If you are [pardon the expression] flush at the moment and can spare eighty or ninety grand, the City of Seattle will sell you a free- standing, automated restroom, one of five that have been in use at locations around the downtown for the last four years.
The city is offering the units for sale on eBay; so far no takers, but it’s a real bargain. They cost a million a piece when they were installed in 2004, as an experiment, a response to the outcry over no public rest rooms in the downtown. They were set up near Pike Place Market, in Pioneer Square, the International District, on Capital Hill and near the Waterfront.
It hasn’t worked out so well. Druggies and prostitutes found them to be convenient for business, [they close and lock for ten minutes] and so most folks with a need for facilities went elsewhere. That needn’t be the case in your backyard, of course.
They are that perfect blend of well-designed machinery – eye-catching and functional. So, give the city a call and be the first in your neighborhood to own one of these German-made beauties.
Oh, did I mention that they’re self-cleaning?
