Portland resident to present the
 American Restroom Association's Call to Action at World Toilet Summit

PRESS RELEASE 

Public Toilets for Old Town Chinatown
A Report to the Community by PHLUSH   PDF

 

OVERVIEW  

Members of a Portland based ad hoc working group formed six month ago have been studying best practices in public restrooms and documenting the experience of other cities. 

PHLUSH has collected data on various physical facilities and a range of management alternatives. In their presentation, they will focus on five specific options for public toilets in Portland, including the upgrade of existing toilets. From their extensive collection of photographs, the researchers will present examples of well-planned amenities, including one-of-a kind artist-designed restrooms. 

For PHLUSH, access to restrooms is a human right. Well-managed cost-effective public restrooms require public reflection on our shared values of human rights, comfort and dignity, as well as on the practical need of all people to have access to restrooms when they are away from home.

The group shows how public toilets help revitalize downtown neighborhoods, get people out of cars and onto mass transit, improve the public's health, and serve significant, sometimes invisible populations who are “restroom challenged”.

The PHLUSH study is the latest and most comprehensive of a long line of efforts by Old Town neighborhood activists to demonstrate the need for and benefits of public restrooms. With the release of the report, entitled “Public Restrooms for Old Town Chinatown”, PHLUSH is calling on the community, public officials and planners to take the proposed options forward. 

The six members of PHLUSH represent Old Town businesses, human services, and the resident community. Graduate students at Portland State University’s School of Urban Studies and Planning are providing PHLUSH technical assistance and hope to adopt the project for the coming academic term

_________________________________________________________

PHLUSH UPDATE CM revision 022506

PHLUSH: Portland, Oregon public restroom advocates present findings 
PHLUSH (Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human) a Portland, Oregon-based group, has issued a report with six options for increasing access to public restrooms in their city. The group presented their report 
at the February 7th meeting of the Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association. . Hosted by the Portland Art Center, the meeting was attended by a wide range of stakeholders and officials from city hall, the local parks department, the county health departments and the business alliance.

Portions of the six month research project were presented by each of the group’s six members. They include Tom Carrollo of Beardsley Building Development, Nikki Jardin of Sisters of the Road Café, Inc., Barbara Lescher of Our Peaceful Place, Carol McCreary of Steel Bridge, Lan Nguyen of Orchid Salon and Chirstopher Yarrow of The Monkey and the Rat. Their presentation was illustrated with photos and maps and a video showing the operation of one of the automatic public toilets recently installed in Boston. 

For PHLUSH, access to restrooms is a human right. Well-managed cost-effective public restrooms require public reflection on our shared values of human rights, comfort and dignity, as well as on the practical need of all people to have access to restrooms when they are away from home.

The group reviewed the often unrecognized benefits of public toilets as well as the high social and economic costs of not having them. Public restrooms help revitalize downtown neighbourhoods by getting people out of cars and onto their feet, bicycles and mass transit. Public facilities reduce costs and stress to business owners. They contribute to health and fitness by enabling people to participate in outdoor sports and recreational activities. Finally they serve the “restroom challenged.” These are people who need to urinate frequently or whose need is sudden and urgent. These include older people, young children, pregnant women and those with a broad range of medical conditions.

In conducting its research PHLUSH looked at a number of physical types a range of management alternatives. Option 1 is to upgrade Portland’s ten existing public restrooms. PHLUSH found that most required minor physical modifications to greatly enhance comfort and safety. They also explored the possibility of employing attendants or encouraging push cart-based businesses to set up nearby. A second viable option is the use of portable sanitation units on parking lots. One possible model was a porta potty enclosed in a wire cage that could be landscaped and fitted with a community bulletin board. The third option is the storefront rest stop located among retail businesses in the historic district. A uniformed attendant would welcome visitors, provide brochures and flyers on restaurants, shops and cultural sites and maintain toilets. Automatic public toilets are another option, with the PHLUSH report highlighting best practices in management and cost recovery from a dozen US cities. Option 5 focuses on the historic comfort station on W. Burnside in the North Park Blocks and recommends that the premises accommodate a private business which would be responsible for maintaining public toilets. The final option is inspired by one-of-a-kind artist-designed restrooms in London and a town in New Zealand. 

The immediate objectives of PHLUSH are to promote public discussion of public restrooms, to formulate citywide public restroom policy, to encourage working groups to research options and to explore private and public funding sources 

The PHLUSH study is the latest and most comprehensive of a long line of efforts by Old Town neighborhood activists to demonstrate the need for and benefits of public restrooms. With the release of the report, entitled “Public Restrooms for Old Town Chinatown”, PHLUSH is calling on the community, public officials and planners to take the proposed options forward. Graduate students from Portland State University’s School of Urban Studies and Planning provided technical assistance to PHLUSH. A group of seven students have now adopted Portland’s public toilets as their final project. 

The group invited members of the community to get involved by reading the report and providing on it to Nikki Jardin at nikki@sistersoftheroad.org THE PHLUSH report has been posted on the website of the American Restroom Association, a national advocacy group. http://www.americanrestroom.org/phlush/
 

MEDIA COVERAGE 

Tour De Porcelain  Aug 19, 2006
After two hours and seven restrooms, Adrian Chen finds out what drives Portland's fiercest p

Signs of relief?  
A new group hopes to bring public restrooms to the Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood
by Joanne Zuhl, Street Roots Contributing writer   Feb 1, 2006