EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — The new Portland Loo in downtown Evansville has been the talk of the town since opening in May 2026. Less than a month in existence, the city’s first 24/7 public restroom was forced to close for repairs.
“When we opened this a few weeks ago, we noticed the lock was sticking, the mechanism had an issue,” says City Engineer Brian Mundy. “We had the contractor come back out, under warranty, and adjust the lock set. But evidently, it was more of a manufacturing defect internal to the lock set.”
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Mundy says that faulty piece in the door’s lock set damaged the locking mechanism, forcing the closure of the restroom.
“Our cleaning crew, they took the handles off thinking that it couldn’t be accessed, but someone had some sort of tool or something that they used to get inside to use the restroom. And then once they got inside, they couldn’t get back out,” Mundy says…