成人X站

MYNORTHWEST NEWS

Shortage of Seattle public bathrooms creating wave of waste

Nov 21, 2019, 12:23 PM | Updated: 12:39 pm

seattle homeless, trash...

Seattle's Navigation Teams cleans up a homeless encampment in Northgate in January 2019. (Carolyn Ossorio, 成人X站 Radio)

(Carolyn Ossorio, 成人X站 Radio)

A shortage of public bathrooms in Seattle, paired with a rising tide of people living outside, has created a wave of waste: This year so far, Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) cleaners have responded to 6,456 reports of human feces just in the retail core of downtown, which already exceeds the entirety of incidents last year.

King County approves $100,000 for homeless bus tickets to reunify families

Members of Seattle City Council have moved on a solution, allocating almost $1.3 million in next year鈥檚 proposed city budget to buy and staff five 鈥渕obile bathroom facilities.鈥 Don鈥檛 imagine port-a-potties: These would be bathrooms on wheels, with hand-washing stations, needle disposal, and a staff person to clean them and make sure no one sleeps or uses drugs inside.

City Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Lisa Herbold have similar proposals.

“The idea is for this program to be run publicly by the city; the city will buy the specialized bathrooms, and the city will drive and service them,” Kshama Sawant said. “This also means some public sector unionized jobs.”

The for Seattle/King County showed that there are 11,199 people experiencing homelessness countywide. Of those counted, an estimated 2,451 individuals were in families with children, 1,089 were unaccompanied youth, 830 were veterans, and 32 percent were identified as people of color.

Tacoma OKs tiny home villages to combat growing homeless crisis

In a city where discussions around homelessness became very divisive in the run-up to the 2019 city council elections, the Board of Health declared homelessness a public health disaster over a year ago. Advocates for the toilets hoped this budget item would unite people on both sides of the issue.

MyNorthwest News

Rite Aid...

Julia Dallas

All Rite Aid stores to close or be sold as company files for bankruptcy

Rite Aid faces bankruptcy as it closes stores in western Washington, impacting employees and furthering pharmacy deserts.

1 hour ago

burglary...

Frank Sumrall

Bremerton woman found guilty of 16 burglary counts across 7 counties

A Bremerton resident was found guilty of multiple burglaries and thefts all throughout Washington.

3 hours ago

RFK Jr....

MyNorthwest Staff

Washington joins lawsuit accusing RFK Jr. of ‘illegally gutting’ public health

Washington AG Nick Brown joins lawsuit against RFK Jr. for alleged illegal actions affecting public health policies in WA.

4 hours ago

everett fire apartments...

Frank Sumrall

One dead in Everett apartment fire Monday morning

One person died in a fire that occurred in an Everett apartment complex Monday morning, the Everett Fire Department (EPD) confirmed.

4 hours ago

lakewood offensive comments police...

MyNorthwest Staff

Two Lakewood police officers suspended for offensive comments toward colleagues

Two Lakewood Police Department officers were suspended for inappropriate comments made last year about colleagues鈥 sexuality and race in 2024, according to records obtained by The Tacoma News Tribune.

6 hours ago

buckley mayor...

MyNorthwest Staff

Buckley mayor fined nearly $15k over missing campaign forms

Buckley Mayor Beau Burkett has racked up a bill of nearly $15,000 worth in fines.

7 hours ago

Shortage of Seattle public bathrooms creating wave of waste