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Comment by ag56 | Hacker News Reader

"a woman urinates on the sidewalk" "human excrement on the sidewalks" "urinating near his restaurant" "human feces lies nestled in front of a doorway" "going to the bathroom in the street" "The city has also launched the so-called "poop patrol," a team that responds to complaints of feces on city streets." "put up a video interview with a homeless man talking about how difficult it is to find a place to go to the bathroom after dark"

Why not just put porta potties -- on a temporary basis -- on street corners in the worst areas?

It seems such a stupidly obvious quick fix for half the problem that I feel I'm missing something.

It would surely be cheaper than paying clean up teams? More humane for the homeless? Healthier for local residents?

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This already exists. Its called Pit Stop (https://sfpublicworks.wixsite.com/pitstop). But they are only open during certain hours, because they require a full time attendant. If these locations were left unattended they would quickly become unusable because someone would either decide to camp out in one, destroy it, or both. The same goes for the permanent public toilets that spread throughout the city.

Additionally most businesses will no allow homeless to use their facilities out of fear. Even if most would be respectful, it only takes one person to disrupt or destroy a restroom and cost business owners thousands of dollars.

But as the old adage goes, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. You can provide the toilets, but you cannot make people use them. Many of these people have mental or drug related problems. So even if you provide a toilet, there is no guarantee they will use it.

Mental/drug problems -> provide facilities. Look at what Zurich did.

Actually, that seems to be the opposite. Those are only open during the day (7am-8PM at most, fewer hours than that at most, and only M-F).

Are they just supposed to hold it for 12+ hours overnight?

I wouldn't want those near where I live, it would a) stink and b) become permanent (no such thing as a temporary government measure).

A better solution would be the German solution: actual pay toilets, where somebody is on premise to ensure cleanliness and that nobody takes drugs there.

The last and most expensive German toilets I have used were about 50 cents a visit, so within pay range of homeless persons. Also, and I can't emphasizes this enough, they were nice, clean and safe.

But America hates pay toilets, so instead there are no toilets.

I’m not paying to pee. I’d rather pee in the street.

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