S.F. Sit-In: Issue Is Public Relief

Sometimes in the course of human events, there is an idea so noble, a cause so just, a need so pressing that ordinary people, good and true, must stand up and be counted.

Other times they sit down.

On Friday, in City Hall, they sat. On toilets. Dozens of them.

About 75 homeless people filed into this city’s ornate seat of government and occupied most of the building’s 101 marble-and-mahogany toilets to press their plea for more public conveniences.

Proposed Action

The unusual, peaceful, 15-minute sit-in demonstration coincidentally helped to publicize an effort by Supervisor Wendy Nelder to import 25 high-tech public potties from Paris to San Francisco, “the Paris of the West.”

“It’s a shameful thing not to have a toilet,” said Robert Tobin, protest organizer.

Unsanitary, too. Nelder and others have long railed against the unpleasant and unhealthy results when homeless people relieve themselves in alleys and doorways because there is no alternative.

“Walk down any street in the Tenderloin,” said Tobin, who runs a shelter in that roughest part of town, “and the overriding sensation is one of smell. The public health implications are enormous.”

Signs of Support

Tobin and other workers from the Central City Hospitality House presented the supervisor with a petition, signed by 500 Tenderloin residents and store owners, urging the Board of Supervisors to approve Nelder’s toilet plan.

Her proposal, the butt of more than a few jokes, has twice been killed in committee. She is scheduled to put the issue before the full board Monday.

Nelder proposes to lease 25 Decaux toilets at $12,000 a year each. The pill-shaped powder rooms would be located in areas with many pedestrians--tourists and office workers as well as the homeless.

The automated toilets are testament to human ingenuity.

A power-assisted door slides opens to reveal a wash basin, mirror and water closet. A speaker whispers an appropriate selection of recorded music--”It’s Now or Never” in one, a recent visitor to Paris confided.

A Quick Cleaning

When the patron has left, built-in sensors trigger a high-speed brush and powerful jets of disinfectant, which automatically cleanse the room in about 40 seconds. To discourage loiterers, the door is programmed to spring open if a patron lingers more than 17 minutes.

Parisian potties cost one franc, about 13 cents, to use. But Nelder, after a recent self-financed fact-finding visit to the City of Light, suggested free commodes here since they are intended for homeless people.

She said she hopes Friday’s unusual demonstration will have an effect on her fellow supervisors.

“I hope this reminds them of the desperate need in this city,” she said. “This is the same board that last week voted to spend $4.5 million on luxury boxes at Candlestick Park. There are a lot more San Franciscans who will see the inside of these toilets than will ever see the inside of those boxes.”