Portland Loo

Randy Leonard with his "brainchild" Portland Loo, 2010

The Portland Loo is a public toilet system built by Madden Fabrication in Portland, Oregon. It has been adopted by municipitalities including the cities of Boston,[1] Cincinnati, Missoula,[2] Montreal, Olympia, Washington,[3] Portland,[4] San Antonio,[5] San Diego,[6] and Seattle.[7] The "flagship toilet" is in Portland's Old Town Chinatown neighborhood.[8] The Portland Loo incorporates features to enhance public acceptance such as blue lighting said to make it difficult for heroin abusers to find a vein for injection.[8] It is reportedly the "brainchild" of Randy Leonard, who copyrighted the stainless steel design in 2008.[9][10] By mid 2014, there were 7 Portland Loos between The Fields Park and the South Park Blocks. Marketing for the restroom was then transferred from the city to Madden Fabrication.[9] By February 2016, there were 21 restrooms installed in eight U.S. states and British Columbia.[11]

In mid 2016, the San Diego toilet (the only public toilet in the city), was called "a magnet for crime and homelessness".[12] Defenders of homeless rights called criticism of the Portland Loo a focus point for "systematic denial of humanity to homeless people".[13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Seelye, Katharine Q. (March 6, 2016). "Heroin Epidemic Increasingly Seeps Into Public View". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. ISSN 0362-4331. OCLC 1645522. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  2. ↑ Friesen, Peter. "An Il-Loo-minating experience in Missoula's Art Park". Missoulian. Lee Enterprises. ISSN 0746-4495. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  3. ↑ Dickson, Amelia (June 9, 2017). "Downtown porta-potty has 100+ visitors each day. This is the city's solution". The Olympian. Olympia, Washington: The McClatchy Company. ISSN 0746-7575. OCLC 10253415. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  4. ↑ Murphy, Kim (August 29, 2012). "Portland Loo, a public toilet that skips to the head of its class: The Oregon city has successfully tackled several urban issues with its solar-powered, not-that-private public toilets. Now other cities smell a winner". Los Angeles Times. Tronc. ISSN 0458-3035. OCLC 3638237. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  5. ↑ Zielinski, Alex. "San Antonio Quietly Unveiled Another $95,000 Toilet". San Antonio Current. Euclid Media Group. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  6. ↑ Smith, Joshua Emerson (September 23, 2017). "Homeless say public restrooms severely impacted, defecation continues in the streets". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Tronc. ISSN 1063-102X. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  7. ↑ "San Diego Installed Public Loos, But Now They're Flush with Problems". NPR. April 10, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  8. 1 2 Robinson, Melia (October 3, 2016). "Portland, Oregon, spent $250,000 to reinvent the public toilet — and it worked". Business Insider. Axel Springer SE. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  9. 1 2 "City flushes its role marketing and selling Portland Loo public restrooms". The Oregonian. Portland, Oregon: Advance Publications. ISSN 8750-1317. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  10. ↑ "Money Bucket". Willamette Week. Portland, Oregon: City of Roses Newspapers. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  11. ↑ "The Portland Loo is going to Harvard (and we're so proud)". The Oregonian. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  12. ↑ Walsh, Lynn (August 26, 2016). "Portland Loo in East Village Attracting Crime, Neighbors Say: SDPD has responded to the intersection where the East Village Portland Loo is located 20 percent more often than before it was installed, data shows". San Diego, California: KNSD. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
  13. ↑ Scott, Joe (January 15, 2016). "Why Are Bathrooms the Place to Air Our Politics? From issues of gender-bullying to discrimination against homeless people, safe and reliable bathroom access is a hot political topic these days". Yes!. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
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