20 December 07: Here I sit, broken hearted



Well, so much for the City Toilet, huh? With no fanfare (at least none that matched its opening), the Wall USA company has removed the well-used City Toilet on the north side of Dilworth Plaza at City Hall.

But fret not! The City Toilet idea is not dead, nor is the ambitious plan to sprout many city toilets.

This particular toilet, the pilot to the City Toilet program, was removed because it was on loan from Wall USA. Wall USA was one of the three companies (Clear Channel and CBS being the others) who bid on the RFP that included pay toilets for the street furniture initiative that also included advertising on public benches, trash cans and bus shelters, among other things. Wall USA did not win that bid.* Their toilet was to be a six month loaner that ended up staying for over a year, and now they've taken it back to their home city of Boston, which already has lots of public toilets installed.

*But then no one has officially won the contract, because the initiative has not passed through City Council for approval yet, because City Council has shelved everything until the Nutter administration takes over.

After the dust has settled on the mayoral transition, the street furniture initiative will become a top priority, but one met with significant scrutiny, in particular by SCRUB, which has long fought against billboards and the assault of advertising on the streetscape. There is a balancing act to providing services like public toilets and the display of advertising which pays for them, but Department of Public Property Deputy Commissioner Frank Punzo believes this initiative has it, as does Center City District's Paul Levy (as reported by Joseph Slobodzian for the July 17 Inquirer).

Punzo said that Clear Channel's proposal went as far as presenting a bike sharing option (think PhillyCarShare, only with bikes . . . or think the Amsterdam & Copenhagen bike programs, only in Philly). "This also includes new bike racks across the city," he says, pausing to qualify, "without advertising on them." The early phase of a bike sharing program would find nodes in well used and strategic locations like the River Drives, Center City and transit hubs like 30th Street Station.

The revenue stream the street furniture will generate for the city is a no-brainer, but the quality-of-life issue of more advertising is a big one. That said, the other portions of the street furniture initiative -- even benches and kiosks -- can conceivably be done tastefully, and SCRUB will no doubt see to it that they are. As well, the Center City bus shelter art installations will be retained.

Presuming the street furniture initiative passes City Council (it probably will), the winning bidder will be awarded a contract whose length the city would like to be (and which the RFP called for) 20 years. Not including the administration transition, Punzo says the first stage of the project will be phased in over 18 months to two years, over which time new bus shelters, trash cans and so forth will be installed.

And, most importantly!, city toilets. Eight of them, including the important and symbolic original City Hall location, will be installed in the first phase of the program, with dozens more planned across the entire city, including some in Fairmount Park and at neighborhood nodes like 52nd & Market in West Philly and Broad & Cecil in North Philly.

The toilets are coming (back); they're just, like so many of us, eagerly awaiting the Michael Nutter administration. Till then, you'll just have to hold it.

* * *

For additional reading and varying points of view on the subject, please see the following:

Phila.gov: Dept of Public Property
Issues Philadelphia: A trashcan that generates cash?
Phila Economy League: When nature calls
SCRUB: On street furniture
Phillyblog: Public Ads: revenue or aesthetics?

–B Love


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