Endorsement: Outdoor toilets a watershed issue in Wichita City Council District 6 | Opinion

We didn’t have arguing about toilets on our bingo card for the 2025 Wichita City Council election.

But welcome to Wichita’s District 6, where loos, specifically the Portland variety, have taken center stage as a campaign issue.

Both opponents of council member Maggie Ballard — and a shady Washington political operation with more money than integrity — have brought the incumbent’s support for Portland Loos to the front and center as voters prepare to go to the polls Tuesday.

Portland Loos, for those who never knew and those who will never forget, are high-tech public toilets that have been installed in two downtown public parks, Naftzger and A. Price Woodard. Those parks were toilet deserts where patrons — homeless and otherwise — were known to regularly drop trou and do what they needed to do wherever they could.

Portland Loos feature easy-to-maintain stainless steel construction, fixed louvers at the top and bottom of the stall to discourage sexual antics inside and blue lighting to make it more difficult for drug users to find a vein to inject themselves.

Challenger Margaret Wheeler Shabazz said the cost of the potties are what prompted her to enter the race.

“What started me to … run for candidacy is (the city) paying $600,000 … for two fancy porta-potties called the Portland Loos,” she said. “There are cheaper avenues that we could have used versus $600,000 for just two. Another wasteful spending.”

Candidate Brett Anderson also cited the toilets in his campaign: “You know, when you see that they spend $600,000 for two restrooms — not saying we don’t need restrooms, but do we need them for $600,000?”

Ballard has a sharp retort to the criticism: “You know, no problems scraping turds off the sidewalk, but absolutely will not invest in the infrastructure to actually address the problem, which is we don’t have enough public bathrooms.” She said it’s unfair to parkside businesses to expect them to provide restrooms for noncustomers, and she’s right about that.

The Portland Loos were blasted in an anti-Ballard attack mailer (also featuring lies about her record on taxes) sent out by a group called the American Policy Coalition. For some reason, this Washington, D.C.-area dark money laundering operation feels a compelling need to interfere in local city council races half a continent away.

We think we can speak for the vast majority of Wichitans when we tell APC to get lost. We’d tell them in person, but they don’t seem to have a phone or answer online inquiries, and their address is a blind postal drop at a Staples store in a D.C. suburb.

Wichita’s project cost came to about $660,000 for both Portland Loos, including purchasing the units and the plumbing to hook them up to water and sewers. That’s not cheap, and it would have been nice if the city had tried some less-expensive alternatives before going with the Escalade of outdoor privies.

But come on. Is this really the voting issue? Let’s flush it.

‘People are actually collaborating’

Ballard has done a very good job as a City Council representative for District 6.

She’s at the forefront of the city’s most ambitious effort to date to solve our crisis of homelessness, the city/county multi agency center now known as Second Light.

Ballard understands that reducing homelessness (it will never be completely eliminated) requires more than a building, but an ongoing commitment to helping people get back on their feet.

“I feel like, for the first time, maybe ever that I know of, people are actually collaborating,” she said. “We’re not just saying, ‘Oh, we want to work together.’ Like, the county’s at the table, the nonprofits are at the table, the faith based groups are at the table, the businesses are at the table. And, you know, I feel like we are definitely on the right path.”

Ballard also recently joined with council members Brandon Johnson and Mike Hoheisel to try to hold landlords accountable for failing to repair substandard rental housing properties, and discriminating against potential tenants whose rent is partially paid with city administered funding from the federal government.

It was a brave effort, even if they couldn’t get the elusive fourth vote necessary to crack down on the slumlordery that’s rampant in this city. Johnson is term-limited from running again, and Ballard and Hoheisel represent the only other open seats in this election cycle, so relief for renters appears to have to wait for the next election in two years.

Problems in North Broadway corridor

Among Ballard’s opponents, Shabazz has potential and has raised good points about the hollowing out of business along the North Broadway corridor. In recent years, the area has lost Subway, McDonald’s, Popeye’s and others — even a tattoo shop that found the area too rough.

Shabazz lives in the neighborhood and experiences the problems first hand. She said the city needs to police the corridor better to deal with out-of-control individuals who scare away customers and reputable businesses.

“I called the police just two weeks ago because of coming down Broadway, some lady was butt naked and dancing,” she said. “Before I left on Thursday, I called the police because I had somebody in my driveway on their hands and knees. … No one wants a business that they always have to run away people from.”

Anderson seems to be less focused on problems within the district. His themes are more generic and ideological, and he advocates for property tax reduction and cuts to government spending. For example, he wants to repeal an existing ordinance that sets aside 2% of the cost of new city projects to fund public art.

It’s a discussion worth having, but shortly after saying people are losing their homes because of property taxes — a routine talking point among anti-tax conservative candidates — he admitted he doesn’t know of anyone that actually happened to.

On balance, we give the nod in this race to Maggie Ballard, based on her track record as a council member, her experience as a small-business owner, her community activism in starting the Paxton’s Blessing Box charity that provides food in low-income neighborhoods, and her potential to effectively keep fighting for District 6.

For the purpose of endorsements, the Eagle Editorial Board includes opinion editor Dion Lefler, opinion correspondent Joel Mathis, online producer Julie Mah and McClatchy Media executive Tony Berg, who lives in Wichita. The news department is separate from the board.

This story was originally published October 30, 2025 at 10:19 AM.