With World Cup, Seattle tests public restrooms in Pioneer Square

To think of the closest public restroom, Lisa Howard of the Pioneer Square Alliance paused her walk along First Avenue, checked her watch and looked at the cross streets.

First to come to mind was at the waterfront, a 20-minute walk away - pretty far. A bit closer, at maybe 10 minutes walking distance, was the bathroom at Seattle City Hall. The closest would be King Street Station but she said it now requires an Amtrak ticket.

The options have been pretty slim.

For more than a century, the city has tried to provide a free toilet in the area. Yet, open public restrooms are rare across the city and an especially longstanding challenge in Pioneer Square, which sees a high number of visitors and homeless people needing relief.

Now, with an effort timed to start just before the World Cup, Howard and city officials are hoping to finally offer a solution.

This week, the Seattle Department of Transportation debuts four modular bathrooms in Pioneer Square - two at First Avenue by Lumen Field and another two along South Washington Street - at a price of about $465,000 for a yearlong test.

The city will see if the bathrooms, provided by a tech startup called Throne, which now contracts with 20 cities across the country, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., can reach the elusive goal of remaining functional and accessible to the public.

That should mean everyone, said Joel Miller, department of transportation public space manager, whether they're tourists or homeless.

"Really every human needs to use a toilet, and so that's who these are meant for," he said.

A history of failed bathrooms

Bathrooms in Pioneer Square have been on Howard's wish list for the entire 15 years she's been at the alliance. The Downtown Seattle Association's cleaning team deals with an average of 65 instances of human waste each week.

"It's such a huge need," Howard said.

Remnants of the city's previous efforts to meet that need are all around the neighborhood.

Under the historic Pergola along Yesler Way, Seattle opened the neighborhood's first public restrooms in the early 1900s. Within a couple of decades, the city sealed them underground.

Closer to the 1990s, the city tried a staffed bathroom along South Main Street, next to the Fire Department headquarters. Howard said that later closed over concerns it was attracting illicit activity.

Most embarrassing for the city were the five self-cleaning toilets it placed in the middle of Occidental Park and in other neighborhoods in the early 2000s. Despite investing a million dollars apiece, reports said the bathrooms quickly became a hot spot for crime and the cleaning mechanism clogged with trash. After a few years, city leaders didn't want to spend the time and money to keep fixing them.

These are all issues Throne promises the company can overcome with its bathrooms.

Part of the model is maintenance, which Throne includes in its annual cost. Company staff visit the bathrooms every dozen or so uses, depending on how busy the bathroom is. And while the bathrooms look like they're from a hip cafe, with bright wallpaper and porcelain toilets, the company makes every component easy to replace.

The other part is human science.

The bathrooms are free, but Throne requires people to text a number or use an app to enter so if someone breaks the rules - by smoking inside, for example - they may not be allowed back.

Throne is aware not everyone has a phone, so the company has an option to enter with tap cards. Transportation department officials said Throne is partnering with the Downtown Seattle Association ambassadors and the city's mental health responders to help those people access the restrooms.

Throne co-founder Jessica Heinzelman said the company's model tries to balance access with "accountability."

Miller, at the city, said that was appealing.

"We do need to build accountability into this, because we've seen other bathroom solutions fail, particularly in Pioneer Square, because they don't stay accessible," he said.

A step in the right direction

Even with the entry requirements, many are optimistic the new bathrooms could benefit people who may struggle with accessing bathrooms most.

The pilot sounds like a step in the right direction to Taralynn Carter, project manager for the Downtown Emergency Service Center homeless shelter in the area, the STAR Center.

She said Pioneer Square does have a greater concentration of day centers and public buildings where people can use the bathroom. Still, their hours don't cover the entire day and there are almost no options at night.

The new bathrooms won't help with the overnight gap yet - the city is starting out with hours from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. in an effort to avoid vandalism. But Carter said she hopes the pilot project gives the city enough information to expand access further.

"When we think about services that are both lifesaving and provide dignity for people experiencing homelessness," Carter said, "access to a bathroom really is critical."

To Seattle accessibility consultant Eva Deleon, the bathrooms seemed to check all of her boxes. Her only concern was the time limit - as one more precaution against misuse, the doors to Throne bathrooms open automatically after 10 minutes. Deleon said that could be a challenge for people with physical limitations or medical issues.

Throne is working on providing exceptions for some users, Heinzelman said.

Howard of the alliance emphasized that the bathrooms were only a test. The way she sees it, the city has to try something.

"Right now, there's nothing," Howard said. "So anything that is more will help to serve the population as a whole."

If successful, she said, the bathrooms may become permanent fixtures beyond the World Cup.

If they don't work out, though, a benefit of Throne's bathroom model is its low stakes. The plumbing is all contained within the unit, so the city didn't have to invest in any infrastructure.

Sitting on a ledge in Pioneer Square's Occidental Park on a recent afternoon, Otis Chapple and Shane Owen were just glad to hear about a new restroom option. Chapple lives in First Hill and Owen in a nearby shelter but this is their hang out spot.

"There's no bathroom you can use without buying something," Chapple said.

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