reasons, the restrooms can't be accessible all the time.

The Nutter administration understands the issue, but there aren't funds available to create public restrooms, even in high-traffic tourist areas, said mayoral spokesman Mark McDonald.

During the Rendell administration, the city did take a stab at installing self-cleaning public toilets in some high-traffic areas, including the Italian Market. But the city and the toilet manufacturers could not agree on a funding plan.

Vento thinks the city should revisit the matter. "We are a landmark. Thousands of people come here," he said. But city officials, "don't want nothing to do with it," he said.

Of course, though the city code doesn't require Vento to provide a restroom, it doesn't prohibit him from doing so, either.

But Vento said that, for security reasons, having a customer restroom inside Geno's - a cash business that sells 20,000 to 25,000 sandwiches a week - just isn't feasible.

Where to go? The best bet for Italian Market businesses, McDonald said, would be to band together.

Vento said he'd be willing to pay his share for a communal Porta-Potty. "I've thought this for years," he said.

When Geno's hosts large events, like police fundraisers, it rents portable toilets for the day.

But can you just plunk a portable toilet down on a sidewalk in the middle of the Italian Market year-round?

That's a no-go. Portable toilets aren't permitted for use as permanent structures or facilities, L&I's Kennedy said.

A SOLUTION? A more promising approach might be to create a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the business district along South 9th Street.

Such an organization would be eligible for state and city funding that can be used for everything from facade improvements to installing Big Belly trash receptacles.

The Italian Market's neighbors have seen success with the East Passyunk Avenue Business Improvement District: In the last 18 months, 27 businesses have opened on the avenue.

This idea has occurred to some of the businesses along South 9th Street, which recently applied to form a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity, said Mignucci, of DiBruno Bros. Of the Passyunk improvements, he said, "We'd love to see it continue from Broad and Passyunk to 9th Street."

We contacted Tony Gallo at La Lupe to let him know about Mignucci's plans, and he said he's interested in getting involved.

Mignucci hopes to have a nonprofit designation before the end of the year. Atop the list of problems to tackle will be the lack of parking, street lighting and trash.

And maybe, just maybe, a public restroom.

-- Kirstin Lindermayer

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