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People on the Common will soon be able to skip to a loo
By adamg on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 1:16pm
Just look for the 1870s bird's eye view of the Common and Public Garden.
The Friends of the Public Garden reports it's hoping to wheel a portable comfort station onto the Common this week - placed to offer relief to Public Garden visitors as well.
Under a pilot program funded by the Harold Whitworth Pierce Charitable Trust, the trailer will house three stalls for women, one stall and three urinals for men, one ADA-compliant restroom, sinks for everybody and a baby-changing station. And, yes, of course, there will be a security guard on duty to keep things under control.
The commodious commodes will be placed on the MacArthur Mall walkway along Charles Street and will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., through October.
The Common once had permanent restrooms, but they were shut decades ago. The old men's comfort station, known as the Pink Palace, was cleaned up and turned into the Earl of Sandwich in 2012.
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Comments
This Is Wicked Pissa
Sorry, just too easy not to pass up.
World class city.
World class city.
The Common once had permanent
Actually there are restrooms on the Common, in the Visitors Center on the Tremont St side across from West Street.
Frog Pond
Isn't there a big, indoor bathroom at the Frog Pond as well? It's been a few years since we used it but it certainly wasn't decades ago.
Frog Pond Restrooms
Only open when the Frog Pond is open and access is limited to Frog Pond patrons.
Actually there are restrooms
What hours are they open? Only available when the Visitors Center is open?
Loo
Another bathroom on the corner of Boylston/Tremont (Starbucks)
I liked the Amsterdam urinals
http://nudges.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Urinals-Amsterdam.png
Seriously, why can't we have nice things here? If Starbucks/Dunks ever stopped being defacto public toilets, we'd have people peeing all over the place.
Bathrooms
They have those in many places in Europe. Gender limitations aside, they solve a problem.
I'd like to know why they turned a bathroom into a private sandwich shop instead of reopening it as a bathroom.
Do people need to eat subs every few hours?
I'd like to know why they
$$$$$
Sandwich shops make money, bathrooms cost a surprising amount of money to maintain.
been there before it cleaned up
Having been working at the construction company that did the Earl of Sandwich conversion, let me state that there is NO ONE including the homeless that frequent the park at night that would have stepped into that place. As a bathroom it was NOT functional. Floors rotten, flooded basement, broken windows and roof, glass everywhere and most interesting was that I did not see ONE stall. Only about 30 urinals lining the circular wall and they were absolutely disgusting to see. Not to mention the furry friends that lived there. They spent LOTS of money (excess of $1mill) to make it what was workable. AND they had to do new power /plumbing runs, protect all the trees and when doing the power run Elect Co cut thru a tree root...they called in a specialist to REPAIR and stitch the root back together (an cool $50k for that). I think I would have something MAKING money and maintaining the building vs letting it rot for another 40 years and fall apart.
Portland Loos in Cambridge
They have two freestanding bathrooms called Portland Loos in Cambridge - one in Harvard Square in Cambridge Common, and the other in Central Square next to the HR Block. They are very handy when you don't want to go to the one at Harvard Square Station (often locked), at the Harvard Coop (long lines if the tourists are around), or other places (where you need a bathroom code or a key).
They are built like fortresses and could easily be installed in heavy-traffic areas in Boston - the toilet that was installed near City Hall perpetually does not work..
Why even ask
Why do people always ask why we dong have what European cities have?
1. American cities, ye even your beloved Bahhston, are way, way too dangerous for this type of thing. This is a prime place for people to rob you, you're too vulnerable.
2. Police State wouldn't allow it.
3. America does not invest in the public sector, you'd be better off having dominoes or a charter company provide public goods at this point.
4. Racism, thing s that ppl of all races can equally access are not financially backed or supported in America, no one gonna let black guys use those things without a hassle.
5. Its Boston, you have to pay to play for literally the smallest of things.
We all know these things but I feel like some people just don't want to admit it. We can't pretend we have that much in common with Scandinavia and Western Europe, on some things we really don't.
That's a new one -- we don't
That's a new one -- we don't have free public toilets because they'd be open to all races? Where did you get that idea?
I strongly support racial equality. But I also believe there must be evidence when someone is accusing someone else of racism.
I glanced at your list, then laughed
When I got to
Have ye been to Europe? A libertarian paradise it is not.
The racism angle made me chortle, too, and not just because Europe is more racist than the United States. It's that you think race is a reason for not having things like these.
Massachusetts - Come visit us....
...just don't have to poop and pee
For a place that wants to attract tourists, we seem to forget that people have, uh, biological needs.