Toilets for Skid Row

Re “Restore Skid Row’s Portables,” Commentary, Sept. 30: On behalf of the business association Alice Callaghan refers to, we agree with her statements that public urination and defecation are a problem. We disagree on the solution.

Portable toilets are not the permanent solution to the problem. The toilets are crime-ridden and used more frequently for drug activity and prostitution, as evidenced by the fact that the cleaning contractor had to get a hazardous waste certificate to dispose of all the needles and drug paraphernalia that are in the toilets.

For many years the business community has asked for two things to alleviate the problem. First, that the many social providers in the community that have received hundreds of millions of public dollars to assist the homeless open the bathrooms of their facilities to the homeless 24 hours a day. Callaghan, as honorary president of the Skid Row Housing Trust, an organization that built and operates 18 hotels for the homeless in the area, could easily open her own toilets to this population--but she does not.

The second suggestion, which is strongly supported by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, would be to install European automated, self-cleaning toilets that connect directly to the sewer system.

These are just two examples of where the business community has attempted to work on permanent solutions to this very sad problem.

TRACEY LOVEJOY, Exec. Dir.

Central City East Assn., L.A.

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Callaghan’s vivid warning is of how we are interconnected and the price we pay for callous and inhumane attitudes toward the basic needs of the homeless. L.A. critics have long complained of polluted beaches and lack of a city center. Why haven’t the shortsighted politicians and bureaucrats considered the interests of the entire Los Angeles community rather than a small group of businessmen?

I support a humane and practical solution: more toilets and city-run showers with laundry facilities. Our payback will be more livable streets, cleaner beaches and perhaps a vibrant city center. Money well spent.

ALMA STENT

Los Angeles