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By Colin Mixson
Brooklyn Daily
Parkgoers needing to relieve themselves in Marine Park’s fancy new $16.5-million parkhouse during the Spring’s first nice weekend had to hold it in — or wait on long lines at hated port-o-potties — because the city couldn’t figure out how to get the building’s locks on straight.
Bathrooms at the Carmine Carro Fieldhouse have been shuttered by the city since Saturday because they allowed access to the off-limits community center portion of the building through doors where workman put locks on the wrong way.
The screw-up resulted in long lines at the park’s hated bathroom trailers, which served as an alternative to the field house while it was under construction — and, apparently, when it’s not working.
“The lines were outside the men’s room, because they only had one commode available for over 2,000 patrons,” said park advocate John Manzola. “There were at least 20 men waiting to use the bathroom.”
The community center’s bathrooms have two doors, one leading outside and another leading inside to the rest of the building — the latter of which is typically kept locked to keep park patrons out of the community center proper, where closed functions are frequently held.
However, the lock on the inside door was installed backwards, according to Manzola, with the keyhole side facing into the community center, and the manual latch on the bathroom-side knob. Thus, anyone inside the bathroom can unlock the inner door and gain unauthorized access to the center.
“If they just want the bathrooms open to the public, but they don’t want the public in the building, they keep the outside door unlocked and they lock the inside doors from the inside of the building,” he said. “But the city’s locksmith screwed up, so you can come in through the outside.”
The Parks Department confirmed to this paper that there was an issue with the locks and that the bathrooms will remain closed until the problem is fixed, probably later this week.
Marine Park field house is considered by some to be Southern Brooklyn’s biggest boondoggle — especially compared to much bigger projects, including the Freedom Tower.
The Marine Park building cost taxpayers about $5,000 a square foot, while Manhattan’s 104-story skyscraper will cost a mere $1,456 per square foot.
The field house is named for beloved civic leader Carmine Carro, who pushed for its construction since 1990. He died in 2005.
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4514.