POrtland restroom
Pioneer Square leaders point to Portland's popular "Loo" program as one solution to a growing problem of people relieving themselves in public around the neighborhood. (City of Portland image)

Pioneer Square plagued by potty problem

BY Josh Kerns  on March 19, 2012 @ 10:23 am (Updated: 12:29 pm - 3/19/12 )

All that green beer, corned beef and cabbage from the weekend's St. Patrick's Day celebrations is making for a disgusting day of cleanup in Pioneer Square. Businesses and residents alike say they're sick of dealing with the growing problem around the neighborhood.

"When there are major events in the square and around weekends, it's pretty obvious that we have vomit, we have urination, we have defecation," complains public affairs consultant Anne Fennessy, who's lived in Pioneer Square on and off for the last 15 years.

She is part of a group of locals working with the city to come up with ways to help keep the streets and alleys from turning into toilets.

The Metropolitan Improvement District reports crews had to clean 1,211 instances of human waste in February 2012, up from 744 the month before. It also reported seeing 36 instances of public urination in February, compared to 15 in January.

But Fennessy says while it would be easy to blame the homeless, it's actually people from all walks of life.

"I have seen people in business suits, I have seen people that you think are on the breadline and the boardroom," Fennessy says.

The Pioneer Square Alliance, a neighborhood coalition of residents and businesses, is pushing for more public toilets. They've asked the city to reopen restrooms in a historic fire station and install new public toilets modeled on a successful program in Portland (which in turn was designed with the failings of Seattle's ill- fated multi-million dollar debacle with self-cleaning toilets.)

The Alliance has also published a map identifying the locations of public toilets around the neighborhood.

Ultimately, Fennessy says the city and visitors alike need to take a much greater interest in the issue.

"So I think we need say to people this is not acceptable. You wouldn't accept this kind of behavior in Wallingford," she says.

Josh Kerns, MyNorthwest.com Reporter
Josh Kerns is co-host of KIRO Radio's Seattle Sounds (Saturday nights 7-8) and a digital content producer for MyNorthwest.com.
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Comments (14)


  • Add A Comment

  • Kosh wrote...
    The Solution
    March 19, 2012 11:56 am
    Is simple, MOVE!!! Leave the liberal overtaxed cesspool Seattle and never look back. I cant think of a single reason to ever visit that worthless place and haven't for over 30 years myself even though I live right across the lake.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • JustAnotherFish wrote...
    What, exactly,...
    March 19, 2012 12:17 pm
    does that solve?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • BigGovSux wrote...
    Sure...
    March 19, 2012 12:18 pm
    It's not just the homeless. I'd really like to know just how many people in business suits are defecating in Pioneer Square. My guess is probably 0. Until Seattle stops it's "homeless friendly" policies, this problem will continue. Quit using taxpayer monies to fund all of these ridiculous, feel-good policies that do nothing but enable the bums and they'll move on to some other sucker city. If I wanted to be a bum, I sure wouldn't want to leave a city that allows me to panhandle, gives me shelter and enables my drug/alcohol habit.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • BigGovSux wrote...
    Also...
    March 19, 2012 12:20 pm
    If you're a respectable citizen, most businesses will allow you to use their restrooms. If you look like a bum and smell like a bum (urine, body odor, etc..), I wouldn't want you in my business either!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Just hang it out and let er . . . .
    March 19, 2012 12:43 pm
    fly. If your a female you have to lift one leg. How did the ebay sell on the 1,000,000 port-a-potty go?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Why are these bigots blaming this on St. Paddies days revelers?
    March 19, 2012 2:39 pm
    Aside from a few lightweights,the source of this is problem the same as always. The bums and the occupiers. Since these are the Liberal voters and the St. Paddies days celebrants are mostly Conservatives, guess who the Lib media blames for this?

    You guessed it!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    if you gotta go...
    March 20, 2012 6:02 am
    you gotta go. Where do you want them to go? Businesses wont let you use their bathrooms unless you buy their overpriced merchandise and tax payers don't want to use those expensive self cleaning toilets because they don't actually self clean and other people do the nasty in them. ew.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    The city can rent the Sani Cans or Porta potties.
    March 20, 2012 6:22 am
    or anyone who supplies these items. They may not be glamorous but they do the job! And the city can pass the costs on to the even sponsorer.

    I will bet this city eats the cost of providing these items and most everything else for the druggie Hemp-fest and the Homosexual Sausage fest whenever these things are held by the city.

    You won't hear of all the overdoses and violence associated with these events

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Madison2Seattle wrote...
    Obviously...
    March 20, 2012 7:31 am
    nobody that has commented has actually been in the Pioneer Square neighborhood after midnight. There are TONS of nightclubs in this area and NOWHERE to go to the restroom after bar close. NO business is open. You get funneled out of the clubs and onto the streets. Even earlier it is difficult to locate an open establishment that will allow the use of the restroom without being a patron. You can blame it on the homeless... but its more often people who are out for a night on the town and find out quite uncomfortably that there is no bathroom available. It is so bad in this area I make SURE to use the bathroom before bar close... usually this entails spending the final 20 minutes of the night in line (being a female). I don't get wasted either.. planning ahead like that is not typical for the vomiting drunk after bar close. Hence the use of the alleyways by the intoxicated.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Old Timer wrote...
    Pioneer Square plagued by potty problem
    March 20, 2012 7:53 am
    This is not a new problem. I worked in the area 40 years ago and it was that way. Why the big story now?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }