Here's the money quote: “I’m not going to lie: I used to smoke crack in there,” said one homeless woman, Veronyka Cordner, nodding toward the toilet behind Pike Place Market. “But I won’t even go inside that thing now. It’s disgusting.”

When **Randy is gone the city does better.
Wait till he screws up the cop shop, another impending disaster.

He's gotta name that toilet after himself if he designed it . . . You need the material to keep your blog going.

Oops, just re-read my comment - By material I am only speaking metaphorically.

Randy can take his bio-diesel toilet and shove it where the sun don't shine. Will this guy ever admit a mistake. I swear he ia pathological.

It's fairly cheap entertainment for the Councilor. I wish the rest of the councilors and Mayor could be kept busy with such cheap endeavors. In fact, maybe if we gave them higher paying research jobs requiring them go overseas for long periods of time, we'd all be a lot less hit upon by cityhall. Just let the Police Chief, Water Bureau Chief, and Fire Chief run things while they have fun in exotic places. No new laws is a good thing. There's plenty already on the books to rein in any misbehavior. More with less.

How can the Portland bathrooms idea be called a mistake before the things are even installed?

Yeah, the people that use them will probably figure out a way to make them dirty, dangerous and obsolete within days, but let's at least give it a fair chance to fail.

I wonder what they are going to do after the first attendant gets beat up or worse. Ad a security guard?

Seattle spent $5 MILLION on 5 public toilets?! Um... wow.

Remember,... Charlie Hales went to the Czech Republic and we got street cars!
The toilets seem cheap by comparison, but only so far! I am sure they will get more expensive and problematic as time goes on.

"Mr. McIver said, 'But we were unable to control the street population...'"

There you have it folks. Will be same situation in Portland. I sure hope all of you who think this is peachy idea turn out to be right. I however don't harbor such hopes. The bums, druggies, drunks, low-lifes and mentally ill won't be going out of their way to walk 5 blocks, let alone 10 to use one of these. They will continue to do their business in doorways.
And didn't City open a restroom in City Hall? Last I heard no one uses that one either.

I cant wait for all the complaints about the "street folk" from those that live near these things. And of course the usual from City Hall...ignoring them.

I just love the "photo illustration"

The Smell? "Hey buddy.. got a dead cat in there or what?
Randy did win in a Landslide.

Sounds like a reasonable idea to me. It would take some of the pressure off the public library.

Randy Leonard, a Portland city commissioner, helped design that toilet ...

I guess Randy wants to be the next Hedley Lamarr.

Heddy, Heddy, Heddy ...

Correction:

Hedy, Hedy, Hedy ...

Speaking of Randi> Does anybody know in detail statistically I mean how much more safe we are with those nasty cans of spray paint at bay? Is there more or less incidence of vandalism now? Can we resend it or applause it?

If Randi wants to smell good, why doesn't he propose buying Seattle's five toilets on ebay for $89,000, then pay a "toilet policeman" to monitor and clean for $55,000, based on the difference between $89,000 and $100,000 per toilet times five toilets. and we'd all come out a head (Freudian) of Randi's projected $250,000 dollar toilets costs.

And we aren't even factoring in the usual 100% cost increases from the projected, like the Multnomah Co. Gresham Building or the six times increase of the SoWhat Tram.

It's hard to win the downtown shoppers back with convenience, when we're busy losing the war on drugs and the "untouchable" caste. Puritans - ugh.

At least Commissioner Leonard is trying. But open gaps at the top? Might be a frostbite liability for the city come winter.