{"id":237364,"date":"2014-12-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/taking-a-trip-to-the-loo\/"},"modified":"2014-12-05T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T08:00:00","slug":"taking-a-trip-to-the-loo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/taking-a-trip-to-the-loo\/","title":{"rendered":"Taking a trip to the loo"},"content":{"rendered":"

City installs solar-powered 24\/7 restrooms Downtown<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Dave Schwab<\/p>\n

Portland \u201cloos\u201d are coming to San Diego.<\/p>\n

The \u201cinaugural flush\u201d of San Diego\u2019s first Portland Loo was performed at a special ribbon-cutting hosted by Councilmember Marti Emerald Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the southwest corner of 14th and L streets Downtown.<\/p>\n

\"Portland<\/a>
The new San Diego-based Portland Loo awaits its unveiling.
(Photo by Dahna Logan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Originated in Portland, Oregon in 2008, the Loo \u2014 a British term for restroom \u2014 was the brainchild of City Commissioner Randy Leonard. Recognized for their sleek design and efficiency, Portland Loos were created in response to Portland\u2019s rise in homelessness and lack of public restrooms.<\/p>\n

The Portland Loo is made from heavy stainless steel but is light enough for easy transport. These permanent public flushing restrooms are open year-round, roomy enough to be wheelchair-accessible and can also easily accommodate strollers or a bicycle.<\/p>\n

Portland Loos have since been exported to other states and Canada, where they received an award as \u201cThe Best Public Restroom in Canada\u201d by the Cintas Corporation.<\/p>\n

Downtown Portland restrooms, available to the general public at several locations, are cleaned twice daily by a contractor and cost approximately $14,500 a year, per toilet, to maintain.<\/p>\n

Since 2009, Girls Think Tank (GTT), a San Diego grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to advancing basic human dignity for those living on the streets, has been working on providing increased access to 24\/7 public restrooms.<\/p>\n

In June 2010, GTT presented more than 5,000 signatures in support of Portland Loos to the City Council, which unanimously approved funding for the purchase and installation of four identical structures.<\/p>\n

The same evening as the ribbon cutting ceremony, a \u201cGTT\u2019s First Flush\u201d reception took place at Florent Restaurant in the Gaslamp, to bring awareness to GTT efforts.<\/p>\n

\"2.<\/a>
The new 24\/7 flush bathrooms are large enough for wheelchairs, bikes or strollers (Photo by Dahna Logan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThanks to GTT volunteers and staff from Centre City Development Corporation [now Civic San Diego] who sought input and consensus from Downtown East Village residents and business groups as to appropriate locations, stakeholders agreed on two of the four initial locations Downtown: Park and Market Street, and 14th and L Street,\u201d said GTT spokeswoman Heather Pollock.<\/p>\n

Pollock noted the statewide budget crisis originally delayed implementation of the Loo project but support renewed last spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut after months of meetings with city officials, the mayor\u2019s office recommended, and the City Council approved, setting aside a portion of the City\u2019s mid-year budget for the purchase and installation of the first two Loos,\u201d Pollock said. \u201cIt has been a long and arduous process for San Diego\u2019s homeless advocates to ensure vindication of this very fundamental human right.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are several widely held misconceptions about Portland Loos, said Noor Kazmi, past president of GTT and co-chair of its programs committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey aren\u2019t porta-potties,\u201d Kazmi said. \u201cThese are actual, flushing toilets, connected to plumbing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kazmi pointed to the design of the pre-fabricated Loo as the largest contributing factor to its ongoing success.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that the stainless steel is covered with a graffiti-resistant coating prohibits vandals from defacing it and lessens its aesthetic appeal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Slits at the bottom of the Loo\u2019s structure make it relatively easy for passersby \u2014 and especially law enforcement \u2014 to detect if more than one person occupies the restroom, Kazmi added, thus deterring illicit activity.<\/p>\n

The Loos are relatively easy and affordable to maintain and \u201clook great in any urban environment,\u201d Kazmi said.<\/p>\n

Compared to the bulky, house-like, self-cleaning structures in Seattle, San Francisco and Boston \u2014 which can also cost up to $1 million a piece \u2014 the Loos are relatively inexpensive.<\/p>\n

\"3.<\/a>
(Photo by Dahna Logan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She said the notion of offering public restrooms 24\/7 for Downtown San Diego was first presented to GTT by homeless individuals in summer 2009. That happened after word had gotten around that David \u201cThe Waterman\u201d Ross, a local homeless advocate, was personally funding several porta-potties for the homeless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThereafter, several GTT volunteers surveyed over 200 homeless individuals regarding the urgency of basic needs in San Diego,\u201d Kazmi said. \u201cThe overwhelming response, even before housing, was the need for more public restrooms, showers and clean drinking water in Downtown.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spring 2010, Kazmi said GTT convened the Basic Dignity Coalition to organize people, both housed and unhoused, around the issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cVolunteers drafted a petition, based on the UN Human Rights Charter, demanding more 24\/7 restrooms Downtown,\u201d Kazmi said, adding the\u00a0Coalition\u2019s Research Committee reviewed the best practices throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe committee rested on the Portland Loo, a solar-powered, graffiti-resistant, stainless steel flushing toilet because of its\u00a0aesthetics, design and affordability,\u201d Kazmi said.<\/p>\n

Kazmi said there\u2019s no reason to believe the Loos won\u2019t work as well in San Diego as they have in Portland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the cooperation of residents, homeless individuals, law enforcement, local business and nonprofit organizations, we don’t anticipate any issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Loos or Girls Think Tank, visit girlsthinktank.org\/programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Dave Schwab came to San Diego 30 years ago with a journalism degree from Michigan State University and has worked and freelanced for numerous dailies, weeklies and other regional publications. He can be reached at <\/i>dschwabie@journalist.com<\/a><\/i><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City installs solar-powered 24\/7 restrooms Downtown By Dave Schwab Portland \u201cloos\u201d are coming to San Diego. The \u201cinaugural flush\u201d of San Diego\u2019s first Portland Loo was performed at a special ribbon-cutting hosted by Councilmember Marti Emerald Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the southwest corner of 14th and L streets Downtown.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":237365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Taking a trip to the loo","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11600],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-sdnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}