Stinky bus station

[lilpup]

I think a homeless charity or similar program could easily provide Port-a-Johns at some of the most commonly frequented hangouts, if the city allows it. It's done during summer months at one of the main places in Ann Arbor.

And again, unless the law has recently changed, if any public restrooms are made available at least one stall has to be free of charge. [[How distinctly I remember this from Hudson's and their dime stalls).

[pffft]

Head on over to the thread on the Corktown beating/dragging case to see some of the effects of barring the homeless from bathroom facilities. It sounds like a fair number of problems would be solved if the soup kitchen over there kept the potties open all day. Everybody poops--even the homeless and crazy. If you don't give them a flushable place to do it, they'll find someplace else. I'm with DetroitPole: the solution is to get someone to clean the things regularly.

Ditto. Do you want to see the homeless relieving themselves in public -- many don't even try to hide in an alley and do it. It's bad enough downtown, I can't imagine putting up with it in the neighborhoods like Corktown.

[jbd441]

Or Detroit can do what NYC did and just close off all bathrooms downtown except for one. You can't use store bathrooms unless you buy something there unless it is a chain store and those bathrooms have waiting lines and are in the same condition as the bus station. And banks unless you are a large depositor.,... haha!

I've seen a man in a expensive suite take a leak in a corner of the Fuse building on 7th Ave midday....... forget New Years Eve.

[Hypestyles]

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

[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.

[jcole]

Many of the rest rooms in Ireland do this. You have to pay someone stationed at the door to enter.

the article states that some are pay and others are free

[Johnlodge]

Make the trucks that feed the homeless downtown pull a trailer with port-o-johns to deal with the end result. Or stop feeding the homeless in a downtown you are trying to revitalize and do it somewhere in the other 130+ square miles of city. Or better yet, do it in Troy.

[Russix]

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]

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]

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.

[luckycar]

Mass transit,light rail,stinky terminal.I am not,repeat not going to use it.They can "piss" away money on "fecalbility" studies all day.Until Detroit gets its collective head out of its third world ass,I'll drive or walk.

[BrushStart]

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.

[iheartthed]

Mass transit,light rail,stinky terminal.I am not,repeat not going to use it.They can "piss" away money on "fecalbility" studies all day.Until Detroit gets its collective head out of its third world ass,I'll drive or walk.

Damn. I guess the Detroit area will just have to build a system for the 4,999,999 other people who live there.

[luckycar]

Damn. I guess the Detroit area will just have to build a system for the 4,999,999 other people who live there.

Go right ahead.Don't maintain,clean or patrol it and will look like shit a short time.

[hybridy]

Pit-of-hell is right. However I'd rather travel out of there than the Rosa Parks Transit center any day. Says a lot really...a former-Soviet bloc country with an antiquated train station and faltering economy can operate a transit center and Detroit can't...guess Detroit really is Third World, if the Second World has it beat.

lol warszaw centralia is a sh*thole...but their economy isnt faltering
http://www.economist.com/node/15394158

[EastsideAl]

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.

[Detroit2MeetU]

My theory:
In 2006, some crazy homeless person snuck into the movie theatre to see the "Pursuit of Happyness." He watches as Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, sleeps in the public bathroom only to become a millionaire at the end of the movie. The legend of the Homeless Public Bathroom Living Millionaire spreads through the homeless community, and the homeless throughout the city battle to live in the bus station restrooms.

I say we blame Hollywood and the liberal media...

[bailey]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[Zacha341]

I had the 'joy' of riding public transportation this summer while my car was down for extensive repairs requiring moneys applied over a time frame. I was often near that RP station catching a connector DOT... I didn't even consider any public bathroom for safety and hygiene reasons being a woman. I noted a building nearby's adjoining alleyway reeking of urine and what not. And I observed a homeless woman going into an alley behind the station for purposes of toileting... it was a bit much. Not sure what the answer is, but I'd not use any public bathroom in downtown as presented now.

I think I remember there being either 2 or 3 stalls in the men's bathroom.

If you charged 25 cents to use the stall, you would simply have people back behind the Farwell shitting & pissing all over.

[detroitjim]

Lovevett Williams, director of the city Department of Transportation, said cleaning crews work from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

I think she means that they are on the clock from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.

There is no way that anyone is cleaning the place for that period of time.

They might actually clean once per eight hour shift for ten or fifteen minutes.

[DetroitDad]

I'm not defending the city here, but why would anyone expect a bathroom at a bus station to be much above one at a smelly gas station or motorway truck stop?

[sumas]

A teacher told this story once. He taught at a local community college. The assignment was to write a daily log. A kid wrote that he bought a "shit" in Hamtramck for a buck. The teacher wrote in the margin, it's only a dime at the Greyhound. The kid didn't get the joke.