The Anchorage Assembly has launched an online survey, open until July 12, to find out what the public thinks about the need for more public restrooms in Anchorage.
In April, the public soundly defeated the Assembly’s bond proposal to install a series of Portland Loo public restrooms around Anchorage.
Prop. 8, for $5 million in taxpayer funds, would have put up to 10 modular toilet facilities around town. The voters said $500,000 toilets were too much. Voters appear to be concerned that the toilets will be taken over by vagrants and drug abusers, as so many other public facilities have been.
But this is an Assembly that won’t take “no” for an answer.
“We want to learn more why the bond did not pass. Did the bond ask for too much money, did it not provide enough information, or are restrooms simply not a desired amenity in public spaces?” the Assembly asks on its survey website at this link.
The website set up to push the survey gives all kinds of reasons that more public restrooms are needed, including “mental well-being.”
The survey website says people benefit from clean restrooms, stating “Parents of young children can leave home knowing they’ll be able to find a clean bathroom before a request becomes an emergency.”
On the same page, however, the survey website admits that businesses endure costs for “repairing damage from misuse” of their toilets, without acknowledging the same problem will plague unattended public toilets at even greater frequency.
Among the questions on the survey is this: What is your gender identity?
The choices provided by the survey are:
- – Woman
- – Man
- – Gender queer or non-binary
- – Agender
- – Not specified above, please specify
In a study conducted in 2019 with cities that installed Portland Loos, some of serious problems with these facilities were described. These problems, including needle use, prostitution, and general illegal activity, are not included as information the public might want as it visits the Anchorage Assembly’s public survey. The problems include these Portland Loo stories from other cities:
In 2014 the Salt Lake City government, at the behest of members of the Salt Lake City community concerned about health conditions and lack of services in a dilapidated industrial area of the city, installed two Portland Loos. The Loos are close to a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, and a health clinic for people experiencing homelessness. While there are plans to build multi-use facilities, there are at present no residential areas nearby and very few businesses. No sooner were the Loos installed than drug dealers took them over, prohibiting entry to anyone not willing to buy drugs. The Loos also began to be used for prostitution. Toilets were constantly clogged with inappropriate items being flushed down. People were sleeping in the Loos. In 2018 the Utah Highway Patrol ordered that the Portland Loos be shut at night. There is now a full time monitor during the day assigned to clean the Loos as needed and limit use to one person at a time. Since then conditions have improved.
In 2017 Olympia Washington, responding to a call from the community for a restroom for the public, especially people experiencing homelessness, installed a Portland Loo open 24/7 along a sidewalk downtown with heavy foot traffic, and taverns and restaurants, specialty stores, and City Hall nearby. Concurrent with its being installed an adjacent parking lot was converted into a park which was eventually closed down. Before being closed down, the Loo became a congregating area for people using the park (homeless individuals, drug users) to the detriment of the use of the Loo. Since the park was closed down, the situation has improved significantly. There are reports of occasional use for shooting up and people sleeping in them at night.
Shut up serfs. Know your place and pay for our “compassion”.
Los Anchorage about to get what they deserve with the mayor they just elected.
Of course there are more than two genders listed on the survey. Why wouldn’t there be?
The Taj Maha-sh*tters down on Ship creek in front of the Bridge Restaurant were just shy of a million dollars.
One women’s and one man’s bathroom. Haven’t see the padlock off them for more than a month maybe.
Ah to be connected. Have the property owners fund a botanical garden and timber outhouse for your soirées outside your restaurant.
We already have the port-a-potties. what’s wrong with them if they are placed and daily maintenance is performed … Maybe twice a day..It’s much cheaper than these “loos”.. it’s insidious if we can afford these all over town….Only if they will pay out of THEIR (Assembly, since they’re pushing it) pockets and not us. We definitely don’t have the $$ to keep these running. it’s plain stupidity..if they think we can afford it..AND NO EXTRA TAXES.
Definitely agree with you.
They won’t like my additional comments. It’s not their money and quit trying to hide the homeless problem.
Go down to the ship creek boat launch area. I’ve seen a 200-head of dairy cattle barn that’s cleaner than that explosive diarrhea-splattered restroom. With zero toilet paper ever. No thanks, we don’t need more of this crap all over town.
Someone needs to clean it. Even a rancher has to clean the barn.
Back in the 1990s when I was homeless living at the campground in Muldoon, I used to walk half a mile the catch the bus. I road all around Anchorage with the recording Stop requested still ringing in my ears to this day. A good bathroom would have came in handy back then. Fast food restrooms were a welcome relief. With more homeless now, I’m sure the need for sanitary bathrooms has grown.
.
Greg,
The bathroom is sanitary but the people aren’t. In Japan you can almost eat off the floor of the Public bathrooms. The seats aren’t wet. I so miss the poems.
They need a place though instead of the sidewalk.
Bathrooms are for Bathing Greg.
Porta-Potties are for eliminating waste and keeping their camps and loitering/panhandling/drinking/socializing areas clear of human waste which I will still hesitate to fund with my tax dollars as the facilities are only needed so this particular group who refuse help can rely on my tax dollars to camp where ever they please.
No one pays for my camping fees.
Dont get lost in the needs or get confused about eliminating waste or having a “bathroom” unless you dont mind donating all of your available funds to support the group that loves to party and camp on the streets and in the woods at your expense.
I go to the bathroom to take a dump
The word has several definitions.
Anchorage’s very own Game of Thrones.
.
Sanctuaries for the chronically fecally challenged forced on residents just like mail-in voting with a similar “out”come.
.
Assembly members have so much contempt for voters that they do a bloody “survey” because voters clearly voted so incorrectly that not even an easily corruptible election system can cover their mistake?
.
Watch for an amazingly lucrative sole-source contract awarded to a friend of the Assemby who just happens to own the only porta-potty servicing company qualified to service the Peoples Porta Potties.
.
So… might one be forgiven for suggesting where Assembly Rulers can shove their “surveys” on this and everything else voters messed up, or might mess up, for example, stuff like Eaglexit?
Agreed.
Why is the assembly acting like someone who tries to force themselves on you on a date? Why don’t they understand and accept No Means No! (-No Means No is even a Liberal saying)
What a waste of tax payers dollars!
In the center of the busy Swiss ski and tourism village of Zermatt is a public toilet of masonry construction, perhaps the finest such public facility in the world. It is immaculately maintained. Of course, even the poorest of the Swiss people are vastly different from the sizable cohort of slovenly and degenerate Americans. This difference is known by several names – personal and corporate character, self-respect, self-discipline, values. Culture.
The USA is no longer a serious nation. Need more convincing? Look at the derelicts whom we elect to public offices. Forget about public toilets, unless they will require a coin entry of $1, minimum, and an attendant.
61 percent said “NO”. Let’s fund a $50,000 study to find out why they said “NO”. This will get crammed down our throat like the Inlet Elementary School.
You are correct.
The survey cost was $49,490 , which is conveniently under $50,000. I do not believe in coincidences. There is almost certainly a discretionary amount that the assembly can pay for such a sole source contract which is likely below $50,000. The contract was awarded to “HuddleAK.com” ‘https://huddleak.com/meet-the-team/ Just take a look at this company that is all women owned and run and “Meet their team” That should tell you everything that you need to know. Know doubt they all sing “Cwm by yar” with Chris Constant, Felix and the rest of the assembly. Chris Constant is already on a hot mike episode saying that he plans to “slip in one or two with every new roading bond issue” So Why does a Portland Loo that costs $96,000 in Portland cost $500,000 in Anchorage ???
The idiots on our assembly are there because citizens of our city are too lazy or stupid to vote. So what are you? Keep letting this leftist mafia run the city and this is what you get. Those loos will become shoot up sites or brothels.
Ironic. The boss man talked about renting a porta-potty to cut down the amount of public human defecation. I told him it was a bad idea. Within a week, it’ll either be torched or we’ll find a stiff with a needle sticking out of it’s arm or someone put a hasp and padlock on it because they moved in.
You can’t even make this crap up. I think we are doomed. The Dumber than a bag of hammers group which exceeds 50% of the population is this country’s doom. They will make good slaves to the Chinese communist party.
The Asians have it going on and if you doubt me watch a YouTube video of those chicks over there, they can tear apart. A Honda motorcycle engine that they found in a ditch and get it running in about 2 hours. We can’t even wipe our a** over here.
This “survey” looks more like a promotion. Did anc taxpayers pay for this?
Took the survey – it is hilarious. Assembly should thinking about asking questions that they really do not want to hear the answers to.
Funny. The survey is worded in a way that the end results will show the public ‘acktually’ wanted these toilets, but are confused about the details.
I wonder what the best strategy is for screwing with these types of push polls that also want racial information? Ignoring them is probably the best answer, but say I want to waste 3 or 4 minutes.
-Answer randomly and just create noise in the results?
-Answer honestly and watch your straight-white-male input be disregarded because these toilets ‘aren’t for you’?
-Give them the all answers they don’t want to hear and then claim to be a queer Eskimo?
-Send naughty slurs in the clarification boxes, forcing some unpaid intern to browse them before discarding your submission?
Decisions, decisions.
Don’t choose from among the answers to the race or gender identity questions.
“Created equal” in the race comment box is factual.
“I am a (woman or man)” is also factual. Don’t ever “identify” as anything. State objective reality.
Live not by lies.
For what little it’s worth. I responded. They’ll ignore what I said, of course
I agree. They can put out surveys all they want, they WON’T get the answers they want. WE VOTED NO, when will they understand that Surveys are NOT going to change our answers to this ridiculous stupid money spending $5,000+++project which they will FORCE it upon us.. whether we want it or not..IF you..The present
ASSEMBLY want it, YOU PAYFOR IT OUR OF YOUR PERSONAL BANK ACCOUNTS, NOT OURS. we have enough problems being able to afford living here. Use Port-a-potties, they’re cheaper.
all businesses should be required to provide restrooms for their customers, mine is, why not all…………………..
Most all businesses offer the restroom to THEIR CUSTOMERS, not the drunk, high on drugs people who care less. They’d probable set up housing inside these “loos and intend to live there. It doesn’t take much to become a customer, purchase a product.
Build it and they will come!
Done.
The cost of one Portland Loo is greater than the total cost of my three-bedroom and three-bathroom single family home with an adequate yard in Anchorage. The cost of one Portland Loo (and keep in mind this assembly wants to buy and install around ten of them) IS TOO HIGH and unnecessary. Also, you know as well as I do that these Portland Loos will soon be taken over by homeless people and squatters who consider them a free place to live with running water and heat. Others will be used for prostitution, other abuse, and drug sales and use.
This is a TERRIBLE IDEA from assembly members Meg, Dan, Chris, Anna, Felix, and Kameron (who sleeps through a fair number of meetings and decisions particularly when he calls into meetings on Zoom).
Asleep at the wheel is the only way this chaos makes any sense!
Respectfully disagree. It is about continuing $$$ for the Homelessness Industrial Complex. Follow the $$$. Always follow the $$$. Cheers –
You could build a concrete outhouse with prison style fixtures and no doors. It would still be destroyed in days.
For years, everyone has been told that our Permanent Fund is being stolen to bridge the budget gap. As long as the State is crying Poor mouth, these optional bonds should not be proposed. Five years ago, we decided we had enough and moved to the Valley. At that time, we were voting no on all bond issues due to the mismanagement of public funds in Anchorage because the Assembly (and the State) had moved toward a model of ‘entitlement’.
The government would do well to learn from wise parents: needs come before wants. An example would be, if you ‘need’ public loos, stop building bike trails. We have to learn to be better stewards of the offerings of our citizens. Yes, I know, I have moved out of Anchorage. However, Anchorage was my home for many years, and I truly hate to see it go the way of a lot of the cities in the Lower 48.
If I had a dime for every time I stopped at a public latrine at highway rest areas or campgrounds in Alaska only to find them locked up, I’d buy Bill Gates. It’s as if these facilities were built exclusively for tourists, but Alaskans during the winter don’t urinate or defecate. Others also regularly find them thusly, judging by what one finds in front of the locked doors. Locked up public latrines do nobody any good. Try building more prisons and mental hospitals and be liberal with the number of toilets designed into them.
I support user fees for user services. We have a bed, and auto rental tax to accommodate visitors and an alcohol tax for mitigation of impacts. Those revenues should be used to support those users for public services including public restrooms
All illegal sales taxes under the Muni charter. Write the check, if you want to support this idiocy. The muni doesn’t supply any services to the property owners anymore. Street maintenance has gone to hell, while the assembly runs an ongoing RICO violation to move money out of the coffers and into the appropriate pockets. AWWU not only supports itself, but is now supporting IBEW1547 due to payments to Chugach Electric that used to go to ML&P, on the backs of the AWWU rate payers. I am on track to have paid for my house twice this year, due to the ever increasing property taxes, while multi million dollar buildings in Anchorage pay ZERO. No sales taxes unless property taxes are eliminated.
The epitome of insanity.
Pretty unbelievable, assembly won’t do the public’s bidding, bound and determined to do things their way.
Not to mention half million per outhouse price tag.
Los Anchorage getting what they voted for
methinks the elected officials are loo zerrz.
Hey, they’re not just outhouses. They can be used for anal sex and drug injection sites, with the proper needle and condom distribution programs.
Just imagine the bounties to be paid by the self-appointed door keepers.
Not unlike the “security” who work at the homeless hotels around town…nothing in life is free, especially when crooks are running the show.
Obviously, those of us that are civic minded and responsible, we find ourselves (once again) solving other’s problems. A more cost effect approach to this item is to issue adult diapers to the Homeless. “Depends” Adult Diapers are readily available at a wide variety of outlets … Costco – Fred Meyer – Wall Mart – Carr’s – 3Bears – etc, a month’s supply (estimated at one each per day per Homeless) costs between $25 – $30, annual estimated cost approximately $360/Homeless. After all, the esteemed POTUS is no doubt issued these nowadays, at American Taxpayers expense!
We took the survey when we voted against
The fundamental question is not whether Anchorage taxpayers want to fund public toilets but, if we want to fund public vagrants. Excrement all over our public spaces is the symptom, street anebriates, drug addicts and criminals is the problem. Anyone who is honest about it knows this, including the Assembly. The real issue with this city and this country is we don’t solve problems anymore, we take surveys.
Finish the survey to see a map of where some folks are recommending these be installed. I suggest zooming BACK for the broader picture. [grin]
I added a comment everywhere I possibly could.
It basically said “Put the needs of the taxpayers before the comfort of the homeless freeloaders.”
Anchorage: This is when and won’t accomplish all the special wins on very important liberal issues …. out comes an adjustable ‘survey’ of opinions.
“Wow, Anchorage Assembly, you really know how to flush taxpayers’ money down the drain 🚽😂! Is there a magical portal in those Portland Loos that leads to common sense? Because we need it!
“Anchorage Assembly, spending on Portland Loos long-term is like signing up for a 20-year subscription to a luxury outhouse! 🏡🚽 The maintenance costs alone will probably be enough to build a golden toilet with WiFi!
We are free men. When we need you to put in %500,000 toilets we’ll let you know.
Comments are closed.