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.
