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San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

sfchronicle.com

811–820 of 832 posts

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#811
post #611

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MM = "mille mille" = "thousand thousand". You will be seeing this in many places.

I'd rather not. The second M is redundant. M stands for mega (SI suffix) which is equal to 1e6.

M stands for 1000 in money. Finance isn't a natural science.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#812

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Birmingham has all of its black people locked up with some of the highest incarceration rates in America. They'd just arrest your ass and throw the book at you if you camped in the streets. This is your alternative.

Offer people food and shelter. Hopefully they will take it. If they decline because they like the streets better, there has to be some recourse. We can't cede the health and safety of public spaces because we are too afraid of having to ever tell a person "no." It's not compassionate to let people live in dangerous and unregulated encampments.

FYI this is Seattle mayor's currently model.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#813
post #659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be a progressive and used to campaign for candidates. Then I stayed where I am and the rest of the bandwagon moved way way left. So, I will probably vote against any of the "progressive" policies, politicians and elections. At this point, Florida and Texas have record net in-flux migration from California. Can't wait to see this competition completely kick California's butt. It is a shame, I am stuck here,…

I as well used to be more progressive, but it's gone too far. The center-left of 20 years ago feels center today.

And the right-right of 20 years ago feels center today. The left is progressive intentionally by branding. The "conservative" right wing keeps gets more extremist, opposing things as fundamental as elections.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#814
post #813
post #659

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I as well used to be more progressive, but it's gone too far. The center-left of 20 years ago feels center today.

And the right-right of 20 years ago feels center today. The left is progressive intentionally by branding. The "conservative" right wing keeps gets more extremist, opposing things as fundamental as elections.

Yeah, and the Democratic party is funding their campaigns https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2022/dem... It's almost as if they prefer their opponents to be extreme.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#815
post #654

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Texas and Idaho cities also have a lot more physical space to work with than SF does. (Hell, most cities, period, do.)

That's such a load of baloney, man. Yeah, you're right, SF is hemmed in by a bunch of natural barriers BUT there's more than enough space and money to build some utopian high-density stuff if it weren't for the NIMBYism. You can work part time as a janitor in downtown Tokyo and afford live in a comfortable apartment within 20 minutes of your job (Comfortable by local standards, but Japanese people don't usually use c…

Tokyo is huge. It's actually less dense than San Francisco. There's a lot of room to build out, and the train system makes that possible.

It's unlikely a janitor would be able to afford a comfortable apartment 20 minutes from work. The norm in Japan is for the husband to be the sole breadwinner, and a janitor's salary would almost certainly push them further away from the center. You certainly can live in the center parts of the city, with low prices, but the place you rent is not going to be comfortable. This is a better situation than SF or NYC, obviously.

Tokyo is actually quite expensive. You can't compare the specific prices against American cities, because the wages are considerably lower. Folks work insane hours to get overtime pay to afford their lifestyles. Similarly, the reason the prices don't increase is partially because they keep up with building enough units (and that's partially due to zoning), but also because there's effectively no inflation, and there hasn't been inflation for a long time. Prices don't change, but neither do wages. Home prices are also deflationary, unlike the US.

Tokyo is a great city to use as a good example of building a dense, immensely enjoyable city, but it's best not to exaggerate.

(I currently live in Tokyo and am in the process of buying a home)

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#816
post #801

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safer for who? I’m sure enough of the disproportionate minority men in prison and jail or who get harassed by police would disagree with safer. Same with transgender people or people not fitting into traditional social norms.

Safer for people who prefer less violent crime and criminal mischief.

Red areas are poorer and have more crime (and especially more violent crime) than blue areas, almost unconditionally. It's very easy to find stats on this.

Crime has been dropping for decades, and cities are safer than ever. Hell, San Francisco is one of the least violent cities in the country.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#817
post #667

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is a forum for tech bros who are generally well paid but responding to a story about a million dollar public toilet with "that's no big deal, I'm currently spending six figures on minor kitchen renovations" seems pretty out of touch to me. That is a ton of money to so many people.

'Out of touch' is putting it lightly.

Construction costs are construction costs, none of that would change if I was still struggling to pay for food and utilities for a rundown apartment, as I have in the past.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#818

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is a forum for tech bros who are generally well paid but responding to a story about a million dollar public toilet with "that's no big deal, I'm currently spending six figures on minor kitchen renovations" seems pretty out of touch to me. That is a ton of money to so many people.

Thank you. I laughed out loud when I read this part: > In many parts of the United States, you can buy a whole house for $300k.

> In many parts of the United States, you can buy a whole house for $300k

And you’d likely get anywhere from a third to half the house you’d have gotten in 2019. That’s the point.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#819

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you. I laughed out loud when I read this part: > In many parts of the United States, you can buy a whole house for $300k.

In many parts of the United States, you can buy a whole house for $100k.

One of my dearest friends lives on government assistance in a section 8 listed house with a mold problem in rural Oklahoma that is worth well over $150k now. Things are getting expensive, out of touch or not.

Re: San Francisco is spending $1.7M on one public toilet

#820

Price doesn’t seem that outrageous to me. Public bathrooms in cities get destroyed and are very difficult to maintain; a lot of cities give up on free restrooms entirely. One of the biggest perks of working downtown in a moderately sized or larger city is being able to go to the bathroom there outside of work hours. I priced out some relatively minor kitchen/bathroom renovation work in 2018 at around $100k. Put it of…

I know this is a forum for tech bros who are generally well paid but responding to a story about a million dollar public toilet with "that's no big deal, I'm currently spending six figures on minor kitchen renovations" seems pretty out of touch to me. That is a ton of money to so many people.

The point is that construction/materials are incredibly expensive compared to just a few years ago. Further, home construction is generally cheaper than public facilities in a huge city that must withstand a ton of abuse and use.
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