Automated self-cleaning restroom coming to Wicker Park
A unique new community amenity in the form of a self-cleaning bathroom is coming to Wicker Park by the end of the year.
That's at least the goal of the alderman's office, but there are questions — how does it work? And where is it going?
Imagine you're out shopping, eating, maybe even drinking in Wicker Park, and when you have to go, well, you've got to go.
"How many of us have been on the CTA, and you have to hold it? Or you have an emergency?" said Nicholas Zettel.
Zettel is Ald. Daniel La Spata's (1st) chief of staff. They are the main catalysts pushing to put a self-cleaning bathroom in the middle of the Polish Triangle at Ashland, Diversey, and Milwaukee.
The restrooms look like pods, each with a toilet that is cleaned after each use, and the floors are power-washed.
They already exist in Europe and in a few states, including Texas.
"We have been working on this project for a while, and we are so excited we came public with the location," Zettel said.
The bathroom is a decommissioned one from a French company, so it's free, but the utility hookups would be funded by taxpayers.
La Spata's office said that it will cost around $300,000 to $400,000.
"I knew there was a public toilet initiative. None of us heard that it was going to be in the Polish Triangle," said Grantland Drutchas, president of the Wicker Park Committee.
Not everyone, including Drutchas, is fond of the idea.
It was the main topic of conversation at their monthly meeting on Wednesday night. His concern is that full-time attendants may have to monitor it and the clientele it could attract.
"I'm skeptical about the self-cleaning and how self-cleaning they really are," Drutchas said.
"My first thoughts were there are like hundreds of rats under here. They run from tree to tree to electrical boxes," said resident Timothy Stephenson.
Sanitation is top of mind for Stephenson, who passes through the triangle every day to hop on the Blue Line.
"If they want to do it, purify, sterilize, then do it," he said.
But Alderman La Spata's office said this issue seems to be constituents' number one priority to solve a dirty problem.
"I don't think we've had a more popular policy in the seven years that I've been here," Zettel said.
