Olympia’s waste problem needs a loo

If there is an easy solution to Olympia’s human waste problem in downtown alleys and doorways, no one’s found it yet. But the City Council is taking needed steps to address the longstanding, high-stinking issue.

The council voted last week to approve a $345,000 program or plan that includes funds for the city Clean Team to pick up feces downtown.

The plan also provides money to rent porta-potties in four locations with daily cleanings; these will be available to the public on a 24-hour, seven day per week basis through year’s end.

One of the sites — at the Artesian Commons park — already has a porta-potty, but it is locked up at night. Toilets and shower at Percival Landing also are locked at night.

The other portable toilets will go near The Salvation Army, 808 Fifth Ave. SE; across from the Intercity Transit hub, 318 State St. NE; and at 911 Adams St. SE, near the Timberland Library branch. Talks are ongoing with the state for shared use and maintenance of facilities next to Heritage Park at Columbia Street, according to city manager Steve Hall.

“It’s giving people who don’t have any other option a dignified choice,” Hall says.

The expense, estimated at $13,700 each for potty rentals, may be large. But the trial period, which includes hiring Capital Recovery Center to pick up waste, is a good step that can serve as test-marketing, and daily cleaning can reduce the disgust factor. The trial can also demonstrate which sites give the most improvement. Longer term, the plan earmarks $163,000 to set up a permanent toilet at a site to be determined.

In the past some have talked about Olympia buying a Portland Loo, a contraption developed by that city to deal with its sanitation problems. That design allows easy cleaning and has openings at the lower leg level that make it easier to determine if illegal activities such as drug-dealing or prostitution might be taking place.

At roughly $100,000 each, the Loo is expensive but it offers better options for monitoring, and Hall says there are much cheaper knock-off versions. The big expense is connecting a permanent facility to sewers.

Olympia could have a cheaper, surplus-toilet option in its back yard, but these lack the open design of the Portland Loo.

Butch Behn, owner of South Sound Speedway in Rochester, purchased a handful of self-cleaning toilets on eBay for $12,549 after Seattle, which invested almost $5 million on them a decade ago, gave up bevcause they had drawn prostitution, drug use and garbage. Behn has said he’d sell them for $20,000 each.

Judging from comments we’ve seen, there is little public patience for those who defecate on public property. While it should be unacceptable to leave waste on a business doorway or alley, it’s also unacceptable not to provide alternatives.

Hall says there is hope that toilets put in places where neighbors might keep an eye on them — such as adjacent to the transit hub, which has a security officer — could reduce vandalism.

Just because other cities have tried and failed to find the right answer to this problem does not mean Olympia should quit looking for its own solution.

This story was originally published March 29, 2016 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Olympia’s waste problem needs a loo."