Looks like San Francisco will not be spending $1.7 million to build one public toilet. Instead, the Board of Supervisors will spend $1.7 million to build a whopping two toilets.
“I’m worried about ‘Toiletgate 2.0’,” District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio said on Tuesday. “I’m worried we’re about to run into the same predicament, just at a different park,” he added.
With $1.4 million in state funds available, the city decided to install a second modular toilet at Precita Park. The cost of the second toilet is $840,000 in construction costs and $560,000 in “soft” costs, for a total of $1.4 million.
Toilets are the only high-priced amenities in San Francisco. Back in 2021, the city spent nearly a half-million dollars to develop new trash can prototypes because city leaders “weren’t happy with the look” of off-the-shelf cans.