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Potties and Politics
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| A $250,000 automatic public toilet at Fifth and Hill streets is scheduled to open this month. After every use, a door shuts and the facility is pressure-washed, disinfected and dried. Photo by Gary Leonard. |
After a Long Wait, Four High-Tech Toilets Open Downtown, at a Cost of $1 Million
by Kathleen Nye Flynn
After years of political wrangling, a history of failed attempts and an outcry over unsanitary and even dangerous conditions, Downtown is about to take a step up in outdoor restroom facilities. The Central City will soon receive four high-tech, and highly monitored, public toilets.
The automatic public toilets, or APTs, are a far cry from the port-a-potties that formerly stood in Skid Row and other areas. The four new facilities will cost a total of $1 million and are being privately funded.
The Skid Row area is receiving three of the four APTs going into Downtown, and they will open early next year. Another is planned to open this month near the Metro Red Line station at Fifth and Hill streets across from Pershing Square.
"We're looking at this as an urban solution to an urban problem," said Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry. She added that a three-year-old APT at Fifth and San Julian streets on Skid Row is the most-used toilet of its kind in the country.
Self Cleaning Facilities
Each APT's oval-shaped kiosk contains a small toilet and a sink. After every use, the door shuts and the toilet retracts into a behind-the-scenes cleaning area, where it is pressure-washed, disinfected and dried. Meanwhile, the unit's floor and sink are pressurized with water and drained. The toilet bowl swings back around and is ready for use again within minutes. While some APTs cost 25 cents per use, the Skid Row facilities are free.
The city's first three APTs opened in late 2003, with units placed in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and Skid Row. The current batch of five units - along with the Downtown Los Angeles facilities another will open in Van Nuys - will be functional by February, said Lance Oishi, the Board of Public Works' contract manager for the project. He added that eight other APTs will be distributed around the city by summer 2007.
Along with the unit on Fifth and Hill streets, APTs will be stationed on Fifth Street at Los Angeles Street and San Pedro Street, as well as at Sixth and San Pedro streets in front of the Union Rescue Mission.
Oishi said the existing Skid Row APT has had no reported incidents of misuse. This could be because it is nearly impossible to remain inside one for long: On top of consistent monitoring, an APT's doors automatically open after 20 minutes (following a two-minute warning).
The public toilets are part of the city's Coordinated Street Furniture Program, which former 14th District Councilman Nick Pacheco introduced in 2000 and the Council approved in 2001.
The city contracts with CBS/Decaux, a joint-venture company that provides and maintains bus shelters, information kiosks, newspaper racks and the APTs. CBS/Decaux has a team of technicians on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week that responds to malfunction alerts transmitted from sensor devices inside each APT. Staffers also physically monitor the facilities up to four times a day, refilling toilet paper and checking for problems.
"It's a tremendous labor burden which the city couldn't do themselves," said Oishi. "We would be far in debt if we tried."
Funding for APT installation and maintenance is generated by advertising revenue on the company's bus shelters. But the program is nearly three years behind schedule, Oishi said.
Public Works expected 15 APTs and 2,100 pieces of street furniture to be installed by 2004. So far, the city has only received about 300 new pieces, Oishi said.
One problem is that people in some neighborhoods protest the bus shelters and the advertisements posted on them - especially the districts where the advertisers want to be, Oishi said. The lack of bus stop advertising limits Decaux's revenue, he added.
"What's supposed to happen is that for every couple hundred of the [street furniture] pieces we get, we get one APT installed," said Oishi. "But now we are still in the process of getting other street furniture going and we can't get more APTs until that happens."
Another problem is the lengthy approval process. Each APT requires everything from sewer and telephone (to transmit signals) accessibility to a wide sidewalk clearance.
After a council member requests an APT, CBS/Decaux has to present plans to nine separate city departments, the neighborhood council and nearby residents and businesses, who often do not want any street furniture - let alone a public toilet - on their sidewalk. Only a few council districts are even asking for the units, Oishi said. CBS/Decaux is contracted to provide a maximum of 150 APTs to the city, but so far there have only been about 60 requests for the units.
"Depending on the location, there is a huge community outreach," said Francois Nion, co-managing director for CBS/Decaux. "Sometimes it can take a few years just to get an APT into one location."
Crime Hubs
Public toilets have long been a trouble spot in Skid Row. About a year ago, the city removed port-a-potties from many Downtown streets because they were frequently being used for illegal activities.
"The outdoor toilets that we had were a disaster," said Central Division Police Capt. Andy Smith. "They had prostitutes living in them, using them as their homes of prostitution. We pulled numerous dead bodies out of them from people who would go in to shoot up heroin. People were defecating outside while others declared them their residence inside."
The Fashion District also had its public toilets removed for similar reasons.
"The public port-a-potties in our district were horribly abused and we were elated when they were taken out," said Kent Smith, executive director of the area's business improvement district.
Now, Smith said, the Fashion District relies on private property owners opening their restrooms to the public. Some business owners hire attendants to monitor users.
Perry said finding sites in her district for the APTs has not been easy, but their ability to provide good service for the homeless population, as well as others in Downtown looking for a restroom, has been worth it.
"It's an amenity that's equal no matter where you go," Perry said. "At Fifth and San Julian or in front of the Convention Center, it's the same toilet."
Contact Kathleen Nye Flynn at kathleen@downtownnws.com.
page 1, 12/4/2006
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
The automatic public toilets, or APTs, are a far cry from the port-a-potties that formerly stood in Skid Row and other areas. The four new facilities will cost a total of $1 million and are being privately funded.
The Skid Row area is receiving three of the four APTs going into Downtown, and they will open early next year. Another is planned to open this month near the Metro Red Line station at Fifth and Hill streets across from Pershing Square.
"We're looking at this as an urban solution to an urban problem," said Ninth District Councilwoman Jan Perry. She added that a three-year-old APT at Fifth and San Julian streets on Skid Row is the most-used toilet of its kind in the country.
Each APT's oval-shaped kiosk contains a small toilet and a sink. After every use, the door shuts and the toilet retracts into a behind-the-scenes cleaning area, where it is pressure-washed, disinfected and dried. Meanwhile, the unit's floor and sink are pressurized with water and drained. The toilet bowl swings back around and is ready for use again within minutes. While some APTs cost 25 cents per use, the Skid Row facilities are free.
The city's first three APTs opened in late 2003, with units placed in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and Skid Row. The current batch of five units - along with the Downtown Los Angeles facilities another will open in Van Nuys - will be functional by February, said Lance Oishi, the Board of Public Works' contract manager for the project. He added that eight other APTs will be distributed around the city by summer 2007.
Along with the unit on Fifth and Hill streets, APTs will be stationed on Fifth Street at Los Angeles Street and San Pedro Street, as well as at Sixth and San Pedro streets in front of the Union Rescue Mission.
Oishi said the existing Skid Row APT has had no reported incidents of misuse. This could be because it is nearly impossible to remain inside one for long: On top of consistent monitoring, an APT's doors automatically open after 20 minutes (following a two-minute warning).
The public toilets are part of the city's Coordinated Street Furniture Program, which former 14th District Councilman Nick Pacheco introduced in 2000 and the Council approved in 2001.
The city contracts with CBS/Decaux, a joint-venture company that provides and maintains bus shelters, information kiosks, newspaper racks and the APTs. CBS/Decaux has a team of technicians on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week that responds to malfunction alerts transmitted from sensor devices inside each APT. Staffers also physically monitor the facilities up to four times a day, refilling toilet paper and checking for problems.
"It's a tremendous labor burden which the city couldn't do themselves," said Oishi. "We would be far in debt if we tried."
Funding for APT installation and maintenance is generated by advertising revenue on the company's bus shelters. But the program is nearly three years behind schedule, Oishi said.
Public Works expected 15 APTs and 2,100 pieces of street furniture to be installed by 2004. So far, the city has only received about 300 new pieces, Oishi said.
One problem is that people in some neighborhoods protest the bus shelters and the advertisements posted on them - especially the districts where the advertisers want to be, Oishi said. The lack of bus stop advertising limits Decaux's revenue, he added.
"What's supposed to happen is that for every couple hundred of the [street furniture] pieces we get, we get one APT installed," said Oishi. "But now we are still in the process of getting other street furniture going and we can't get more APTs until that happens."
Another problem is the lengthy approval process. Each APT requires everything from sewer and telephone (to transmit signals) accessibility to a wide sidewalk clearance.
After a council member requests an APT, CBS/Decaux has to present plans to nine separate city departments, the neighborhood council and nearby residents and businesses, who often do not want any street furniture - let alone a public toilet - on their sidewalk. Only a few council districts are even asking for the units, Oishi said. CBS/Decaux is contracted to provide a maximum of 150 APTs to the city, but so far there have only been about 60 requests for the units.
"Depending on the location, there is a huge community outreach," said Francois Nion, co-managing director for CBS/Decaux. "Sometimes it can take a few years just to get an APT into one location."
Public toilets have long been a trouble spot in Skid Row. About a year ago, the city removed port-a-potties from many Downtown streets because they were frequently being used for illegal activities.
"The outdoor toilets that we had were a disaster," said Central Division Police Capt. Andy Smith. "They had prostitutes living in them, using them as their homes of prostitution. We pulled numerous dead bodies out of them from people who would go in to shoot up heroin. People were defecating outside while others declared them their residence inside."
The Fashion District also had its public toilets removed for similar reasons.
"The public port-a-potties in our district were horribly abused and we were elated when they were taken out," said Kent Smith, executive director of the area's business improvement district.
Now, Smith said, the Fashion District relies on private property owners opening their restrooms to the public. Some business owners hire attendants to monitor users.
Perry said finding sites in her district for the APTs has not been easy, but their ability to provide good service for the homeless population, as well as others in Downtown looking for a restroom, has been worth it.
"It's an amenity that's equal no matter where you go," Perry said. "At Fifth and San Julian or in front of the Convention Center, it's the same toilet."
Contact Kathleen Nye Flynn at kathleen@downtownnws.com.
page 1, 12/4/2006
© Los Angeles Downtown News. Reprinting items retrieved from the archives are for personal use only. They may not be reproduced or retransmitted without permission of the Los Angeles Downtown News. If you would like to re-distribute anything from the Los Angeles Downtown News Archives, please call our permissions department at (213) 481-1448.
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