Posts about Portland

Powells is perhaps the best bookstore you or I will ever go to. The selection is extensive (many, many floors), the staff knowledgable, and the prices reasonable—as everything is in Portland, despite the city's reputation for being trendy.

At both Powell's and Borders, the big, lighted windows connect inside and outside, giving people on both sides something to look at. Both places are open late, keeping the areas around them busy in the evenings. And they each attract their own kind of street life.

You'll usually find teenagers hanging around outside the Borders in downtown Silver Spring, it being one of the few places (outside City Place Mall) that's not a restaurant and has things someone in high school can actually afford. When I visited Powell's last winter, I noticed a lot of homeless youth around the store. Again, that's because it's open late and a fairly cheap place to "earn" time inside.

It's not necessarily a bad thing for these stores to attract young people. After all, they provide an amenity for everyone else, and the presence of more people, regardless of status, makes their respective areas safer and more enjoyable. I know I'd rather spend a day poking around Powell's than visiting Borders' store at Columbia Crossing in Howard County, a typical big box:

The Borders in downtown Silver Spring is, of course, a chain. Unlike Powell's, it isn't a unique local resource (though Powell's does have a website and delivers goods nationwide) and the money made there may not stay in the community. But I'd bet that its urban form earns it the status of Neighborhood Bookstore for more people than the Borders in Columbia Crossing. For a chain store, that kind of relationship is worth its weight in gold.

Certainly, this kind of post would earn me some hackles from folks who prefer to patronize locally-owned businesses for exactly the reasons I state above, so to appease them, I'll also mention Silver Spring Books on Bonifant Street, a real-life local bookstore just a block away from Ellsworth Drive and favored shop of local crime writer George Pelecanos, who complains that dumb kids like me and others under 25 are "programmed" to visit chain stores exclusively.

page/2

page/2

• Automatic Public Toilets (APT): These are self-cleaning units. The cleaning process takes about 50 seconds: the toilet bowl swivels and is disinfected. The floor of the unit is jet sprayed and the seat is dried with a big blower. Doors are times to open after 10 minutes to limit extended use.

  Many cities across the world use APTs, including Singapore, London, and Athens. Units are currently being tested in several US cities: Seattle, San Francisco, Boston, New York, San Antonio, Atlanta, San Diego, and Pittsburgh.

• Open Space Comfort Stations: This type of facility is typically a freestanding building with separate washrooms for men and women. Traditional comfort stations are made of bricks and mortar can still be found in historic sections of Portland, New Orleans, and Cincinnati. Instead of building a freestanding restroom from scratch, several companies now offer prefabricated "brick & mortar" restrooms. They are often the least expensive public restroom solution and are designed against vandalism.
  
  Women's restroom at MLK Library. Photo by Lynda Laughlin.
• Restrooms in Public Buildings: No doubt a number of us rely on bathrooms in publicly owned buildings such as libraries, museums, etc. I have more than once used the bathrooms at MLK library or the American Portrait Museum National Portrait Gallery largely because the access to other restrooms in the Chinatown area is largely limited to restaurants. However, access is generally limited and other public buildings such as court houses, police and fire stations typically restrict public access for security reasons.

  As an experiment, Portland, Oregon opened city hall to the public for 24 hours. The experiment produced mixed results. Many residents appreciated the increased access, but objected to the increased security costs relative to the low volume of users.

  
  Porta-potties. Photo by ghbrett.
• Portable Sanitation Units (PSUs): Using a porta-potty, porta-john, or a porta-loo is not what must of us would consider a satisfactory bathroom experience. Their main appeal is that they are low cost because they do not need to be connected to a sewer system and they are easy to install and move around at a moments notice. Many Washingtonians became more familiar with porta-potties back in January when 5,000 were placed along Pennsylvania Avenue and the National Mall for the Presidential Inauguration.

  However, porta-potties do not necessarily have to be restricted to large public events (or construction sites). PSUs are ideal for cyclists, walkers and joggers in park areas. It is rare to find PSUs in retail areas because of their unattractiveness and well, smell. In the Netherlands, in retail areas, four-urinal portable units are often used to meet restroom needs. My guess is that DC is not ready for such a public display of personal needs. Still, it's better than using the alley.

What's available in DC? What's possible?

In the District, public restroom options are limited. If you are at the National Mall, your best chance of finding a restroom is to pop into one of the many museums. There are free standing restroom facilities located on the west end of the National Mall maintained by the National Park Service.

Public restrooms are also available in a number of public parks across the District. However, safety and cleanliness are often a concern as well as the lack of access at certain hours and times of the year. The redeveloped public park at 14th and Girard, NW will include two freestanding restrooms, adding to the list of options besides in the area.

While I have yet to actually see one, there are about 78 restrooms in the Metro rail system. According the American Restroom Association, access to restrooms in Metro rail stations has been an ongoing battle. Citing security concerns, Metro has often kept restrooms in stations closed to customers. It wasn't until recently that Metro put up signs notifying customers that restrooms are available, but only upon request.

Another source of restrooms in the District is retail stores. The bathrooms at the Target in Columbia Heights are easy to access and usually clean. However, businesses typically restrict their restrooms to paying customers. In areas with heavy pedestrian traffic like Columbia Heights, Dupont Circle or Gallery Place, if restaurants and other businesses welcome one person to use their restroom they will most likely soon be welcoming everyone, creating a steady parade of people walking through to use the facilities and most likely creating an unpleasant atmosphere for customers.

Advocating for Public Restrooms

Planners should pay more attention to ways public restrooms can enhance urban livability. However planning for restrooms in public areas in most American cities has not received that attention that it deserves. PHLUSH, an advocacy group for public restrooms in Portland, Oregon has led the charge for public restrooms, increasing access to restrooms in downtown Portland as well as honoring local toilet innovators.

Advocating for more public restrooms can be tricky. People are often too embarrassed to report difficulties finding a restroom, even though it is a common problem for all of us. The increased availability of public restrooms would benefit property owners, retailers, social service providers, health officials, tourism boards, mass transit authorities, pedestrian and cycling advocates and downtown workers and residents, it's just a matter of getting all them all to realize that public toilets are in their own best interest.

As residents of the District, it is time that we reflect on our shared need for comfort and dignity and think of practical ways to improve access to and availability of public restrooms.

page/2