To the Town Manager and the Select Board Members of Camden,

I grew up in Camden, Maine, living here from 1972 as a 7-year-old to 1981, when my family relocated to the Boston area. I still think of Camden as home even though I have not lived here in 43 years. I still have roots here, with long-time friends still living in the area who are like family to me.

Over the last few summers, I have made an annual pilgrimage to Camden to see it and my extended family. It is good to be home.

I am writing because I unfortunately experienced your public bathrooms. They are disgraceful, embarrassing, and, frankly, disgusting. As someone who has traveled extensively and done research in some of the poorest countries in world, the public bathrooms in Camden are some of the worst I have experienced. No signage on how to flush toilets and therefore most toilets were unflushed including those with full human waste, no paper towels, some stalls without toilet paper, filthy floors, unpainted doors, and damaged stall locks. 

Why should Camden leadership care? First, unhygienic bathroom facilities are health safety hazard. Microorganisms such as streptococcus, staphylococcus, E. coli, and shigella bacteria, rhino (common cold) and hepatitis A viruses, and various sexually transmitted organisms can be transmitted from unclean bathrooms. 

Second, it is a bad look for a town that relies so heavily on tourism. Visitors come to town to see the harbor, where the public bathrooms are. This front facing image…is that the image you want, a town that cannot be bothered to keep their public bathrooms clean and hygienic?

The Camden shop keepers do not want the traffic of visitors looking to use their bathrooms because the public bathrooms are filthy. As the surrounding towns have upped their tourist game, visitors have alternatives. Public bathrooms in Rockport and Belfast are user friendly. 

Camden has resources to maintain its public facilities, including its public bathrooms. The town’s annual budget is approximately $12 million. There is no plausible excuse for the neglect of your public bathrooms.

Camden is a unique, almost magical place to me and to many others who live or visit here. Camden, and the visitors on whom Camden relies, deserve better. Please clean up and maintain your public bathrooms for everyone’s sake.

As my late stepmother was fond of saying, cleanliness is next to godliness. 

Philip E. Castle is Director, Division of Cancer Prevention, at the U.S. National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland