"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
27 March 2008Down the tubesThose who would bash Seattle for indifference to its soon-to-be-former NBA team, I submit, are missing the point: the Emerald City has other priorities. Like, for instance, automated public toilets:
The large, self-cleaning lavatories went into service in 2004 — three years after the City Council used a rare show of force to authorize the program as an alternative to less attractive portable toilets.
Since then, the five stalls have cost taxpayers about $4.3 million. The money came from a tax on wastewater rates that cost the average single family household about $2.59 per year on an annual sewer bill of $465. So how are these $800,000 thrones working out?
A recently completed report [by Seattle Public Utilities] found the unattended toilets have been well used — both as they were intended, and as a refuge for drug use and dealing, booze drinking and prostitution. Some homeless people now avoid the toilets because of the social problems they attract, the report found. Meanwhile, there's been a steady increase in how much human waste crews clean each day in downtown alleys and walkways.
Which, if nothing else, proves that just because someone might be homeless doesn't mean that he's a fool.
On Monday, Seattle Public Utilities recommended the city cancel its contract for the facilities early next year. In the meantime, officials hope to find other ways to help tourists, residents and the public find access to other safe, clean restroom facilities.
Good luck with that. (Via Sound Politics.) Posted at 10:40 AM to DyssynergyOh great. Ya suppose that their City Council will try to get OKC to take the Seattle Toilets as well? Actually, we should be grateful for their level of experimentation: it tells us things Not To Do. Posted by: CGHill at 4:50 PM on 27 March 2008I encountered a public toilet like that in Paris a few steps away from the Eiffel Tower. At the time hundreds of French hygiene jokes raced through my mind. Come to find out I should have been making the jokes about Seattlites (is that what you call them?). Posted by: Joel at 5:05 PM on 27 March 2008 |