NASHVILLE (AP) - Public records show top state officials put off requests for portable toilets for Wall Street protesters several days before Gov. Bill Haslam cited unsanitary conditions as one of the reasons for a curfew that led to 55 arrests.
The email records reviewed by The Tennessean indicate that both state and Metro officials received requests for portable toilets for the Nashville protesters encamped on the Legislative Plaza across the street from the state Capitol (http://tnne.ws/tnPrDD).
The toilets weren't installed until after the arrests on Oct. 28 and Oct. 29.
Records show an official with Mayor Karl Dean's office contacted the state on Oct. 24 about a request for portable toilets. But state Department of General Services spokeswoman Lola Potter said Tuesday that the state was still weighing the idea when Haslam's administration instead instituted the curfew.
"One of the issues was we didn't think the plaza ... co uld support the Porta-Potties," Potter said. "Apparently they're heavy and we just had done all kinds of work under the plaza."
Dean spokeswoman Bonna Johnson said the mayor's office did receive a request from an Occupy Nashville protester for a portable toilet. Johnson said Metro Public Works did not have any to spare at the time.
She said Metro did not object to the portable toilets that were ultimately placed on the sidewalk below the plaza after the arrests.