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Where did all the public bathrooms go?

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Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#511

Post by Auracle »

dolmen wrote: post #482
CamperBob2 wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they spend $100,000 per homeless person in Europe and Asia? If not, why don't they have similar problems?

EU: The social net prevents homelessness. We don't get broke because of medical bills. Labor laws prevent being fired without prévenance. Being fired grants you employment benefits.

The vast majority of the homeless you see on the streets in the US are there no because of money trouble, but because of mental health or drug issues (or both).

People with money issues can almost always lean on friends or family. It’s the people that no longer have any friends or family willing to put up with them that end up on the streets.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#512

Post by 48484848n »

ajmurmann wrote: post #418
mvdtnz wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We in the west have surrendered with weak punishments and lax enforcement for anti social behaviour. In many cases even abolishing laws or putting in place public policy that prevents the imprisonment of people who commit "low level" crimes. There's a certain segment of the population who will (largely unsuccessfully) try to shame you if you promote a tough on crime approach. In my country the entire justice system h…

As others have pointed out the US has a massive prison population. Our problem isn't insufficiently harsh punishment. Our problem is unlikely punishment. The US spends more on incarceration and less on policing and the justice system. You are less likely to get caught and punished in the US but if you get punished it's harsher. Yet studies have shown that a milder punishment that happens more swiftly and with higher…

[dead]

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#513

Post by herbst »

In Bern, Switzerland there are still a few of those "historic" Pissoir in public. (Well at least 2 that come to my mind, one actually really old) - the second near a club is also used by girls, I never watched how but they do.

As a tourist I imagine its hard to find a toilet if you need one right now. If you lived here for a while you know where to go, and that it's either shared with junkies or costs CHF 2. Or in rare occasions nether of both

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#514

Post by freetime2 »

spike021 wrote: post #374
freetime2 wrote: post #149

Public toilets are one thing that I really appreciate about living in Japan. It seems like you're never too far away from a toilet - whether it be in a neighborhood park, a roadside parking area, train station, convenience store, etc. And they tend to be pretty clean (at least as far as public restooms go), not something that I dread using like I do many public restrooms in the US. Japan seems to be just about a best…

I've just about never had an issue finding a toilet, like you said. Parking/service areas are great and nothing like rest stops in, say, California There are _some_ neighborhoods, especially in Tokyo, where sometimes it can be difficult. Like certain parts of Koenji you can walk into random conbini that have locked bathrooms and signs saying no public use. Fortunately it's not all too common. Only thing about public…

Yeah there are two convenience stores that I know of within about an hour of me that are a bit defensive of their toilets.

One is near a popular fishing spot, and probably got tired of people coming in smelling like dead fish, using the toilet, and not buying anything. They have a big sign saying the toilets are for customers only, and a map with directions to nearby public toilets. They don't actually lock the doors, though.

The other one I'm not really sure what their reasoning is, but the owner installed a button behind the counter to remotely unlock the bathroom door, and you have to ask the guy behind the counter to use the toilet. There are a ton of 1-star reviews on Google mentioning the toilet situation.

But other than those two I don't think I've ever had an issue using a toilet at a convenience store.

Also on a side note - it's pretty hilarious reading reviews of convenience stores in Japan. Lots of 1 star reviews because someone was cut in line, the worker didn't say thank you on the way out, the manner in which the worker placed items in the bag, an item was not microwaved enough, etc.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#515

Post by panta »

Auracle wrote: post #511
dolmen wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU: The social net prevents homelessness. We don't get broke because of medical bills. Labor laws prevent being fired without prévenance. Being fired grants you employment benefits.

The vast majority of the homeless you see on the streets in the US are there no because of money trouble, but because of mental health or drug issues (or both). People with money issues can almost always lean on friends or family. It’s the people that no longer have any friends or family willing to put up with them that end up on the streets.

Then the question becomes why US has such a huge problem with mental health and drugs that most other countries don't have with this scale. Maybe it's easier to develop mental health and/or drug issues when there are no societal safety nets, like accessible healthcare, decent affordable housing, unemployment benefits, ...

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#516

Post by rendall »

> "If you’ve ever been wandering the streets of Chicago or New York, wondering why there’s no place to pee..."

Oh, there are places to pee, if you're brave. My last venture into a NYC public restroom was the one at Sun Yat-sen Plaza, which is under a beautiful pavilion. There was a man hanging around the urinals without apparent purpose other than staring at me because of course there was. There was only 1 working stall of 3, over the entire surface of which someone had managed to squirt at least a quart of liquid poo.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#517

Post by alibarber »

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…

But a public restroom that has effectively been destroyed isn't really any better than no public restroom.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#518

Post by prawn »

Frieren wrote: post #391
nradov wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People aren't driven to this, they escalate to this when there are no consequences attached to lesser antisocial behavior.

> no consequences Usually if you are extremely poor or extremely rich there are no consequences for you. The extremely poor are desperate and have nothing to lose, society already took everything from them. The extremely rich are above the law. As inequality increases crime increases with it, from vandalism to financial crimes. This is why equality is so important. When the average Joe has a good job, good salary, an…

I agree.

A simple and unremarkable person could once upon a time have their basic factory job (or similar), make enough to own their home, and have a decent unremarkable life with their family. I think the pressures of housing costs or rent and other costs of living squeezed those people, often to distress. It's obviously not the entirety of a solution, but it's surely part of it.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#519

Post by jimnotgym »

I feel like HN should ban discussion of homelessness, due to the extreme ignorance and prejudice of the comments.

A bunch of people who don't know the first thing about it jumping to conclusions. The quality of the comments here is so so poor.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#520

Post by seanmcdirmid »

panta wrote: post #515
Auracle wrote: post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of the homeless you see on the streets in the US are there no because of money trouble, but because of mental health or drug issues (or both). People with money issues can almost always lean on friends or family. It’s the people that no longer have any friends or family willing to put up with them that end up on the streets.

Then the question becomes why US has such a huge problem with mental health and drugs that most other countries don't have with this scale. Maybe it's easier to develop mental health and/or drug issues when there are no societal safety nets, like accessible healthcare, decent affordable housing, unemployment benefits, ...

We really should go with a harsh Chinese solution. If you do drugs in China, you hope your dad is Jackie Chan or you are going to have a really hard life. And being caught homeless in a big city gets you a free escorted bus ticket back to the poor rural area your hukou is in, where you couldnt make it either.

The more western solutions are compassionate containment like in Finland.

America cant make up its mind if it wants to be like China or Finland.

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