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Harvard Square public toilet nearing completion


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“I’ve witnessed a homeless man pouring a bottle of his urine into the the drain next to Wigglesworth, which is both degrading and unsanitary,”

and using a bathroom by that same man is more sanitary? Please.

I'm all for public restrooms, but these booths have been tried and tried again (in Boston) and all they do is become a place for the homeless to camp out or shoot up in. I've used the ones in Boston on occasion, you don't wanna touch a single thing in there, let alone sit down. I, at least since I'm a guy, can stand up and pee without touching anything. It really is a last resort..

Nice idea, but it will just become something unintended.

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Public toilets only work if they have an attendant to keep watch & clean them. Unless Cambridge is going to hire someone to babysit the sanitary facilities those facilities are going to get gross and full of drug users really fast.

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I wish we could have the system that Paris has: self-cleaning and on a timer to discourage misuse. It's damp inside, but from disinfectant instead of homeless people's urine.

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At least it'll keep the homeless from peeing onto the street and buildings. Unusable for the general public but an improvement for the square overall.

Anyone know if there's going to be a red needle drop box in there too? Seems like it'd be a judicious use of 40$ on the city's part, since everyone knows it's going to turn into an OD box anyway.

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I'm glad to hear this is coming to Harvard Square, and I also hope that it is well-tended so it doesn't become too disgusting for the general public. (The toilets along the Esplanade always seem to be fine... What's their secret? Seasonality? Multiple stalls to keep people honest?) Most public toilets the world over are pretty gross; that's not a reason to make people do their business in the streets.

Also, does anyone know what became of the public toilet that was supposed to be coming to Central Square? I believe it was voted on last year as part of Cambridge's participatory budgeting process. But I live near Central and have yet to see it.

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Does this mean they are closing the other public toilet in Harvard Square? That would be unfair given a lot of people also use it as an elevator to/from the T station.

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So it's basically located on a large traffic island? Weird.

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I thought of that too.. man it's gonna be hard to take a piss with all that traffic noise around you...

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From an earlier article on this thing:

According to Kathy Watkins, a city engineer and the assistant commissioner for engineering for the Cambridge Department of Public Works, installing the toilet will cost about $350,000 to $400,000 in total, with the structure itself costing about $90,000. ... [T]he city will still spend $25,000 a year on maintenance and upkeep.

Was there some sort of competition to see how much money could be pissed down the drain to build a toilet?

And as anyone who has ever been through Harvard Square knows, this will just become a hangout for the homeless, filthy, and no one else will dare go in or near it. So Cambridge just spent half a mil for a little building for half a dozen guys to go squat in. How many homeless shelter beds could be provided for $400,000 + $25,000/year?

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For that kind of money, they could've bought a whole condo for people to hang out in (albeit a very tiny one in this market).

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(not necessarily one and the same) exist in every large city on earth. Yes, even 'world class' cities (some of the worse in the western world are well known 'world class' cities). Boston's/Cambridge's problem is we're top heavy with young, inexperienced snow flakes whose vision of a 'world class' city is a combination of Sesame St. and Disney World, full of young, 'educated' middle class hipsters and rich yupsters, tenured professors from fancy universities, trustafarians, DINKs, and retired fund managers.

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the DILDOs (Dual Income Large Dog Owners).

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