Homelessness and the post-2008 wave of poverty ruined it. A few people who need to use a public bathroom everyday is fine, but when you have 100x of ppl who are desuetude, on drugs, mentally ill etc. emptying their medications and needles and so on it becomes a public health hazard, attracts crime, and overwhelms staff. Better to just shut it down altogether or limit to staff only. .

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deadbunny 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Good thing that stops the "destitute, on drugs, mentally ill etc" from doing this simply by removing the public toilets right?

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nxc18 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Portland put out portable toilets during the pandemic. They had big signs on them about how toilet access was a human right, or something like that.

One by one, they were all burned down. Homeless people seem to be really good at destroying stuff. My apartment building is taking on new low income tenants and the rate of fires - with sprinkler activation - is boggling. The public park I walk by often is losing a little bit more greenery to homeless fires every few months, but I’m still saddened by the loss of a large, beautiful tree - torched by a camper.

The problem isn’t removing public resources, it’s keeping them in working order against a persistent opponent.

	▲	deadbunny 11 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Seems like the problem is the utter lack of mental health support to me.

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skinfaxi an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Well it becomes someone else's problem, right? That kind of short-term thinking is in vogue at the moment.