By David Greene
BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 29- Residents and visitors of Norwood got a shock recently when one popular restaurant began charging a $3 fee to use the restroom.
Those entering the El Caribe Restaurant located at 2 East Gun Hill Road were immediately confronted with a pair of signs that read, "Bathroom is only for the customers. You want to use it? You will have to pay $3.00."
One local resident who declined to use his name because he had friends among the staff, stated, "I think they’re going to lose a lot of business because it's a public facility and now your going to ban people from using the bathroom."
The resident added, "C
ustomers may want to go in there and wash their hands before a meal. Now they’re going to charge you to use the bathroom and wash your hands? That's crazy."
One East Gun Hill Road street peddler offered, "Since they started doing that we walk around the block and use the bathroom at North Central Bronx Hospital, so we just won't patronize them anymore. It's a shame and it's a lousy policy. No other restaurant is doing that, so we'll just go somewhere else."
Asked if he'd ever used the bathroom, the peddler replied, "Yes, it's a nice bathroom, but it's kind of small. It's not like the gas stations, but I don't think it's worth three bucks."
Repeated attempts for comment were met with employees slamming down the receiver of the telephone on two separate occasions.
The trend appears to be growing as the front door to the Mosholu-Montefiore Community Center a block away, now has a sign on it's from door that reads, "Sorry no public restrooms."