Does San Diego have a bathroom problem? Specifically a public bathroom problem?
Based on an investigation by the San Diego Union Tribune into the public bathrooms in the downtown San Diego, it does.
The newspaper report offers a behind the scenes, inside view, and sometimes a disturbing one.
The report identifies two dozen public bathrooms downtown and describes them.
As reporter Peter Rowe puts it, “Some restrooms are spotless….while others resemble prison cells, post-riot.”
The Union Tribune report says the public bathroom problem has been around for a long time, but interest peaked during the Hepatitis A epidemic in 2017.
That’s when dozens of portable bathrooms were put up by the city along with outdoor washing stations.
But the U-T reports that for almost 15 years, the county grand jury has recommended that there be more public bathrooms in downtown San Diego.
Solving the problem is not going to be easy because it takes money, taxpayer dollars, with city officials saying it costs about 110-thousand dollars a month to maintain its share of public bathrooms downtown, with other government and community organizations also spending money to maintain some too.
But solving the public bathroom problem means solving the homeless problem in San Diego.And while some progress has been made, that problem probably isn’t going away any time soon.
READ MORE and SEE BATHROOM PICTURES.
(Photo credit KOGO News)