Toilet Watch

4th and Hill Toilet Still Inching Toward Service

By Eric Richardson — June 03, 2008 — 4 Comments

Eric Richardson

A fresh patch of concrete next to the still-not-functional Automated Public Toilet (APT) at 4th and Hill is visual proof that getting the unit in service wasn't just a matter of turning on the electricity.

That was the report we were given back in January, with an up and running toilet said to be just weeks away. A check back in April found no progress. — Continued Inside...

DWP Still the Hold Up in Downtown Toilet

By Eric Richardson — April 09, 2008 — 3 Comments

Eric Richardson

The Automated Public Toilet (APT) at 4th and Hill has been ready to go for nearly three months, but remains out of service waiting for the city's Department of Water & Power (DWP) to come turn on the juice.

Lance Oishi manages the APTs for the city's Bureau of Street Services. In January, Oishi was happy to report that the 4th and Hill unit had passed inspections and was now just waiting for DWP to flip the switch. Yesterday, I asked Oishi what had happened. "We're still at that same point," he said. — Continued Inside...

NYC Gets Into APT Game; Downtown Slowly Adding Its Own Units

By Eric Richardson — January 11, 2008 — 4 Comments

Eric Richardson

New York City opened its first Automated Public Toilet yesterday in Madison Square Park. The city plans to open twenty of the units over the next two years. While Downtown L.A. has several operating APTs, each has taken its time in coming online.

Ground was broken for the APT at 4th & Hill back in April, and the unit has been in the ground since mid-summer. Despite that, it's still not yet been in operation. Lance Oishi of Street Services, who manages the street furniture contract, says that the unit's close to coming online. Just this past week it passed its electrical inspection, and now it just needs DWP to turn on the juice, something that should happen in the next few weeks.

I asked Oishi how he thought the operational APTs were doing. "I'm biased," he said with a laugh. "I think they're running great." He noted that the North Hollywood unit has seen more vandalism issues than any of the Downtown locations. Once the 4th and Hill location gets activated, attention will return to Pershing Square. Another unit is slated to go into the corner of 5th and Hill by year's end.

4th & Hill APT Still Waiting for Service

By Eric Richardson — November 19, 2007 — 12 Comments

Eric Richardson

Walking around today I noticed that the Automated Public Toilet at 4th & Hill has still not yet entered service. The site was fenced off for foundation work back in April, and the APT itself has been on-site since summer.

It's good to see that even though the Pershing Square APT has been up and running since May, and Skid Row's APTs are all up and functional, we can still count on these installations taking a good chunk of a year each. Particularly handy is that there's no signage to indicate the facility isn't in service -- just a missing display and a lack of instructions.

Even an Operating APT Has Issues

By Eric Richardson — June 03, 2007 — 4 Comments

Eric Richardson

It would be nice to think that once an APT gets to the point where it's operational, we can cross it off the Toilet Watch list. Not quite so, though. Even $250,000 toilets have maintenance issues.

A few weeks back Celia posted about finding the APT out of order, and today the door seemed to have lost its will to open and close.

The unit wasn't displaying any kind of error, and was glad to take your quarter, but without a functioning door it wasn't going to provide a pleasant user experience. The door would unlock itself, but it wouldn't open or close under its own power.

Update (Monday): Passing by at 7:30 this morning there was a maintenance crew hard at work on getting the APT back into service.

Pictured is Town Crier Don Garza taking on a new role as APT doorman.

Pershing Square APT Activated?

By Eric Richardson — May 17, 2007 — 9 Comments

Don Garza

I have a report this morning that the Pershing Square Automated Public Toilet is now open for business.

Walking home from the gym, I witnessed history in the making. With the help of a serviceman, a man deposited a quarter in the Public Toilet and the door magically opened! I didn't stick around to interview the man afterward, but it was epic, nonetheless.

I haven't been over to check it out, but it makes sense given recent reports of the electrical operating. Using my not-quite-official count, in the end it was a puny 205 days from installation to activation.

Thanks to Bert for the report.

Update (4pm): Don Garza posts some great shots of the APT in use, including the one used above.

Boston Globe Runs the APT Story

By Eric Richardson — May 13, 2007 — 6 Comments

Part of the fun of something like the recent Times piece on Downtown APTs is watching to see how that story spreads. Earlier in the week I noted that Newsweek grabbed my quote for its perspectives page.

Today the Boston Globe runs the story in its pages. Since it's just a straight run of the Times piece there's no mention that Boston's had similar toilets for several years now.

According to my count we're now at roughly 201 days since the Pershing Square APT got set in concrete.

Update (Monday): Today the story runs in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.

Also, a great quote from an article on the lack of public toilets for patrons of Chicago's rail system:

"To be able to relieve one's bladder is one of the most basic and perpetual functions from the beginning of our lives to the end, and it should neither be treated as a luxury or as a favor," said [commuter Gina] Gibson, who works in the admissions department at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

Toilet Watch: Newsweek Picks Up the APT Issue

By Eric Richardson — May 08, 2007 — 3 Comments

I was at the DLANC Board meeting tonight when my Dad called. Sitting down back in Michigan after a late softball game he picks up a copy of Newsweek and what does he find but me getting quoted.

For its perspective page, a weekly snapshot of quotations from around the country, the magazine picked up my quote from the recent Times APT article.

"If we want to clean up the smells and sights of our streets, we have to be able to offer these facilities."
Blogger Eric Richardson, on L.A.'s installation of luxury automated public toilets

It's typical but sad that the news media keeps pushing the "luxury" angle of this. These same sort of APTs are in various cities across the US (SF, Chicago, Boston). In LA, though, it's got to be luxury.

I plan to go pick up a print copy tomorrow, but online I'm situated between one quote on the Queen's visit and another about porn on the Disney Channel.

Thanks also to Curt Gibbs for noticing this and offering his congratulations.

Toilet Watch: Times Gives APTs Some Ink

By Eric Richardson — May 03, 2007 — 13 Comments

Cara DiMassa runs a story in today's Times about the slow pace of APT installation Downtown. For those of you who have been following along here it's not new information, but it's very good to see the story get a little wider play.

Cara even mentions our Toilet Watch, though she doesn't name the site itself:

Even some supporters are becoming frustrated with all the delays, which include getting the power turned on — and to stay on — at the toilets. One downtown blogger has posted regular "Toilet Watch" updates on his website in frustration.

"If we want to clean up the smells and sights of our streets, we have to be able to offer these facilities," said Eric Richardson, the blogger, who is a member of the area's neighborhood council.

After reading this I was a little nervous what someone might find if they went to Google ad searched for "Toilet Watch." Turns out, though, that blogdowntown is indeed the top result. I also discovered that the Guardian did a Toilet Watch series in 2004, covering the state of the facilities at the Glastonbury Festival.

On a more serious note, it's appalling that DWP says work won't be completed any time soon:

Joe Ramallo, a spokesman for [DWP], said officials were looking into the cause of the delay. He said work on the Pershing Square unit would be completed in a month.

What could possibly be left to do that would take that long to complete? — Continued Inside...

Toilet Watch: Blame DWP

By Eric Richardson — April 26, 2007 — 4 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, Lance Oishi of Street Services attended a DLANC meeting last night to come talk about the street furniture program and specifically the APTs. He provided some fascinating insight into what's been going on and what's been dragging this process out. A basic summary: DWP is trouble.

Lance was extremely straight-forward about the frustration he experiences trying to work with DWP on this and other projects. Where you'd expect City agencies to cooperate with each other, it certainly sounds like DWP sits in its own little fiefdom. Diplomatic approaches haven't changed that, and Lance said he's had about enough of it.

We're at the point where the gloves are going to come off.

Much more after the jump... — Continued Inside...

Toilet Watch: Come Ask Street Services about APTs

By Eric Richardson — April 25, 2007 — 4 Comments

According to my count this is the six-month anniversary of the Pershing Square Automated Public Toilet getting installed at 5th and Hill. As we've covered here plenty of times, that time has seen the APT sit empty and unusable, not yet having been put into service.

Tonight Lance Oishi from the City's Bureau of Street Services will be attending a meeting of DLANC's Transportation & Public Works committee to answer questions about what's going on with the program. The meeting is at 6pm, at Bunker Hill Towers (800 W. 1st) in the Tower Room.

Afterward I'll certainly be updating those who can't make it on what was said.

In other Toilet Watch news, be sure to check out Dennis Smith's comment on current happenings at Pershing Square. — Continued Inside...

Toilet Watch: Move On to the Next One

By Eric Richardson — April 19, 2007 — 5 Comments

Eric Richardson

Yes, it's been six months and the Pershing Square APT still isn't functional, but why wait to get going on the next toilet? This shot shows where another APT will be installed at 4th & Hill, next to the other side of the Pershing Square subway station.

Also falling into the in the ground but not yet in service category are three toilets on Skid Row. The one APT on 5th at San Julian is still Downtown's only working automated toilet. — Continued Inside...

Toilet Watch: Twenty Five Weeks And Counting

By Eric Richardson — April 17, 2007 — 19 Comments

Eric Richardson

Three weeks ago I declared Toilet Watch, having waited a good twenty-two weeks for the Pershing Square Automated Public Toilet (APT) to be brought into service. Walking by the APT today nothing has changed. We're now at twenty-five weeks, just one week short of it being six months that the toilet has been in the ground but inoperative.

LA City Beat has an article this week talking about the advertising that's part of the street furniture contract. The piece gives us this on the APTs:

The automatic public toilets that are a critical part of the program are also starting to appear. Their origins lie in a December 2003 City Council ordinance banning defecation and urination on public property -- part of the council's controversial Skid Row clean-up effort. These small, private bathrooms look a bit like old-fashioned phone booths and offer sanitation and seclusion for users. A new one is currently being tested on downtown's Pershing Square; three more are due for Skid Row soon.

"Currently being tested," eh? That's one funny kind of test.

Toilet Watch is now at 4,224 hours. — Continued Inside...

Toilet Watch: Three More Weeks, APT Still Not Open

By Eric Richardson — March 26, 2007 — 4 Comments

Eric Richardson

I'd really been holding off on declaring this Toilet Watch, but I think at this point it's inevitable. By my calculations the Automated Public Toilet at Pershing Square has now been in the ground for twenty two weeks and has never yet been in service. That's simply amazing to me.

I first heard of a Pershing Square APT sighting at the October meeting of DLANC's Transportation & Public Works committee. That meeting was held on October 23rd, 2006. Five months have now passed, and from the public's view nothing has changed.

Certainly lots has happened, though. They've torn up and resealed the concrete around the APT at least three times, most recently a week or so ago. They've also installed three toilets elsewhere Downtown, though none of those are yet active either.

I almost feel like I need one of those tacky little counters in the sidebar:

Toilet Watch: 3,696 hours and counting — Continued Inside...

Still Holding...

By Eric Richardson — March 07, 2007

Eric Richardson

The new Automated Public Toilet at 5th & Hill got installed back in November, but nearly four months later it still hasn't seen a minute of service. Walking by this morning it does at least have a new "Not in Service" sign, but no evidence of progress being made.

I wrote in January about how seeing something in the ground changes your expectations on when it should open. At two months I was trying to cut them a little slack. At four months? This is just ridiculous.

The City and Viacom / CBS / Decaux (whoever the contract is with these days) have really bungled the process of installing street furniture. Both are to blame here. It's simply not ok for it to take one-third of a year to put a toilet into service. — Continued Inside...

Still Waiting on Pershing Square APT

By Eric Richardson — January 22, 2007 — 6 Comments

Eric Richardson

The Automated Public Toilet (APT) at the Pershing Square Red Line station was installed back in November, a little over two months ago. You still can't use it, though, as it's never quite made it into service.

It's interesting to me how seeing something in the ground changes your expectations. We'd been asking for the APT for years before it showed up. Two months in that sense isn't all that long. But when you see something installed and physically it looks finished, you expect it to open. When it doesn't you get impatient.

I have no clue what's holding up this particular APT. I sure hope it's a real delay, and not just red-tape that's backlogging final approval. The lack of public restrooms Downtown is a very real problem that spans ethnic and class lines. The sooner and more thoroughly we can start to actively address it, the better.

— Continued Inside...

Friends of the Sewer Welcome Toilets to Skid Row

By Eric Richardson — November 22, 2006 — 7 Comments

Eric Richardson

Don Garza, chair of DLANC's "Friends of the Sewer" ad-hoc committee, is the bringer of good news on the Automated Public Toilet front. Don has photos of foundation work being doing for two additional APT's in the Skid Row area. The new APT's will both be on San Pedro, between 5th and 6th. That'll make three tightly clustered in that area.

Pictured is the APT at Pershing Square a week ago. I haven't checked back to see if it's open yet.

— Continued Inside...