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Where did all the public bathrooms go?

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Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#101

Post by micromacrofoot »

mingus88 wrote: post #64
izzydata wrote: post #8

I am going to start calling the reduction or removal of minor things that helped society "micro regressions".

I’m not sure it’s a regression really If you look at a graph of the world population it’s seems clear to me that freely available common resources are just going to continue to get overused and ruined as we continue to add people to the equation

but wouldn't that also follow... more people can create and maintain more common resources?

tbh I think this falls into a more familiar pattern with a coincidentally fitting name: enshittification

no one makes money off of public toilets, so they don't exist anymore

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#102

Post by muwtyhg »

foolinaround wrote: post #100
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #12

I think it stopped once public bathrooms became used for things other than taking a whizz

the public bathroom should be redesigned so that one can do only the thing it is designed for - and maybe it needs to be a single-user design. Almost like an airline bathroom size - might be a bit claustrophobic but these are for emergencies and space saving would be big. the doors could be wired to sensors that are connected to a central network that shows in real-time the availability and also some alarms if someth…

How do you accommodate ADA requirements?

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#103

Post by ssl-3 »

xyzelement wrote: post #85

Lack of bathrooms has been called tragedy of the commons in this thread, but it's not the "commons" that are the problem. The worst 10% of society determine what we can and can't have. The "commons" aren't having public sex, shooting up drugs, or destroying the bathrooms with lack of... etiquette. The commons are victimized when these things happen and then there's eventually no choice but to shut them down unless th…

A reduction of public restrooms didn't stop the worst 10% of society from having public sex, shooting up drugs, or destroying an area with their lack of defacatory etiquette -- did it?

In places where these things were problems with public restrooms, they remain problems without public restrooms.

The 10%'ers are still doing their dastardly things. The remaining 90% of society still has the same messes to clean up (or to willfully ignore).

Nothing has been improved in this process.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#104

Post by xyzelement »

ssl-3 wrote: post #103
xyzelement wrote: post #85

Lack of bathrooms has been called tragedy of the commons in this thread, but it's not the "commons" that are the problem. The worst 10% of society determine what we can and can't have. The "commons" aren't having public sex, shooting up drugs, or destroying the bathrooms with lack of... etiquette. The commons are victimized when these things happen and then there's eventually no choice but to shut them down unless th…

A reduction of public restrooms didn't stop the worst 10% of society from having public sex, shooting up drugs, or destroying an area with their lack of defacatory etiquette -- did it? In places where these things were problems with public restrooms, they remain problems without public restrooms. The 10%'ers are still doing their dastardly things. The remaining 90% of society still has the same messes to clean up (or…

Agreed. However it becomes unstable and a massive liability for society to maintain public restrooms.

So yes the 10% fuck it up for everyone unless cracked down on.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#105

Post by ssl-3 »

jerlam wrote: post #99
ssl-3 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. It was never my intent to suggest that they would be doing so. So move up the management ladder, if you will, until a party that is responsible for making this kind of decision is reached. That's the class of party of which I was speaking, and where I suggested that irrational decisions are being made. Someone -- at some point -- did make a decision to eliminate outdoor trash cans at these establishments. The…

I'm not sure that anyone in the management ladder is affected. People don't generally choose a fast food restaurant or convenience store based on the cleanliness of their parking lots, so sales isn't going to be affected. Nor is staff, already cut to minimal levels, going to be given additional hours to keep the parking lots clean. There even might be a disincentive to have garbage cans if they can't be maintained. P…

If that's really your take on this then I have no option but to accept it.

Let's move forward.

What incentivized them to provide the trash cans to begin with, might you suppose? They aren't cheap to buy, or to maintain, or to keep emptied daily (or as they fill up, or whatever). But yet: They were things that existed, and their existence was definitely deliberate.

What motivates companies that still provide outdoor trash cans to continue to do so?

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#107

Post by ButlerianJihad »

One of the first lessons I learned as a homeless person is that restroom access is one of the most vital things for survival and staying out of jail.

I am not sure of the real-world risk, but to hear Internet commenters, if you are a man and you urinate in public, you may be on a fast path to being a registered sex-offender for no other reason. That is an obviously sad consequence that no homeless guy wants to be burdened with.

The first time I needed to go and I was out on the streets, I veered into the nearest resort hotel downtown, figuring I'd just be lost in the crowd of tourists there. It was night but not particularly late. As soon as I got inside the men's room and in front of a urinal, a security guard was on my case. He said restrooms were for hotel guests only. I was very apologetic, but at least he let me finish and let me get away peacefully.

For all y'all complaining how the public libraries and other facilities are infested with smelly homeless, those are the ones who try to live honestly and stay near sanitation facilities. The libraries saved my bacon when I was on the streets. They were a quiet refuge during the day. I didn't make trouble; I just needed to stay in the A/C and stay clean and have a bathroom nearby.

People complain about poo in the streets of major cities, but the reality is, if a person cannot afford a restaurant, a coffeehouse, a motel, or whatever else, they will not have access to restroom facilities, and we all poop sometime. So the lack of those public restroom facilities in urban centers is just one more inhumane, hostile environment that tells us to pay up or GTFO of polite society.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#109

Post by deepsun »

mstaoru wrote: post #94

This really hits home. As a person with IBS I basically cannot peacefully go outside in EU. I lived for many years in China and Thailand, and toilets are free, clean, and plentiful there, and you can easily ask any place to use their toilet - there's no stigma. I even had to run into a police station in rural China once. They were 100% chill about it, though they had to unlock a gate for me. Xi Jinping really will be…

What's wrong about syringe disposal? A significant portion of population has diabetes. And even if a drug addict uses it, still better than throwing to the trash, similar to how cigarette disposals are mandatory in typical airplanes.
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