16th Street BART smells like urinal

A man taking a nap on a bench with his belongings on the street level plaza of the Bart station on Mission at 16th streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. A man taking a nap on a bench with his belongings on the street level plaza of the Bart station on Mission at 16th streets in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close 16th Street BART smells like urinal 1 / 5 Back to Gallery

The B in BART doesn't stand for "bathroom," but it smells like it could at the 16th Street Mission Station.

Commuters wrinkle their noses as they walk across either of the two street-level plazas at 16th and Mission streets, where loiterers have few qualms about using the plazas as an open-air restroom, neighbors and officials say.

"The elevator becomes an easy-access urinal or worse," said Tony Sustak, a Richmond resident who commutes to the station daily. "The real dregs take a dump in public. They're not discouraged by the crowds passing by."

Human waste and other debris on the street-level plazas are usually a San Francisco Department of Public Works problem. But although that agency cleans the surrounding sidewalks, the plaza itself is BART's responsibility.

BART officials agree the plazas' cleanliness is a problem and say the system's janitorial workers are told to respond to passengers who complain. If anyone reports a problem to station agents, those employees are supposed to call in a station service worker to clean it.

So why does the mess linger?

The street level might not be a priority, officials say. Calls for cleanup inside the underground station can be numerous, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.

"I don't know they're as focused on what happens on street level," Allison said. "They've got enough going inside the station."

The plazas are power washed nightly, but the washers are often forced to wash around a group of several dozen people who sleep on the plaza, Allison said.

BART retrofitted and redesigned the plazas in 2003 and 2006 to make them more aesthetically pleasing. The hope was the community would take ownership of the plazas and crime would drop. But, after a brief honeymoon period of cleanliness, the old crowd and habits came back, BART board member Tom Radulovich said.

Sustak called the plaza improvements "a waste of money."

"They just spent $4 million to make a fancier urinal," he said.

The problem seems to be a lack of coordination between San Francisco police and BART police, who enforce quality-of-life violations like public urination. There also could be better coordination between BART and city workers who are supposed to keep the surrounding areas clean. The city has agreed to help clear trash on the plaza, Allison said, but more needs to be done.

BART also never addressed the social issues in the neighborhood, Radulovich said. When the plazas were redesigned, Radulovich and other board members hoped the neighboring businesses would eventually have entrances opening onto the plaza and that the space would become a community hub.

"BART never really figured out the programming of the space, never organized activities there," he said. "After (the honeymoon period), it reverted to BART standards, which are terrible."

What's not working Issue: Loiterers treat the 16th Street Mission BART Station's two street-level plazas like open-air restrooms. The BART janitorial staff doesn't prioritize plaza cleanup when the underground stations also need frequent attention. What's been done: BART retrofitted the plazas in 2003 and 2006 in an attempt to change the character of the intersection, but problems with public urination and other messes persist. Who's responsible: Rudy Crespo, BART's chief transportation officer, (510) 464-6724, rcrespo@bart.gov.