Stinky bus station

**Hypestyles** · November-23-10, 02:22 PM

is there possibly a nonprofit outfit that can take over management of the facility.. what homeless shelters are downtown?

**EastsideAl** · November-23-10, 03:11 PM

The real problem seems to pretty clearly be not enough restrooms. Not a couple of restrooms too many.

Given the kind of use these sorts if public facilities normally get no matter what city they're in, and Detroit's homeless and destitute population, you think someone might have anticipated this problem somewhere along the way in the design, construction and operation of the place.

It also sounds like there may be some deficiencies in the city contractor's plumbing [[imagine that!) if those toilets keep clogging like that.

**Russix** · November-23-10, 07:12 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

The real problem seems to pretty clearly be not enough restrooms. Not a couple of restrooms too many.

Given the kind of use these sorts if public facilities normally get no matter what city they're in, and Detroit's homeless and destitute population, you think someone might have anticipated this problem somewhere along the way in the design, construction and operation of the place.

It also sounds like there may be some deficiencies in the city contractor's plumbing [[imagine that!) if those toilets keep clogging like that.

Two design failures then? Not enough bathrooms and not adequate enough to handle the load[[no pun intended). I see no reason why the restrooms at Rosa Parks TC were not built to the same scale as rest areas on the interstate. It should have been fairly obvious that this would become Downtown Detroit's central restroom. I rather the city maintain a large public restroom with my tax dollars then deal with stepping on human feces on the streets or having the unfortunate experience of witnessing someone take a crap in public, again.

**canuck** · November-23-10, 09:15 PM

Looked for stinky bus station in Google maps, couldnt find it. Who was this Stinky fella they named it for. Couldnt find a mr Stinky to stick it to... I had a few strong beer, I shall retire. Bonne Nuit Detroit.

**bailey** · November-24-10, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Russix

Two design failures then? Not enough bathrooms and not adequate enough to handle the load[[no pun intended). I see no reason why the restrooms at Rosa Parks TC were not built to the same scale as rest areas on the interstate. It should have been fairly obvious that this would become Downtown Detroit's central restroom. I rather the city maintain a large public restroom with my tax dollars then deal with stepping on human feces on the streets or having the unfortunate experience of witnessing someone take a crap in public, again.

Why would the answer to the problem be MORE bathrooms? They can't keep what is there from becoming a bio hazard. Regardless of what you'd like them to maintian, they clearly can't manage what they have.

I don't know what to find more sad. That the bus station is the only public restroom in the CBD of a city of 900k, the local populace that used it can't seem to manage to do so without smearing shit on the walls, or the fact that something as simple as providing janitorial services in a 22.5 million dollar brand new bus terminal is outside the ability of DDOT.

**BrushStart** · November-24-10, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by bailey

I don't know what to find more sad. That the bus station is the only public restroom in the CBD of a city of 900k, the local populace that used it can't seem to manage to do so without smearing shit on the walls, or the fact that something as simple as providing janitorial services in a 22.5 million dollar brand new bus terminal is outside the ability of DDOT.

It's not at all funny, but I laughed hard reading your post.

**EastsideAl** · November-24-10, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

Why would the answer to the problem be MORE bathrooms?

Because we rather obviously have more people in need of a bathroom than we have bathrooms. We may be able to change the number of bathrooms and the way in which they are maintained, but we absolutely certainly can't change people's need for them.

**bailey** · November-24-10, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

Because we rather obviously have more people in need of a bathroom than we have bathrooms. We may be able to change the number of bathrooms and the way in which they are maintained, but we absolutely certainly can't change people's need for them.

No, you have a shitload of homeless that need a SHELTER, but instead use the bus station toilets as one. Put in more bathrooms, you'll just have a bigger problem.

**ragnarok1981** · November-24-10, 04:43 PM

Clearly the homeless in the downtown area are a problem and that has been said many times before on this board. Maybe the city should kill two birds with one stone, and no I dont mean kill the homeless. First they should hire some of these homeless people to clean up the bathrooms, that would solve the cleanliness issue and the homeless issue at the same time. In addition we all know that the city has a huge number of vacant buildings that are beyond the state of redemption. Maybe it should hire the homeless to go out and tear down these buildings. If they refuse the offer of work then tell them to take a hike out of the city and threaten them with jail time for public urination or defication and for harassing people when they try to hit them up for money. Yes there are the mentally ill out there and the city and or state should do what is right and take them off the streets and put them in mental institutions where they can provide proper treatment. I understand the idea of forceably removing people from streets is attrocious to some, but is the idea of letting someone wander around downtown screaming at people all that much better? If the city really wants to attract tourists here then it needs to clean up its image and like it or not but the homeless are an image problem. Give them an option for working for minimum wage, or hand them a bus ticket to florida where at least they wont have to worry about freezing to death in the winter.

Augustiner · November-24-10, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

No, you have a shitload of homeless that need a SHELTER, but instead use the bus station toilets as one. Put in more bathrooms, you'll just have a bigger problem.

Bathrooms aren't just a homeless issue. Regular people who spend time downtown need bathrooms too, and there aren't a whole lot of options. I'm far from homeless and I've used the bathrooms in the transit center plenty of times [[although not recently, and the bathrooms were relatively clean when I used them). Rivard Plaza is a decent alternative during the day, although a bit further out of downtown.

**Russix** · November-24-10, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by bailey

Why would the answer to the problem be MORE bathrooms? They can't keep what is there from becoming a bio hazard. Regardless of what you'd like them to maintian, they clearly can't manage what they have.
...

If your gonna run a public bathroom, it's needs to be large enough to handle the demand, or you run into problems like this. Maintenance is less of an issue over simple capacity planning.