City, county and other entities should chip in to help the Port of Port Townsend pay for upgrading and maintaining the port shower facility, and it should stay open to the public.

The port has been providing shower and laundry facilities, as well as a restful place to park and stare at the water, to non-customers for decades. It’s unbearably sad to me that the port showers are going to be closed to the down-at-heel so they may be kept pristine for the Sperry-shod.

Yeah, the port shouldn’t have to foot the bill alone. But keeping the facility open is the most direct way to help homeless and disadvantaged people.

Want to live in a sanctuary city? This is a way to truly do good. Yes, local poor folks, especially the vandalizers, the drug-addled and mentally ill, are less romantic in person than photos of Middle Eastern refugee kids. But charity begins at home.

A place to close a door and change your clothes indoors, to take a crap and wash your face in the sink. Even wallet-opening tourists need these.

The Kah Tai bathrooms also are worth investing in – at least as much as marketing or beautification. Let’s chip in to keep the shower facility open.

ROBIN DUDLEY

Port Townsend