Comments on: Appropriate Tech Public Restroom Conceived – April 8, 2012

By: j patton

j patton — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 01:49:50 +0000

i am so excited that the city is looking into this again. my mom (almost in her 70′s) finds the lack of a public restroom is troublesome (as do i).

i understand all the controversy of such a communist plot, but i do really like the intent shown by the city! thanks!!!! peace

By: Cool Stevie

Cool Stevie — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 15:37:44 +0000

Put super-glue on the crapperseat see who gets stuck and has the fire departmend pry them off.

By: Ian Ray

Ian Ray — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:55:34 +0000

Mitch, the opening on the bottom is to prevent people from inhabiting the toilet. The duck blinds at the marsh were modified the same way some years ago.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 05:47:57 +0000

It’s an interesting and innovative approach, halfway between pissoir and full bathroom. Would it have to be pumped out regularly, or is there plumbing hidden in that center-v, connecting to the sewer system? It would be great if the whole thing could be disassembled and moved about by truck, without needing to break pavement at test locations.

Is having the walls not come all the way to the ground supposed to be a safety/security feature? I’d worry that if people could know when someone was “on the pot,” some high school kid would find it irresistible to toss water balloons or worse at the visible targets, and there’s no roof to prevent them from reaching their targets.

It’s nice to see someone thinking seriously about the problem, sad to see them subjected to abuse.

By: R.A.

R.A. — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:21:08 +0000

If I were a wall I should think it, overall, a far friendlier and fairer fate to be painted than peed upon. The plants are a clever defense. If the plants don’t work maybe utilizing the talent of good graffiti artists to take it under their skilled and hobbled wings. It might have to be amended now and then so the discriminating good taste of the citizens of Arcata don’t find themselves “Gasp!” ofended or threatened by any suggestive images or ideas. Tagging is as old as walls themselves – maybe older. Why not sacrifice a few virgin walls to the gods of self expression? We can’t expect (or want) everyone to be pacified by the internet.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:25:39 +0000

Well now the dope retards like “DD Jackson” are getting the gang-banger graffiti paint ready to scribble garbage all over the place when we build this.

By: DD Jackson

DD Jackson — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:19:53 +0000

Yaaaaaah virgin sprypaint waitn to get my hommeis aroun Arcata new wall cuz

By: John

John — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:18:04 +0000

You can shine a turd…but it’s still a funny looking bathroom.

But yeah, I’ll gladly use whatever they put if I happen to pass by.

By: R.A.

R.A. — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 19:44:36 +0000

Agreeing with Kevpod. Name calling is not problem solving. The council is at least attempting to tackle an historically loaded topic and that makes them vulnerable to scatological abuse. We can’t expect them to suddenly have the perfect solution to a problem that, likely, has no perfect solution. I don’t know if it needs to look like a charm bracelet or a shoe box, be a pit in the ground, or be able to recycle urine into drinking water. At some point though, it needs to actually be SOMETHING besides a lot of talk that gets shelved because of all the pointless squabbling and angry pointed fingers. What is going to happen when this town faces a serious problem? A lot of public works involve the actual public submitting ideas – Make it a contest. Winner gets something good, and/or just incorporate the best ideas. Heck, involve the people currently using the street – they might even have a few entertaining, and maybe even practical, suggestions. Who can design an elegant low cost bathroom that can be easily maintained and used by everyone? Can it be environmentally appropriate too? Is Arcata still behind that concept – skylights/solar panels/roof garden/goat? I like the sink outside idea. It reduces the likelihood of long private bathing sessions. This should be an easy thing but it clearly isn’t: Safety, security, esthetics, disabilities, hygiene, economics, and the politics of entitlement verses social Darwinism all come into play. Yes, the Toilet, what a fitting symbol for all our great civilization has achieved. Don’t forget to flush!

By: kevpod

kevpod — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:22:09 +0000

I’ve unilaterally decided that henceforth I’m going to delete the more moronic name-calling comments that come on on this topic, like this one for example: “Retarded city counsel jackasses.”

Thing is, the council (not counsel) is called names like fascists and idiots when they DON’T implement a public restroom, then this guy calls them jackasses for trying to solve a problem. So all the abusive names cancel out and we’re left with a persistent issue that now, finally, SOMEONE is attempting to solve.

The solution may fail. But at least we will have tried.