SFist: Free Bidet for the Homeless

August 28, 2008

Free Bidet for the Homeless

Photo by arlen found in SFist's Flickr pool.

"FREE WATER FOR HOMELESS / PLEASE KEEP AREA CLEAN / WE LIVE HERE - / PLEASE DON'T SHIT ON OUR BLOCK"

How fancy.

By Brock Keeling in Miscellaneous | Link | Comments (15) | Recommend this! (1) |

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Comments (15)

[1] | 08/28/08 10:09AM

Are those wires there to electrocute the homeless who fall for this water trickery?

[2] | 08/28/08 10:20AM

Noble, I guess, but I'd assume the homeless don't shit on sidewalks or stoops or whatever because they're discourteous or didn't read Miss Manners; they do it because they are batshit crazy due to mental illness or substance abuse or both

[3] | 08/28/08 10:54AM

Or perhaps that's just where the urge struck them.

[4] | 08/28/08 11:08AM

There's a genius to this. What if local residents started posting semi-permanent "Please Don't Shit on Our Sidewalk" placards? People would, of course, still shit -- probably even more so near the signs. But wouldn't a critical mass of this phenomenon have a pretty strong impact on public opinion?

Someone should start a website.

I totally would, but I have to catch up on P.Runway.

[5] | 08/28/08 11:51AM

Generic -

The gay Mormon gets the boot.

[6] | 08/28/08 02:28PM

No, they shit on the sidewalk because THEY HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO SHIT.

This, one of the wealthiest cities in the wealthiest country in the world, has a broke government and can't afford public bathrooms.

[7] | 08/28/08 02:32PM

Perhaps this justifies an ongoing daily feature entitled "Day Around The Bidet".

BAM!!!!

[8] | 08/28/08 02:34PM

Just off the top of my head, there are open public bathrooms in Embarcadero 4, second floor.

[9] | 08/28/08 03:25PM

No, they shit on the sidewalk because THEY HAVE NO PLACE ELSE TO SHIT.

Give us a break. Even with sparse public toilets, there are plenty of places one can shit other than in the middle of the fucking sidewalk.

[10] | 08/28/08 04:05PM

Yeah, like Daly City.

[11] | 08/28/08 04:57PM

@appetite: I'm sorry, this is utter bullshit. I've seen dudes in my park peeing and crapping RIGHT NEXT TO A PUBLIC RESTROOM. And don't say it isn't clean, because regular people were going in and out of there.

"they have no place else." A woman recently pulled down her pants in front of Cafe Divine and peed right there in full view of diners. No place else?? Spare me.

[12] | 08/28/08 07:37PM

QotD:

"Nearly 40 percent of the world's population lacks access to toilets, and the dignity and safety that they provide," said Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF executive director.

[13] | 08/29/08 02:20AM

You think of 1 public bathroom (in the financial district) and 1 anecdote about someone peeing near a public bathroom, and you can conclude there's no shortage of adequate facilities in the city.

I never see feces in the financial district. I do see feces around 6th & Mission, but I couldn't tell you where a bathroom is. And I don't expect people to walk a god damn mile to take a shit. And I don't expect local businesses, who get their throats cut in SF taxes and permits and regulations, to have to open up their bathrooms to non-customers. If SF is going to tolerate it's pathetically high homeless population, then it has the moral responsibility to provide adequate facilities, and a reasonable means of locating those facilities.

What's funny is that you're saying "give me a break" or "spare me" when the fact of the matter is that you're the ones whining about it. How about you stop whining on a blog and do something? For some reason, you think that homeless, destitute, sometimes mentally disabled people are going to walk a mile to go to the bathroom for your convenience, because you want them to, really badly, and you made that clear on SFist.com. Fucking losers. I'll take shit on the sidewalk any day over you snarky assheads.

[14] | 08/29/08 10:15AM

I think there are two problems: there IS a shortage of public accommodations and there is ALSO a culture that is permissive of urinating and defecating in the streets. Finding public restrooms in the Mission is a challenge for me, a cute, well-dressed white woman who is generally welcomed with open arms by neighborhood merchants. I can only imagine how hard it is for the homeless, most of whom are distinctly non-cute. I would LOVE to see some sort of tax incentive for businesses to open their bathrooms to the public, as well as more government buildings having public restrooms. Every police station should have a public bathroom, and they need to re-open the BART bathrooms, too.

I grant you that some people in this city are just going to take a crap wherever they want to and there's nothing that can change that. But I also think there may be a cultural component here: several times I have seen Latina women pull down their small children's pants so they could pee on the sidewalk (and once I saw this happen in the entryway leading into Community Thrift). These were not cracked-out homeless women, they were ordinary moms. So I think there are at least some people whose behavior can be changed, especially if some alternative to the sidewalk is given!

[15] | 08/29/08 11:38AM

There is no cultural component. I'm Latino, and it is rude in Latin countries too, even in the rural ranchos, you at least do it out of sight, not in plain view of people. These Latina moms are just rude, dirty, and disrespectful. My mom would've smacked the crap out of me if I had pee'd on a sidewalk.

I agree with you however that more public bathrooms in public services (transit, police, etc.) buildings should be open. Maybe when some poor, homeless soul stinks up City Hall's bathrooms will our elected officials do something about the problem.