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D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

washingtonian.com

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Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#111

Post by borski »

DubiousPusher wrote: post #110
borski wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That costs a lot more money.

More tham paying cops tp arrest people and jailers to jail them? More than the $500,000 the Downtown Seattle Association spent last year alone on hosing out one alley? I have my doubts. However, were it the case I'd still say it is the right thing to do. Jury trials cost a lot of money, death penalty appeals are whoppingly expensive, eminent domain is costing Sound Transit a fortune for its light rail network. As it…

Hang on, we were talking about cleaning bathrooms. You seriously moved the goalposts there. Not sure what your point is.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#114

Post by derefr »

eurasiantiger wrote: post #100
derefr wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who have all the privileges in the world still do horrible things to bathrooms. Ask any janitor working in a corporate office building. People who have nothing have no reason to care what others think; but people who have everything, and who never experience consequences for what they do, can be just as detached. Also, if you think about it, this service is fundamentally not meant to serve (or rather, avoid se…

”Who even has a smartphone with an active data plan? Not homeless people” You might be surprised.

I’ve worked in outreach; the average homeless person has a smartphone but can’t afford data, only very basic prepaid call/text only top-up cards. And because they’re frequently losing phones (stolen, damaged by attacker, etc) they can’t keep a stable number, either.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#115

Post by Johnythree »

eurasiantiger wrote: post #101
xyzzyz wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The time tested way of improving society is widespread shaming and bottom up enforcement of norms. We don’t do that anymore, lest the liberties of the norm breakers are lost, and their feelings injured.

So… fascism?

No, Socialism. Let the local people decide.

If the offenders thought that the locals might punish them, they would behave better.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#116

Post by hackerlight »

idontwantthis wrote: post #12

JFC can I not take a shit without someone tracking me? Hey American cities! Charge $1 to use a toilet like they do in Europe.

That would exclude the worst offenders. But it doesn't solve the incentive problem of tragedy of the commons. Once people have paid $1, that's immediately a sunk cost, and from then people have no reason (aside from morals, which are absent in some people) not to shit on the toilet seat and walk out. But it still may be an alright solution (when combined with regular cleaners), even if it isn't a perfect one.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#117

Post by hugh-avherald »

imgabe wrote: post #37

I don't know why cities don't offer a tax break to businesses to make their bathrooms publicly available. Make it enough that they can hire an extra employee to make sure there's someone to check the bathroom periodically and do some random checks to make sure businesses aren't cheating. It would have to be cheaper than operating separate public bathrooms. I live in Hong Kong and am still a little amazed at the ubiqu…

Why is a tax break the mechanism you suggest?

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#118

Post by devinj »

technion wrote: post #104
timuralp wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a Seattle dweller and an active person, finding a bathroom during a long run or a bike ride is difficult. There are large swaths of the city with no bathrooms. In commercial areas, having to meander through a store to use a restroom is bad for the person trying to use it and the other store customers. Seattle is failing in this regard for all its citizens, not just "street critters". Agreed that everyone should ha…

If you could explain to an Australian here: I have either a pub or a McDonalds every two blocks that any person can walk into and use a restroom. This would include industrial areas. Is that not the case in Seattle?

Surprisingly, yes, there's really not a lot of McDonald's or other chain fast food restaurants downtown. You can try exploring in Google maps to get a feel for it (consider eg the area around Mercer and Dexter Ave). You can get to one, but it may be a half hour detour on foot. What is closer will be awkward as they describe.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#119

Post by Johnythree »

imgabe wrote: post #37

I don't know why cities don't offer a tax break to businesses to make their bathrooms publicly available. Make it enough that they can hire an extra employee to make sure there's someone to check the bathroom periodically and do some random checks to make sure businesses aren't cheating. It would have to be cheaper than operating separate public bathrooms. I live in Hong Kong and am still a little amazed at the ubiqu…

Better still, make providing a public bathroom a condition of opening a business.

Re: D.C.-area startup wants to solve the public bathroom problem

#120

Post by DubiousPusher »

borski wrote: post #111
DubiousPusher wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More tham paying cops tp arrest people and jailers to jail them? More than the $500,000 the Downtown Seattle Association spent last year alone on hosing out one alley? I have my doubts. However, were it the case I'd still say it is the right thing to do. Jury trials cost a lot of money, death penalty appeals are whoppingly expensive, eminent domain is costing Sound Transit a fortune for its light rail network. As it…

Hang on, we were talking about cleaning bathrooms. You seriously moved the goalposts there. Not sure what your point is.

Yeah I can see how that would be confusing. The downstream consequence of a society which both prohibits public defecation and removes public accommodation for that act is that some people will find themselves unable to comply with the law.

Frequent arguments against public accommodation is that it is gross or unsanitary it requires expensive maintenance.

To me, there is no question. A free society should have to go very far to accommodate people so that it avoids taking their freedom over something biologically necessary.

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