$1.7M public toilet causes stink in San Francisco: ‘This s–t’s expensive’
They must be feeling flush.
San Francisco politicians have created a huge stink after agreeing to spend $1.7 million on a single public toilet — with even a local resident who campaigned for it gasping, “This s–t’s expensive.”
Despite a crippling rise in crime and homelessness across the California city, lawmakers bragged to the San Francisco Chronicle about securing the staggering amount for a single toilet in 150 square feet of space.
“They told me $1.7 million, and I got $1.7 million,” Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney proudly told the paper of the state funding he had to log for the loo.
“I didn’t have the option of bringing home less of the bacon when it comes to building a toilet. A half a toilet or a toilet-maybe-someday is not much use to anyone,” he said.
The potty price tag involves several rounds of reviews and evaluations — also meaning completion will be stalled until at least 2025.
Haney — who campaigned on homelessness and housing — insisted he was responding to “loud and clear” local demand for the toilet.
However, it was quickly pooh-poohed by locals, with Chronicle columnist Heather Knight ripping the deal as “mind-boggling, maddening and encapsulate so much of what’s wrong with our city government.”
Instead of “a toilet-maybe-in-more-than-two-years” that cash “could have paid to house a family instead,” the columnist said — “even in this wildly overpriced city.”
Todd David, a Noe Valley resident who pushed for the toilet for years, told the paper that “the pricetag’s a shocking number.”
“Oh my god, this s–t’s expensive,” he said.
The columnist requested quotes from other builders, with one, Tom Hardiman of the Modular Building Institute, telling her, “I’m going to guess high, I think, and say $200,000.”
Told the actual figure was 8.5 times as much, he asked, “What are they making it out of — gold and fine Italian marble?
“It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragically flawed.”
The city’s parks and public works departments confirmed the figure, while stressing it was an “extremely rough” estimate that budgets “for the worst-case scenario” that could inflate costs.
It covered not just for “erecting” the toilet, but includes the clogged-up process of “planning, drawing, permits, reviews and public outreach,” the city told the Chronicle.
Once those strained steps are completed, the bathroom will be built by unions whose workers will “earn a living wage and benefits, including paid sick time, leave and training.”
“While this isn’t the cheapest way to build, it reflects San Francisco’s values,” the departments told the paper.
Ultimately, however, the real reason for the sky-high price tag is that San Francisco is now the most expensive city in the world to build anything in — topping even Tokyo, Hong Kong and the Big Apple, the city said.
“We’re No. 1! Even for places to go No. 1,” quipped Knight.