Working or Not? The Puzzling Case of the City Hall Paper Towel Dispenser
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — For months now, this paper towel dispenser in the 10th floor men's bathroom at City Hall has had a fairly existential question scrawled on it in Sharpie: "Replace or Fix It. It works?"
The answer is that both are right. The dispenser does work, and it is broken. It dispenses paper, but inside the gears grind horribly and the paper comes out extremely slowly.
It seems those who use the restroom have taken to skirting the issue entirely, and simply using the bare roll left on top of the dispenser.
Ginny-Marie Case on July 09, 2009, at 11:18AM – #1
Should we sneak in a can of WD40?
Tornadoes28 on July 09, 2009, at 02:47PM – #2
Wow, what a deep and meaningful article. Thank you for bringing this serious Downtown issue to our attention. I believe we should organize a rally and protest in order to have this unfortunate problem solved once and for all. I will proceed with a petition writing campaign to get this issue on the November ballot. This travesty must end.
Zach Behrens on July 09, 2009, at 03:59PM – #3
Great post to add into the mix, Eric!
Benjamin Pezzillo on July 09, 2009, at 08:44PM – #4
That graffiti has been there since last fall.
David Kennedy on July 10, 2009, at 08:55AM – #5
How about adding the name and photo of the manager for maintaining this equipment? You could always ask them for comment, too. Maybe there's a legitimate reason. Maybe not.
Karen on July 10, 2009, at 10:42AM – #6
This is the cutting edge journalism I expect from this blog.
I'm surprised its not in the Arts & Culture section.