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Seattle Flushes $5M High-Tech Toilets

Posted by kdawson on from the siruis-cybernetics-corp.-was-here dept.

theodp writes "Hopes were high back in 2004 as Seattle's posh public potties opened for business. But four years later, city officials have said good riddance to the five high-tech toilets, self-cleaning and cylindrical, that had cost Seattle $5 million. The city unloaded them on eBay for just $12,549. The commodes had become filthy hide-outs for drug use and prostitution."

23 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. Just Remember... by bistromath007 · · Score: 5, Funny

    We're talking about Seattle, so most of the people there would've been cool with that if the janitor had just visited more often.

    God, I wish I didn't have to move. ;_;

    1. Re:Just Remember... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hey, the homeless get free showers and the prostitutes stop being dirty*.

      Win/Win.

      *Of course, she might have to do a little gymnastics depending upon the location of the cleansing jets.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
    2. Re:Just Remember... by db32 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Hitler was effective government. Stalin was effective government. You sir are clearly living in the safest place on the planet due to what is probably the most innane and ineffective government around. Be happy.

      --
      The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
    3. Re:Just Remember... by Kagura · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just be happy you don't live in Fort Bragg. The mayor there makes me wake up at 6:00am every morning! :(

    4. Re:Just Remember... by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Bathrooms that automatically dispense coke and hookers.

      Just like the ones at Robert Downey's house.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    5. Re:Just Remember... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      This is why English Public Schools designed to scrub up young gentlemen and closet young ladies have installed cameras in the bogs http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7567193.stm (17th August 2008) so they can't get a sneaky fag in without getting buggered or damage the Johnny machine since the Headmaster stopped their Friday-night rubber allowance http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com/2007/12/have-good-weekend-children.html.

      Meanwhile, the revolting parents are demanding that "free condom Friday" be re-instated by the school ...

      Once again, Blighty is ahead of the game in urban anti-terror educational re-adjustment bodily function pacification!

      In France, zey just pis in ze bushes.

    6. Re:Just Remember... by PalmKiller · · Score: 2, Funny

      What did he just say?

    7. Re:Just Remember... by TheLostSamurai · · Score: 2, Funny

      I never have, and never will, smoke anything.

      But are you saying people can be addicted to the 'effects' of marijuana without smoking it? ...didn't think so.

      Then your vast knowledge and life experience on the topic should definitely qualify you as an expert.

      Psychological addiction doesn't require any specific drug. Someone that gets addicted to marijuana would be just as likely to get addicted to another substance or activity, illicit or otherwise.

      Much like how you are obviously addicted to purveying your ignorance.

      --
      I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
    8. Re:Just Remember... by duckInferno · · Score: 1, Funny

      This is why English Public Schools designed to scrub up young gentlemen and closet young ladies have installed cameras in the bogs http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7567193.stm (17th August 2008) so they can't get a sneaky fag in without getting buggered or damage the Johnny machine since the Headmaster stopped their Friday-night rubber allowance http://glyndaviesam.blogspot.com/2007/12/have-good-weekend-children.html.

      Meanwhile, the revolting parents are demanding that "free condom Friday" be re-instated by the school ...

      Once again, Blighty is ahead of the game in urban anti-terror educational re-adjustment bodily function pacification!

      In France, zey just pis in ze bushes.

      --
      Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, watch it -- I'm huge!
  2. Tragic. by dangitman · · Score: 5, Funny

    And common.

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  3. Open the pot bay door, Hal by wisty · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sorry David, I can't do that.

  4. Re:Amsterdam by Loibisch · · Score: 3, Funny

    Amsterdam's toilets look like a 404? What, do you have to piss into the hole between the two fours?

  5. Re:Amsterdam by Colin+Smith · · Score: 2, Funny

    Nah, they just have a quick thinking sysadmin who reads Slashdot.

     

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    Deleted
  6. I hear Google is offering a replacement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Google is offering the use of a new set of public gToilets in exchange for the ability to scan your waste for leftover products and potential diseases and then offer you contextual ads while you're in the unit.

    1. Re:I hear Google is offering a replacement by Lord+Ender · · Score: 4, Funny

      It appears there is blood in your waste.

      Shopping results for colon cancer:
      (did you mean inflamatory bowel disease?)

      • Buy colon cancer NOW on ebay!
      • Imitation colon cancer cheap!
      • Garaunteed lowest prices for cancer (google checkout)
      --
      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
    2. Re:I hear Google is offering a replacement by nacturation · · Score: 2, Funny

      Will they offer a stoolbar with an integrated poopup blocker?
       

      --
      Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
  7. toilet homour by Smivs · · Score: 3, Funny

    So Seattle's authorities were flushed with success untill their 'Big Idea' went down the pan!

    --
    Smivs on the intertubes!
  8. New tag line by edittard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot - news of turds, stuff that splatters.

    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  9. This is such an anti-Republican move by seyyah · · Score: 2, Funny

    I mean, where are good honest Republicans like our men Larry Craig and Bob Allen going to go for a little dick?

  10. Prostitution in public toilets by FornaxChemica · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does that mean they just had sex there or that the ladies were actually soliciting the clients from inside the toilet room? And most important of all, were they dubbed "high-tech prostitutes" as a result? I wonder if there's any geek among the old profession who will be kind enough to provide the technical details...

  11. Re:Meanwhile, 3 hours by car away... by The_Mr_Flibble · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The park is a popular gathering place for tourists, but also for the mentally ill, vagrants, alcoholics, and drug addicts. Public inebriation, nudity, and calls for assistance for unconscious individuals are common; a fall-off due to increased policing in the 1990s proved shortlived. There are a lot of drug-related misdemeanors and even minor felonies, though there have been no homicides."

    Hey I'm british
    That describes just about any sort of park I visit

  12. Re:Amsterdam by Joebert · · Score: 2, Funny

    Don't be so sure, I've met some freaky people from Amsterdam.

    --
    Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
  13. just a guess... by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Funny

    a friend of mine who for some reason unknown to me decided to roll a joint in there.

    Some unknown reason? Maybe he wanted to get high?