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Pricey toilets in S.F.: Water down the drain?
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Park officials are considering the replacement of restrooms for units, such as this one in the Panhandle, that are easier to maintain.
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - San Francisco park officials are considering purchasing new restrooms that are easier to keep clean — at a price tag of up to $400,000 each.
Keeping the 50 free-standing restrooms in The City’s parks clean and safe has been an ongoing challenge, said Recreation and Park Department General Manager Yomi Agunbiade at a meeting Monday with key City Hall officials. Efforts to remove vandalism such as graffiti or keep drug users out of the restroom buildings require constant monitoring, he said.
One new, prefabricated restroom purchased by The City — installed last summer in the Golden Gate Park Panhandle — is designed to prevent vandalism and misuse, he said. Park officials are looking to a proposed $185 million bond measure in 2008 to provide funds to replace some of the restrooms in parks throughout The City with the new restroom, priced between $350,000 and $400,000, which is easier to maintain and monitor, he said.
The Panhandle restroom — prefabricated and brought to San Francisco from Kentucky — is approximately 15 feet by 25 feet, with brown tile flooring, metal restroom doors and skylights, according to Recreation and Park spokeswoman Rose Dennis. The separate men’s and women’s facilities each have two stalls, one wheelchair accessible. The stalls have doors, but the restroom itself is open to view to outsiders — a design feature intended to discourage vandalism and drug use in the building, Dennis said.
One City Hall official, Jared Blumenfeld from the Department of the Environment, expressed concern about the cost of the buildings, which he compared with the price of some houses, and asked if The City had other options for keeping the restrooms clean.
The Neighborhood Parks Council, working with The City, has been conducting an online survey about San Francisco’s park restrooms. One-half of the nearly 500 respondents to date said there was a Recreation and Park park or facility they avoided due to such restroom factors as availability, hygiene, safety and supplies. One-third of respondents said they didn’t feel safe using the restrooms.
Bernal Heights resident Brenda Perdue said that when you have a family, a restroom is essential, if not always a pleasurable experience.
“It’s no different than the rest, it’s still dirty,” she said of the Panhandle restroom. “It did have soap, so that was nice.”
Park restrooms are no respite
Nearly 500 San Franciscans who participated in a poll were asked to rate their “overall San Francisco Recreation and Park Department park and/or recreation facility restroom experience.”
25%: very unpleasant
36%: unpleasant
33%: acceptable
05%: good
01%: excellent
- Source: Neighborhood Parks Council, “Draft Report from Restroom Survey,” July 24, 2007
What do you think of park restrooms in S.F.?
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Comments from Examiner Readers
10:07 PM MST on Fri., Oct. 19, 2007 re: "Pricey toilets in S.F.: Water down the drain?"
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12:19 AM MST on Tue., Aug. 28, 2007
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12:14 AM MST on Tue., Aug. 28, 2007
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12:11 AM MST on Tue., Aug. 28, 2007
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2:26 AM MST on Fri., Aug. 24, 2007
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10:49 AM MST on Thu., Aug. 23, 2007
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10:15 AM MST on Thu., Aug. 23, 2007
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9:17 AM MST on Thu., Aug. 23, 2007
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Examiner Reader said:
Where ARE the public toilets? Can I get a map of GG Park's facilities? How do parents with small children manage around the small playgrounds? Where do people with full bladders relieve themselves? How do people in the Park know where to go??
108 agree | 85 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Part 3 Why not have the large corporations of this city fund the bathroom project, say each large company shell out the cash for one bathroom?? Then the city can put that money to better use, feeding the homeless, rescuing teen runaways and getting the drug addicts off the street. There are many things the people who live in a city can do for the greater good. I suggest everyone consider who you vote for this year in the Nov. elections they obviously don't know how to get more bang for YOUR buck! Oh and just so you know we had a large amount of sandwiches left over from lunch while working here last Friday. We took them all out on the street and fed the homeless.
138 agree | 142 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
then all they would have to do is change the TP rolls and perhaps remove anything that didn't go down the drain. I have visited a lot of big cities, SF ranks up there with the worst as far as filth on the streets and the homeless. SHAME on YOU the people of San Francisco!! SHAME on your city officials for trying to get away with spending $400 K on a bathroom! Everyone should sit back and take a good hard look at this city and the poor people who walk the streets. I understand that many are mentally ill but if so, then why not get them medical care? If you don't want to do that then I suggest adding showers to those bathrooms so they can at least get clean! I don't think I have ever walked down a city street and had to watch out for human waste and rivers of urine, not to mention the crack heads on every corner. Where are your shelters? Where are the programs to get these people off the street and working or off the street getting medical care? Why not hav
145 agree | 105 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
am here in SF on business and happened to catch the article on the new City Toilets. I realize that real estate prices are based on location and a house in my home town in Ohio would probably fetch three times the amount here but $400 K for toilets?? Made in Kentucky ?? Are they gold plated? One would be hard pressed to find many two toilet HOMES in Kentucky for that price! Most homes with 4 baths in my home town are only $400 K and you get all the rest of the rooms included in the price too! Perhaps most of the cost is for postage? I have several ideas for this issue. First make all the bathrooms stainless steel (like the prisons) have a automatic cleaning system installed in the ceiling and install large drains in the floors. Have them set on a timer so they are cleaned with hot bleach water, say every 4 to 6 hours. This would eliminate having to pay someone to clean them (we all know these people don't give a crap about doing a good job anyway...no pun intended) then all t
158 agree | 103 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The previous posters are right - both in the suggestion that manned restrooms (like they have in cities all over europe) would easily solve this problem, and in the suggestion that it is just too common sense-ical to fly in moonbat city.
155 agree | 86 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Sounds like Mr. Yomi Agunbiade is complacent, if he can't do the job he's payed to do well find someone who can.
139 agree | 132 disagree
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Seven said:
Take a fraction of that money, and hire people to clean the existing restrooms. Increased employment, clean restrooms, and the city saves moolah. No wait, this is San Francisco and common sense doesn't fly.
143 agree | 152 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Of course, the simple solution of contracting rest-room attendants, similar to the taxi medallion right to operate a taxi given out by the City (falsely stated in Ken Garcia's story as earning $70k a year to their holder - its more like $20k), for each of the restroom runs counter to the City's objective to remove the human factor in all city services. Buying new toilets serves to enrich his biggest campaign contributors, the contractors who will get to deals; at $400k each!? Even imbeciles know a house is cheaper to build. Does anyone have any sense of common sense or decency left? This is the problem with unopposed and unchallenged politicians and others in power.
163 agree | 113 disagree
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