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Where did all the public bathrooms go?

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Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#441

Post by ajmurmann »

podocarp wrote: post #434
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…

Sorry I've been to China plenty and the toilets aren't clean. I mean it's better than nothing but some of them are nightmare fuel. But, the "privately" owned public toilets are decent, i.e. those in malls and hotels etc. Quite the same story for many Asian countries too. I was also shocked by the cost incurred if you get out of home diarrhoea in Europe. Might as well buy adult diapers.

I'll never forget my visit to a bathroom at a huge hotpot restaurant in Chongqing. Open stalls with squatty toilets, feces everywhere and a single towel.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#442

Post by ajmurmann »

qurren wrote: post #362
vehemenz wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small nitpicky correction, but in China, city tiers are designated by policy and generally correlate to the quality of life for the middle class there. The US doesn't have a tier system. If it did, it wouldn't make much sense because the quality of life in American suburbs and exurbs is generally better than the most developed cities (unless you're rich, of course). Free, clean toilets are everywhere in America, just…

> not in the dense city centers aka exactly the place people need them regardless of which country In the boonies it's much more acceptable to go in the bush in either country as well

As much as a dislike the suburbs, they aren't "the boonies" and it won't be acceptable at all to go in the bush there.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#443

Post by ajmurmann »

ericmay wrote: post #324
B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cafes/restaurants are required by law to provide toilets to customers, afaik

Is the keyword customers though? In other words you’ve got to spend money to use the toilet? In America I can walk in to a restaurant, even a nicer one and ask to use the bathroom and very likely would be shown strait to it. It’s not 100% of the time everywhere, especially places like Times Square, but I’d say that the norm is no spend required.

Huh. I encounter "customers only" signs quite frequently in the US, as well as bathrooms that require codes or keys.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#444

Post by 0x696C6961 »

markdown wrote: post #154
jeffnash wrote: post #79

> Who ultimately determines the meaning of a public space: its designers, authorities, or the people who use it? Restrooms are unique in that they are available to the public but, due to their inherently private nature, are a place where it is difficult to enforce social norms. Because of this, within the confines of the restroom itself, the authorities are all but irrelevant. I was scrolling through the addictive an…

You just charge for it. A dollar per entry should be enough for someone to come by and clean it twice a day, such that it doesn't matter what shenanigans antisocial people get up to in there. No mess will last longer than a few hours.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted. This approach has been shown to work. The money isn't for funding the maintenance though, it's strictly to keep the riff-raff out.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#445

Post by s1artibartfast »

ajmurmann wrote: post #439
anon48293 wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

So anyone who has LSD on them gets life in prison? Sounds expensive. Is that how other countries have avoided having this many visible homeless? Any concerns about police placing drugs on someone if punishment is this harsh?

Yeah, that is actually how a lot of countries in Asia have handled the problem

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#447

Post by SchemaLoad »

ajmurmann wrote: post #439
anon48293 wrote: post #427

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

So anyone who has LSD on them gets life in prison? Sounds expensive. Is that how other countries have avoided having this many visible homeless? Any concerns about police placing drugs on someone if punishment is this harsh?

It is pretty much how China has handled it. It seems like it does actually work if your goal is to fully eliminate drug issues, but it's unacceptably harsh for most countries to palate.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#448

Post by nailer »

xyzelement wrote: post #386
gjm11 wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much all of that is false. The rules I'm expected to follow based on the bottom quintile are generally rules that are no trouble for me to follow. The taxes I pay support way more than just the bottom quintile. I'm actually in the UK but I guess you're in the US, so here's a rough breakdown based on this infographic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_Uni... . Much the biggest chunk of US…

I think bottom quintile refers to the worst people not necessarily the poor or whatever.

> > I'm actually in the UK

> I think bottom quintile refers to the worst people not necessarily the poor or whatever.

Yes. In the UK the rate of incest is increasing due to migration from Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan. An NHS Genomics Education Programme blog in Sept 2025 acknowledged the risk of birth defects doubling, but cited the benefits of 'stronger family support', 'economic advantages' and argued against a ban in favour of 'counselling and education'.

Despite the vast majority of the British public not participating in incest, the NHS seemed to think it is right that they pay for the care of the people that do.

A common shared resource - the NHS - is exploited by the worst people (who value economic advantages over their child's health) and everyone suffers.

https://www.bmj.com/content/391/bmj.r2061

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#449

Post by throw-the-towel »

nrr wrote: post #397
dripdry45 wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

....sadly more true than anyone here would probably like to admit. I love having Indian coworkers and there’s a large Indian population where I am at, but they are just completely separated in every single way from everyone else. and they keep it that way. my Pakistani coworkers are absolutely wonderful. Sweet, hard-working, very enjoyable to talk to, but their families and lives are just a totally different universe…

> The honestly very poor black community around the area? they fucking hate us white people. like actively, all the time, no what no matter what you have or haven’t done they don’t like your ass one bit. Did you replace folks' smoke detector batteries for them? The way I found to get around this prejudice was to go to church most Sundays and walk around with a sling bag full of 9V batteries and knock on doors to offe…

Wait, so the smoke detector thing is real? I assumed it was just a racist stereotype.

Re: Where did all the public bathrooms go?

#450

Post by voxgeevio »

Options: (a) SF should offer a tax incentive for any business that opens up their bathrooms to the public (b)Contract out installation of clean, well-designed porta-potties with regular cleaning (c) What else?

It's ridiculous that a "world class" city has very few public bathrooms.

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