Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — I've been up in the Silicon Valley today for Google Developer Day. The main part of the day took place at the San Jose Convention Center, giving me a chance to do a tiny bit of walking around a city I hadn't explored before.

It surprised me just a bit to find that San Jose has our exact same Automated Public Toilets. I ran across two within just a block or so of the Convention Center.

Similar units have been in place around the city for years now, even getting a mention in this old MTA news report that promised ten APTs, with the first going in way back in December of 2000. What ever happened to the contract? Did the City's street furniture contract cause the MTA to back out of its own plans?