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Crime And Misuse Has Many Calling For Removal Of Automated Toilets

Posted by: Nate Berg

18 September 2007 - 6:00am

With constant complaints from the public and consistent reports of drug dealing and prostitution, Seattle's automated public toilets may be on their way out.

"It is the public restroom of the future. But its heyday here might be past."

"After just three years in operation, Seattle is considering pulling the plug on these space-age restrooms, which cost the city $6.6 million."

"Automated Public Toilets are used in more than 600 cities around the world, including San Francisco, New York, London and Singapore. Seattle's five toilets, operating since March 2004, are all near downtown and have been a source of complaints almost from day one."

"Last fall, a local TV station filmed drug dealers at work in the public toilets. Around the same time, the editorial page of the Seattle Times advised the city to 'cut its significant losses, cancel the contract, pay the penalty and move these dens of iniquity out.'"

Full Story: Seattle toilets 'havens for drug deals and prostitution'
Source: Los Angeles Times via San Francisco Chronicle, September 17, 2007
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By monitoring these sorts of time-based changes, planners and policymakers could potentially take on a better understanding of how places change and what patterns might be causing urban problems.
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