People have been talking about an uptick in human feces found on sidewalks and alleyways in San Francisco recently as though the pandemic is causing more people to choose to go on the street or as a signal of increased homelessness. I think what the article is talking about is a much bigger cause.<p>If you're in SF, try finding a bathroom to use even if you do have money to spend somewhere. Everyone has closed their bathrooms because of COVID protocols -- I have no idea if this something mandated by law, or something that businesses are doing, but it's nearly impossible to find a place to relieve yourself unless you're near a park with a public restroom.<p>I don't have a lot of confidence that the local government in SF is ready to solve this on their own, but just like homelessness, it's much larger than a one-city problem and hopefully more attention on things like this will help everyone chip away at the issues.
The availability of public restrooms in Japan makes travelling there so much easier and less stress. Not only is it possible to go to the toilet, it's a good experience because they keep them so clean. This sends a message that is bigger than just the restroom itself. It tells a tourist (or a resident) they are in a civilised place which acknowledges their humanity.
Success of public restroom infrastructure hinges more on how people think of themselves and their fellow humans, and less about actual pee and poop needs. America lucks the requisite social contracts.
IMO he nails it on the head with the Buchwald anecdote.<p>America has binned the medieval Roman Catholic notion that we are moral agents, which gave rise to the enlightenment, for the older “church knows best” construct.<p>The church being “free market fiscal economics” manipulated by elites who think they know best. Just like the kings, priests, and barons of old.<p>If someone with wealth hasn’t decided you are “privy lege” given fiscal trade rules, you don’t get to piss.
I'd love to open up our bathroom to 99% of the public - most of them would leave the bathroom in better condition than they found it.<p>It's the jerks that ruin the idea.
There is a very simple explanation for this not mentioned in this article: well meaning people have pressured legislators to ban for-pay restrooms, and since not many people feel joy when maintaining a free public restroom, not many restroom remained operating.<p>[1] <a href="https://fee.org/articles/why-is-there-a-shortage-in-public-restrooms/" rel="nofollow">https://fee.org/articles/why-is-there-a-shortage-in-public-r...</a>
To be fair, SF public parks almost all have very decent public bathrooms that are actually maintained. I have been impressed with the ones in GG, Dolores, Holly parks.
The first time I went to the US (around the year 2000), I was surprised by how difficult it was to find a public restroom. Even malls used to have just a couple of restrooms near the food court.<p>Also, the restrooms didn't match the expected number of people on the building. As if there's no building code in terms of a public place and number of restrooms that must be available.<p>I was expecting something similar to an airport which is what most countries do in terms of density of public restrooms, but it was much less (I went to Texas, so other states might have been different)
So, a cop was fired in Oklahoma for citing a 3-year old with a $2500 fine for public urination. Sounds kinda harsh given that you can't get cops fired even for killing unarmed law-abiding civilians. Wonder what happened there (did he piss off the wrong people?).
I used to have a toilet finding app on my iPod touch when I wandered around Australia a decade or so ago. It was a life saver. The solution is to give phones with toilet apps to everyone