Council Supports Pay-Toilet Proposal

Hoping to provide relief for tourists, shoppers and the homeless, the City Council backed Tuesday a contract worth $750 million to install at least 150 self-cleaning toilets and 2,500 bus shelters on streets throughout Los Angeles.

Despite opposition from some council members who fear the pay toilets will become magnets for crime, the council majority gave preliminary approval to the proposal, which is part of a sweeping plan to bring more style and uniformity, not to mention cleanliness, to the city’s street scapes.

Many of the toilets are expected to be placed downtown, including on skid row, because the council agreed to a proposal by Councilman Nick Pacheco to give priority to areas with high concentrations of homeless people.

Pacheco said the pay toilets give the homeless an alternative to fouling city sidewalks and alleys. Free tokens would be distributed to the homeless through service organizations.

He proposed the contract last year after homeless advocates protested council plans to crack down on public urination.

“I’m really excited that we are on the verge of putting on line a program to assist our homeless community and to really give them a decent way to take care of themselves on the streets,” Pacheco said.

Under the proposal, the city would spend nothing. The contractor would install the toilets and furnishings and sell advertising expected to generate $750 million over the 20-year length of the contract.

The toilets would also provide relief for pedestrians in shopping districts and tourist hot spots such as Hollywood, he said.

Councilman Joel Wachs of Studio City predicted the public will welcome the stylish privies, which are popular in many major cities in Europe. The toilets come in a variety of styles, with designs intended to accommodate a range of neighborhoods.

“If they are good enough for the Champs Elysees, they are good enough for Ventura Boulevard,” Wachs said. “It is a great opportunity to enhance the street life for people all over the city.”

The council authorized negotiations for the 20-year contract with Franco-American consortium Infinity Decaux LLC to provide the dozens of toilets, new bus shelters and numerous kiosks, computer information stations, news racks and other street furnishings. The bus shelters would supplement hundreds already installed by another contractor.

The contract calls for the city to receive $150 million or 20% of the revenue, whichever is greater. Infinity Decaux will receive the bulk of the proceeds, to pay for the work.

The toilets are designed to be self-cleaning. After each use, automated doors close and a quick-drying disinfectant sprays over the toilet, fixtures and floor. Health officials say the system will help reduce the spread of germs and disease.

The proposal is not without its detractors.

The large self-cleaning toilets are not practical on skid row, said Alice Callaghan, an Episcopal priest who runs the social service group Las Familias del Pueblo.

Callaghan was instrumental in getting the city to install 26 smaller portable toilets on skid row several years ago.

“We avoided the fancy, expensive toilets for good reason,” she said, predicting that the doors and other mechanical innovations “are going to be broken the day after they are installed.”

The automated toilets are large enough for several people to fit inside, which could lead to crime problems, she said.

Callaghan said she would be open to a test of a few toilets in the area if the portable toilets already on skid row are allowed to remain. City officials have threatened to remove the more rudimentary outhouses from downtown streets.

The vote to authorize contract talks was 12 to 2, with Councilmen Jack Weiss and Dennis Zine voting no. They joined San Fernando Valley civic leaders in voicing concerns that the toilets may provide havens for prostitutes, drug dealers and graffiti vandals.

“I continue to have a concern about public safety, because I do believe these facilities will facilitate the commission of certain crimes,” said Weiss, a former prosecutor. “I think, for that reason, it will be unpopular in certain neighborhoods.”

Zine cited crime problems near pay toilets in San Francisco. He predicted that there would be little interest in having any of the $250,000 pay toilets in his west San Fernando Valley district.