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Futuristic toilet designed to tell a story about 'the forward thinking of San Francisco' broke down just three days after inaugural flush
theblaze.com ^ | November 30, 2022 | JOSEPH MACKINNON

Posted on 11/30/2022 12:15:34 PM PST by lowbridge

San Francisco city officials unveiled a new self-cleaning toilet last week. Designed to reflect San Francisco values, the toilet stopped working within days of its inaugural flush.

This latest dysfunction in the Democrat-run city casts doubt not only on the whether the designers followed through on their aim of coming up with something as "indestructible as possible," but also on the utility of the city building 24 toilets just like it.

Touted by the San Francisco Chronicle as the "future of public toilets," a so-called self-cleaning "Amenipod" was recently installed at the edge of Embarcadero Plaza and opened to the public on Nov. 23.

The Department of Public Works said in a press release that the "next-generation restrooms are environmentally sustainable, brighter and easier to keep clean."

They may be easier to keep clean on account of people being unable to use them.

According to the SFist, the restroom apparently got stuck out of place during its self-cleaning cycle.

On Friday afternoon, on its third day of public use, the futuristic-looking restroom broke down.

A supervisor allegedly said that after "some lady went in there," the mechanized restroom had not reset to its sitting position.

While Public Works claimed that the "toilet was offline for about two hours during business hours (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) over the weekend," the SFist noted that it wasn't working Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon.

The restroom was designed by the Detroit-based firm SmithGroup JRR, which won the contract in 2018.

Bill Katz, design principal at SmithGroup, explained that the restroom was made so that it "figuratively and literally reflected the neighborhoods that it's in."

"We also wanted it to tell a larger story ... about design culture and the forward thinking of San Francisco," added Katz.

(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: amenipod; billkatz; california; detroit; embarcaderoplaza; isthisthebee; josephmackinnon; michigan; sanfrancisco; smithgroupjrr
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To: SunkenCiv

bump to the top


41 posted on 12/01/2022 3:53:23 PM PST by GOPJ (Has Biden had dinner with an anti-evangelical? Will Schumer condemn him if he has?)
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To: SunkenCiv

RE: “Cops show up.”

Forgot it was San Francisco.

The old comedy series Sledge Hammer has the detective call for police backup and three squad cars quickly screeched to the front lot of the store.
Hammer: “Guys, I am really, really impressed at how fast you responded.”
Cop: “Uh, well, we were all at the place next door. It’s a, it’s a donut shop.”


42 posted on 12/01/2022 3:56:03 PM PST by frank ballenger (You have summoned up a thundercloud. You're gonna hear from me. Anthem by Leonard Cohen)
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To: frank ballenger

There’s no upside to doing a good job in SF or urban CA in general.


43 posted on 12/02/2022 8:37:58 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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