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Seattle’s Automated Toilets Go Way of the Box and Chain ( $89,000 apiece on eBay )
The New York Times ^ | July 17, 2008 | CHRISTOPHER MAAG

Posted on 07/17/2008 8:41:44 AM PDT by george76

After spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle is calling it quits.

In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the city’s most destitute people refused to step inside them.

The units were put up for sale Wednesday afternoon on eBay, with a starting bid set by the city at $89,000 apiece.

The dismal outcome coincides with plans by New York, Los Angeles and Boston, among other cities, to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for expansion this fall in their installation of automated toilets — stand-alone structures with metal doors that open at the press of a button and stay closed for up to 20 minutes. The units clean themselves after each use, disinfecting the seats and power-washing the floors.

Seattle officials say the project here failed because the toilets, which are to close on Aug. 1, were placed in neighborhoods that already had many drug users and transients. Then there was the matter of cost: $1 million apiece over five years, which because of a local ordinance had to be borne entirely by taxpayers instead of advertisers.

In Seattle, problems arose almost immediately. Users left so much trash behind that the automated floor scrubbers had to be disabled, and prostitutes and drug users found privacy behind the toilets’ locked doors.

“I’m not going to lie: I used to smoke crack in there,” said one homeless woman... “But I won’t even go inside that thing now. It’s disgusting.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: dopersrights; drugabuse; govwatch; homelessness; itsjustsex; nannystate; prostitution; publicsex; puritanism; seattle; toilet
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To: george76

$89,000,000 toilet here. No takers.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Hering-Bau-WCmatic-Automatic-Public-Toilet-1-Seattle_W0QQitemZ170240609824QQihZ007QQcategoryZ1267QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Toilets #1-5. No bids.


41 posted on 07/17/2008 1:31:54 PM PDT by weegee (Obama loves America like Bill loves Hillary.)
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To: B Knotts
They should keep them where they are, weld the doors open, and leave them as a monument to the bureaucracy.
42 posted on 07/17/2008 1:33:04 PM PDT by weegee (Obama loves America like Bill loves Hillary.)
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To: ApplegateRanch

That ain’t granite........


43 posted on 07/17/2008 1:33:21 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Hillary's heart is blacker than the devil's riding boots...............)
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To: mvpel; Publius6961; george76; Libertina

This is the quintessence of elitism:

Help others who won’t help themselves, Liberally helping yourselves to the money of the productive to buy self-cleaning units at enormous expense to be SURE you don’t actually have to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty.

The opposite of true humanitarianism, posing as the real deal.


44 posted on 07/17/2008 1:44:21 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: weegee

Fairgrounds and special events around the country get by with porta-potties that have biodegrading chemicals and can’t cost more than a few thousand dollars.

Hey Seattle, check out Thomas Register for some cheaper resources.


45 posted on 07/17/2008 1:47:12 PM PDT by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: weegee; potlatch; LucyT

Toilets #1-5. No bids.

Shocked.

/s


46 posted on 07/17/2008 1:50:50 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

They have photos up of each $89k terlet.

You can make out some of the graffiti. No phone numbers though.


47 posted on 07/17/2008 1:53:07 PM PDT by weegee (Obama loves America like Bill loves Hillary.)
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To: Squantos; SunkenCiv; Grampa Dave

lol

Clearly a liberal design .......no TP or gunrack !


48 posted on 07/17/2008 1:57:50 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Osage Orange
Bet it is as cold as granite, though; and for the price, it ought to be granite.
49 posted on 07/17/2008 1:58:56 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (The Great Obamanation of Desolation, attempting to sit in the Oval Office, where he ought not..)
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To: george76; potlatch; Slings and Arrows; nw_arizona_granny; yefragetuwrabrumuy

This is one of those threads I’m not going to read, but thanks for the pings, anyway, lol.


50 posted on 07/17/2008 2:07:16 PM PDT by LucyT (What happens in Denver won't stay in Denver... August 25 - 28, 2008)
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To: ApplegateRanch
....for the price, it ought to be granite.

Agree...

51 posted on 07/17/2008 2:14:33 PM PDT by Osage Orange (Hillary's heart is blacker than the devil's riding boots...............)
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To: NavyCanDo

The bums taking over the little park next to Pikes Place Market were the lowlight of our otherwise generally enjoyable trip to Seattle last Summer.


52 posted on 07/17/2008 2:14:58 PM PDT by FreedomPoster (<===Non-bitter, Gun-totin', Typical White American)
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To: george76; devolve; LucyT

Hate to say this, but wonder if there are also a lot of illegals up there.

The further south you go down here, the messier things get. You should see even the Walmart down by the border, clothes on the floor, every art paint has been opened and ‘tried out’ on the shelf background. It’s unreal.

Gas stations keep their restroom doors locked.


53 posted on 07/17/2008 2:24:19 PM PDT by potlatch (MICHELLE OBAMA - The gift that just keeps on giving....!)
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To: SengirV; All

Seattle lefties & government officials WOULD NOT LISTEN. They have more of our $ to burn than sense... and absolutely NO ability to see the long term consequences of their actions. Besides, they always receive big brownie points from the local media for “trying to help.”


54 posted on 07/17/2008 2:48:25 PM PDT by Libertina
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To: Piquaboy

The Privacy Doors! They appear to have worked too well!!
If they were in Central Park, Spitzer could have saved the room rental for his tryst:-)


55 posted on 07/17/2008 3:10:58 PM PDT by NOBAMA in 08 (An Empty Suited Opportunist with No Redeeming Value!)
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To: potlatch

You are so right about good olde, angry, vicious Michelle!
Imagine how wretched she along with Obama will be if they get their hands on the Presidency! MAY GOD BE WITH US AND SAVE US FROM A HORRIBLE NIGHTMARE!:-P

We should take up a collection and buy one of these toilets, giving it to Hussein to flush his campaign down the drain:-)


56 posted on 07/17/2008 3:20:52 PM PDT by NOBAMA in 08 (An Empty Suited Opportunist with No Redeeming Value!)
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To: george76

and the RATS, take another one in the..................HA ha!!!

57 posted on 07/17/2008 3:26:24 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist -CTHULHU/NYARLATHOTEP'08 = Nothing LESS!!!)
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To: NOBAMA in 08; devolve

NOBAMA, you may have posted to the wrong person. I don’t recall mentioning Michelle on this thread.


58 posted on 07/17/2008 3:49:08 PM PDT by potlatch (MICHELLE OBAMA - The gift that just keeps on giving....!)
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To: potlatch

.

Hmmmm


59 posted on 07/17/2008 4:03:21 PM PDT by devolve (- "Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it." Barack Hussein Obama)
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To: george76

Being a leftist means that you can never, ever be held accountable for your mistakes.

One’s intentions of “helping the poor” or “saving the children” protect you from any consequences.


60 posted on 07/17/2008 4:04:31 PM PDT by denydenydeny (Expel the priest and you don't inaugurate the age of reason, you get the witch doctor--Paul Johnson)
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