To Loo Or Not To Loo

by Thomas Breen | Oct 14, 2019 1:46 pm

(31) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: Social Services, True Vote

A cost-free, outdoor public toilet sits at the center of the latest version of a local homeless person’s bill of rights, which is no longer just a declaration of values but now a proposed law that describes legal recourse for victims of discrimination based on housing status. That proposed ordinance and the public toilet that goes with it were at the center of a Homeless Advisory Commission (HAC) meeting held last Thursday night on the second floor of City Hall. Over a dozen commissioners, city staff, activists, homeless people, and downtown business representatives debated the merits and potential costs of having a public bathroom located somewhere in the city where people of all walks of life can defecate and urinate in a clean, safe, and private environment. The particular accommodation that the commission is considering recommending is a version of the Portland Loo, the famous decade-old, stand-alone bathroom specifically designed to deter illegal activity through a combination of graffiti-proof wall panels, open grating at the top and bottom, and blue lights that discourage intravenous injection. The late former city arts czar Andy Wolf touted this very model of public bathroom over four years ago when he first embarked on an ultimately futile campaign to install four such public toilets around downtown. “It’s a unique solution to a universal problem,” HAC Chair John Huettner said as he passed around a pamphlet about the Portland Loo provided by homelessness advocates from legal aid, Youth Continuum, Y2Y, and Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. “Along with these rights, we’re basically including a facility that homeless people—or anyone, I guess—can use for bathroom needs.” The proposed law, formally called “An Ordinance Concerning a Bill of Rights for New Haven Residents Experiencing Homelessness,” is an outgrowth of a proposed resolution that the aldermanic Human Services Committee held a public hearing on earlier this year. The new version of the proposed law, which has yet to be submitted by HAC to the Board of Alders for assignment to committee for a new public hearing, describes 12 fundamental rights that people without stable housing have a right to exercise without discrimination based on their housing status. Those include the right to enjoy public space, the right to employment fairness, the right to rest, and the right to emergency housing. “Any person who claims to be aggrieved by a violation of the provisions of these rights may bring an action in the superior court for the Judicial District of New Haven,” the proposed law’s section on enforcement reads. The provision that mandates the city buy, install, and maintain a new public toilet if the law is ultimately passed comes in the section on “The Right to Dignity in Meeting Basic Needs.” That right reads, in full; The opportunity to perform basic needs, such as to defecate, urinate, and to access clean water and other living necessities, with dignity and relative privacy under hygienic circumstances and conditions, in clean, safe, highly accessible public locations and facilities designed for these purposes, including public parks and buildings, free of cost to all persons regardless of housing status. To the extent that there are currently insufficient facilities designated for meeting the basic needs listed above, the City, together with community partners, will both search for appropriate grant opportunities and carry out any other activities to ensure that such facilities are in place no later than twelve (12) months after the passing of this Ordinance. The adequacy of these facilities will be reviewed annually by the Homeless Advisory Commission, and a report will be provided annually to the Human Services Committee of the Board of Alders. New Haven Legal Assistance Association (NHLAA) Deputy Director Elizabeth Rosenthal and legal aid fellow Melissa Marichal provided a fiscal impact statement for the proposed ordinance that describes a one-time $95,000 cost to the city for purchasing the toilet and a one-time installation cost of $36,200, as well as an estimated annual maintenance cost of $10,704 and annual electricity and water costs of $926. City Homelessness Coordinator Velma George raised an eyebrow at those annual maintenance cost estimates. “I think the maintenance cost is still pretty low,” she said. This toilet would likely need to be cleaned multiple times a day. Livable City Initiative (LCI) Relocation Specialist Nilda Torres agreed. The current maintenance cost estimate assumes $30 spent on cleaning every day. “That’s way too low,” she said. Win Davis, the executive director of the Town Green Special Services District, said that the best public restrooms—like the one in Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan—have staff present at all times. That’s the best way to make sure that the spaces are clean, safe, and devoid of illicit activity. “I would say that $30 an hour would be more in line with reality than $30 a day.” Then, upon taking a closer look at the pamphlet being passed around about the Portland Loo, Davis noted that this model doesn’t seem to lend itself to having onsite staffers present at all. That’s exactly the point, Youth Continuum Outreach Case Manager and Room for All Coalition member Elizabeth Larkin said. The very design of this bathroom cuts down on the possibility of the space being used for drugs or sex work, while also limiting the potential cost of installation and maintenance by the city. “In the design of this bathroom the surfaces are graffiti proof,” Larkin said. “They have blue lights in them to deter IV drug use. The doors open outward, so that if someone were to collapse or have some health emergency, help could be accessed quickly. “They have open grating at the top and bottom, so that you have lines of sight and sound so that only one person can use them at a time. And the sinks are located on the outside, so that people won’t be going in there to wash their bodies or their clothes.” Robert Dinuzzo, who said he has been homeless in New Haven for 13 years, recommended that the commission consider a public toilet with a door that opens automatically every five or 10 minutes, so that people couldn’t hide out in there or do anything else other than what they were supposed to be doing. “Nobody stays more than five to 10 minutes,” he said. And if that timer solution wouldn’t work, then maybe have staff come by the toilet every 10 minutes and knock to make sure no one is camping out. Huettner added that a former assistant police chief he had spoken to made a commitment to search for federal law enforcement grant dollars that might help cover the start up and ongoing costs of this proposed public bathroom. HAC Commissioner Clarence Edward Phillips, III encouraged Huettner to talk with new Police Chief Otoniel Reyes directly about the funding source, considering the recent retirements and resignations of higher-ups in the New Haven Police Department. Marichal added that, instead of thinking of this as a public cost, HAC could also pitch this item to the alders as a potential public saving: A clean, safe public toilet could cut down on the amount the city parks department spends each year cleaning up greenspace used by people who currently have nowhere else to go. Huettner instructed his fellow commissioners and the activists present to come up with a more realistic cost estimate for maintenance, and to brainstorm potential sources of funding to cover the initial and ongoing costs before the commission comes up with a final version of the proposed ordinance to submit to the alders. “There ought to be a lot of people interested in this,” Huettner said about the toilet specifically and the bill of rights more broadly, “because they want to see downtown better.”

Share this story with others.

Post a Comment

Commenting has closed for this entry

Comments

posted by: DwightAndHowe on October 14, 2019 1:50pm “Robert Dinuzzo, who said he has been homeless in New Haven for 13 years,”

======= Why has New Haven or this committee not helped this man find housing for 13 years?

posted by: nero on October 14, 2019 2:22pm The one-time installation cost of $36,200 seems high. Assuming a plumber or electrician makes $100/hour, will it really take 362 hours to hook this toilet up to a water supply, sewer lines and electric supply? Utilities are readily available downtown. It seems like it could be done easily for one tenth that cost.

posted by: Patricia Kane on October 14, 2019 2:51pm Yale U and the addiction services providers should fund the set up and then the City can maintain it.

posted by: Paul Wessel on October 14, 2019 2:57pm Putting aside the acquisition and installation costs, you still have an ongoing estimated operating cost of almost $12,000 annually. I wonder if there’s a downtown property owner who would provide access to a bathroom for $1000 a month.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on October 14, 2019 3:07pm ““I would say that $30 an hour would be more in line with reality than $30 a day.””

====================== What? That amounts to $262,800 per year.

posted by: Twentyniner on October 14, 2019 3:15pm This is a good idea but will New Haven be able to maintain these restrooms? A common theme is “let’s do this” and then no one takes care of it. If you do this New Haven please do it right and get the model for an attendant otherwise it will be an eyesore in no time. We have enough of those already.

posted by: watchfuleye on October 14, 2019 5:01pm I really hope not! I already have concerns walking downtown. If this portable bathroom is NOT going to have a 24/7 attendants dedicated just for this position then NO! This will get out of control and extremely unsanitary. Some will abuse this without constant monitoring which then puts those in need who would really appreciate it be without or shut down. Its a no for me but again a yes only with constant monitoring by attendant and a working camera on the outside of this area. A big no still or somewhere out of general public. Ughh more i write the answer is no. No. There has to be some other way to help those in need who really want the need.

posted by: WMACHQ on October 14, 2019 6:10pm Of interest on this topic:

Andy Wolf and I designed a public toilet that included two toilets, sinks on the exterior, solar powered interior lighting and security screws plus translucent panels, floor drains for cleaning, and raised walls which allowed supervisory personnel know if if someone is occupying the facility after hours of operation. This design was a contextual design that mimics the pitches roof bus shelters on the upper green, and is the same size of a bus shelter, the cost was under $95k. This was in answer to the “Portland” design which was looked at as not compatible with the surroundings of the New Haven Green. This design was presented to the Trinity Church On The Green, as they expressed interest in sponsoring a public toilet as part of their outreach to the homeless and the Church is exploring a fundraising effort to go forward. A public presentation is planned for after the upcoming municipal election.

W. MacMullen

posted by: Crabs on October 14, 2019 6:21pm Paris has (had?) one of these in use when I visited about 10 years ago.

It was self cleaning between uses!

The instructions for use clearly stated that the door would automatically unlock (open) after X number of minutes…sorry I don’t recall the actual time limit.

posted by: ElmUrbanist on October 14, 2019 6:30pm This looks promising. Bathroom access is an important justice issue, and this design has a solid record of preventing abuses in other cities where it has been implemented. $10,704 for annual maintenance seems way too low, though. Even Portland itself needs to spend more than that (with some quick Googling, it seems like it’s $12,000-17,500 per unit, depending on the year). And in all likelihood, the per-unit cost in Portland is lower because there are more total units, so they probably save on scale. Totally worth the cost in my opinion, but still worth being realistic about it up front.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on October 14, 2019 8:36pm “Bathroom access is an important justice issue”

======= I agree—it’s part of maintaining basic human dignity, not just “bathroom access” per se. Also, let’s not conflate the issue homeless people face with men in dresses who want to use women’s bathrooms. (I’m not saying you did this—- just that the language can be quickly misused and misappropriated by radical cultural marxists.)

posted by: Bill Saunders on October 14, 2019 8:53pm I still like the ‘hole in the ground’ with the spiral gate that can be seen all around Amsterdam!

posted by: MemoryMan on October 14, 2019 10:21pm It pisses me off that folks won’t support si elegant un pissoir.

posted by: Guillermo798 on October 14, 2019 11:28pm I can’t believe I’m reading this…. Fourteen people sitting around a table talking about a free toilet and sink. $30.00 per day to maintain the unit is a joke. Has anyone consulted with Public Works? Who’s going to clean it? How are they going to clean it? It’s a BIOHAZARD. Will the cleaning employees be properly protected with impervious protective clothing and face protection? Will they need a pressure washer with disinfectant, or will the employees be forced to clean it by hand? Will it be cleaned more than once per day? Blue lights are going to stop an addict from shooting up? Nothing’s going to stop someone from shooting up outside, and going in to nod off. Has anyone asked Portland how many overdosed deceased persons have to be removed each year from their units? Whose budget will be responsible for the cleanup? What is the cost of removing a body? What does it cost the city to have a bio-remediation company cleanup a decedent biohazard? I’m certain numerous people will find my post indelicate. I apologize. I attempt to live in the real world.

posted by: Hartman13 on October 15, 2019 1:00am I’m picturing Woody Allen (as Milo Monroe) stepping out of this thing, dressed in a tux and clutching an Orgasmatron. The idea is right. The model is wrong. 1. Yes… these pods would be used as restrooms. 2. Yes… these pods would also be used as a hiding space to use drugs. 3. Win is right. Without constant supervision, these “vandal-proof” (C’mon people… nothing is vandal-proof) WCs will become as disgusting as the super-costly bus shelters the city installed years ago. 4. That there are failsafes built in to unlock these things if there’s an emergency, the person who’s just overdosed out of the public eye, will be dead because no one witnessed it and was able to call for help. Also, where’s the help coming from? Every once in a while, this well intentioned toilet will likely become a coffin. If the city and homeless advocates want to help, go the distance. Take one of downtown’s vacant properties and convert it into a cleanliness center. Think of a storefront with several showers, crappers and sinks. Toiletries, towels and such things as clean socks would be donated. Homeless or not - one signs up on a reservation schedule for a fifteen to twenty minute use on any particular day. The guest will clean up the space for the next person’s use. A staff person (perhaps a volunteer) will check out the space and assess its clenlieness. If the facility is up to par and isn’t trashed, the guest gets to come back and use the space again. Perhaps this is a good job for someone who owes society some court-ordered community service. I’d bet this would cost a pretty penny in rent, set-up and maintenance, but it seems the cost would be high for the proposed toilet as well.

posted by: Kevin McCarthy on October 15, 2019 8:17am Merits of this proposal aside, the highlighted provisions of the proposed ordinance are poorly drafted. (I saw lots of poor drafting at the legislature.) The first sentence has six clauses, which operate independently. Read literally, it could authorize homeless individuals to urinate in secluded areas in public parks, although this obviously is not the sponsors’ intent. More realistically, it could entitle homeless individuals to use bathrooms in public schools. Lack of access to essential facilities is a real problem for homeless individuals, particularly downtown. But on its face, the ordinance is not limited to the homeless nor to any one area of the city. The proposal would benefit from further development.

posted by: dad101 on October 15, 2019 8:21am We dont have sufficient clean functioning rest rooms for our children in school and we are ready and willing to commit these absurd amounts of money to restrooms out doors for homeless.? Why not work with the hospitals ,yale state and city government buildings to designate restrooms already in exsistance as safe available restrooms/ THe shelters restrooms are deplorable why not invest in keeping theirs open and available and properly cleaned? Here we go with another mandate telling us we must provide something that we dont have the revenue to afford ..We already have many resolutions laws mandates etc that we cant afford to fund..SO when you do that it allows people to sue for not providing which is yet more money that we dont have? Why doesnt legal aid post a sign on their door saying free public restroom available to all 12hours per day. Thats about how many hours per day someone is there working? How aout the HUD building why doesnt it have signs offering free use of public restrooms? Stop looking to build and give away brand new stuff to everyone and calling it free. NOTHING is free there is someone on the back end paying for it..The homeowners of NEW HAVEN are barely making ends meet and yet lets had another requirement for them to fund>

posted by: Thomas Alfred Paine on October 15, 2019 8:33am New Haven should not pick up every idea that every other city adopts.

Go by the back of Hillhouse on crescent St. and see the crazy street layout. We ha a bike lane close to the curb, and spaces for cars to park CLOSE TO THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET!

Go up Dixwell to the intersection of Munson, Shelton, and Orchard and view the craziest, ugliest arrangement of multicolored painted street corners with scores of 3 -4 foot posts rising from the asphalt in a dizzying, carnivalesque array.

We have an overabundance of street signs which marr the beauty of our city. Count the number on the average city block. We are saturated with signs!

Another city eyesore would be the installation of these public toilets. There are legitimate concerns that they could become havens for drug use, one room shelters for homeless to sleep in, and mini-brothels for prostitutes.

Other cities may have found ways to curb such nefarious usage of the public toilets, but why should the city take on this responsibilty?

posted by: watchfuleye on October 15, 2019 8:50am When is the public hearing for this! I need to be there. Does anyone know?

posted by: DMH464 on October 15, 2019 8:52am First off, sorry but this is a terrible idea on so many levels. This public toilet will become an infectious diseases researchers dream . That thing is a crime scene waiting to happen.



Second, this toilet is not what I want any of the NHPD’s budget going too. They have enough issues with gear, vehicles, tech and emergency services equipment to allocate any of their budget toward this crapper. The green is a joke, this should be the center piece of the city and it looks and smells like the center of a toilet, it has for years. I like Hartman13’s idea about building up a center staffed with volunteers, because it seems we have no shortage of SJW’s that will talk the talk, and get the homeless off the street and the green.

posted by: Spike75 on October 15, 2019 8:56am This would be the tipping point for NH on the trajectory toward a third-world-country destiny, a la San Francisco. We can only hope Yale overtly or (more likely) covertly puts its foot down it did in the spring of 2013 to make the Occupy tents disappear from the upper Green virtually overnight as commencement approached.

posted by: BetweenTwoRocks Of course New Haven should have public toilets. You think a lack of public toilets is going to stop homeless people from peeing? Or doing drugs? Of course not. They already pee in the streets and we’re already dealing with that. What next, we complain that a public bathroom will encourage people to pee and we shouldn’t encourage people to pee if they can’t afford to? Absurd. I think the costs are high but we do need to consider what our options are. But yes please put in public bathrooms. The amount of times I’ve literally watched homeless people peeing, i would gladly pay to avoid that situation. Let them use the toilet with basic human dignity.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on October 15, 2019 9:54am How about we build mini-apartments to be used as transitional housing until they 1) get clean and 2) find a job? How about converting shipping containers? They can clean their own apartments, and if it’s not up to standard, they get a warning or get kicked out. That way, we don’t have to spend money on cleaning. Also, how many of the homeless are actually addicted to a substance? I find myself assuming that most are, but perhaps I am prejudiced.

posted by: mrschramm on October 15, 2019 10:03am @Patricia Kane is onto something. I’m sure there is grant funding available for a project like this. The city absolutely should make public bathrooms available. They would be a dramatic improvement in the quality of life for those New Haven residents who often have the least say in public policy. Public restrooms are quite common in some cities, like Amsterdam, and work effectively. No one should have to suffer the indignity of not being able to use a bathroom, and a public good like this should be provided by the city.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on October 15, 2019 11:43am Who will clean it, and how will it be cleaned? Does the sanitation person wear full protective suit? Is that discriminatory? Is it employee protection? Anyone want to volunteer to clean it? :)

posted by: Elmshaker on October 15, 2019 2:11pm I’m dismayed (but not surprised) at the bashing the homeless take whenever the subject comes up. This toilet would not be for the homeless, it would be for everybody. And rather than the most abusive users, the homeless would by and large be the most grateful. The most abusive users are alcohol/drug abusers, and people with mental health issues. It would definitely need monitoring if not cleaning every half hour. The open “line of sight” design is highly undignified and is a product of nanny-state thinking. I would be mortified to have to direct a visitor to New Haven to use a toilet in which they are on view to the public, why does anyone think this is ok? I know so much about public toilets because I have monitored New Haven’s main public toilet for over a decade at the New Haven Public Library where we have experienced every know mishap one might imagine. I hope a public toilet comes about somehow. I will say this, that the politicians of this city have done the library, its staff, and the citizens of NH a disservice by forcing the library to be the go-to city toilet for all this time.

It has always seemed to me that City Hall, since it is staffed around the clock and has nice, clean restrooms, would make an ideal refuge for New Haven’s least fortunate, particularly in the winter.

posted by: DwightAndHowe on October 15, 2019 2:57pm “It has always seemed to me that City Hall, since it is staffed around the clock and has nice, clean restrooms, would make an ideal refuge for New Haven’s least fortunate, particularly in the winter.”

==== Sounds like a better alternative. There’s privacy and security. And nothing new to be built, costing who knows how much at the end.

posted by: Guillermo798 on October 15, 2019 6:17pm Where will these public toilets be installed?

Directly in front of City Hall, so whoever is elected can look down from their office window and watch the flow of people. Perhaps two or three toilets would be appropriate.

If no one likes that idea perhaps in front of:

U.S. District Courthouse

Trinity Church on the Green

Yale University Visitor Center

Phelps Gate

or

In the center of the Green

In the Courtyard in front of the Social Security Office

If none of these locations are acceptable, just install them in front of a business attempting to survive in downtown New Haven: The Omni Hotel, Starbucks, Subway, CVS

May I suggest in front of the Quinnipiack Club, The Knights of Columbus, or the Yale School of Public Health. I’m certain someone will volunteer?

posted by: Thomas Alfred Paine on October 15, 2019 7:55pm @Guillermo798

Decades ago in the early 1960s, there were large public bathrooms in the basement of City Hall, before City Hall was remodeled.

After a portion of the old City Hall was torn down, the public toilets were not replaced.

posted by: BhuShu on October 16, 2019 1:57am Has no one heard of self cleaning and sanitizing toilets? Google videos. That is what Andy wanted to get for new haven and to have it paid for with sponsored electronic ads on the outside.