Haight/Masonic toilet down the drain? October 2006

After many years of debate amongst Upper Haighters, city officials said a J.C. Decaux toilet finally would finally be installed this summer on the northwest corner of Masonic & Haight.

However, there is still no toilet; chalk lines, drawn by a toilet protestor, mark the sidewalk where the restroom was supposed to go.

One of the toilet’s main proponents, the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association, is no longer in the picture after being dissolved in March. And the San Francisco Police Department has recently come out against the Masonic/Haight location for the public bathroom.

Police Chief Heather Fong and Park District Captain Gary Jimenez, in a Sept. 15 letter to the Department of Public Works, wrote that they “see this toilet as a device for the criminal element to conceal themselves and their actions or intent from patrol units.”

In a Sept. 26 response, DPW Director Fred Abadi acknowledged their advice, but did not offer Fong and Jimenez a concrete answer. “We will not place a toilet [where] is not supported by the community,” Abadi wrote. “We value input provided by the Police Department and will consider this recommendation when making a final decision.”

The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council (HANC) and the Haight Ashbury Improvement Association (HAIA) both favor the installation of the toilet in the Upper Haight: HANC is standing behind the Masonic & Haight spot, while 59 percent of HAIA membership would prefer the toilet to be placed on the 1300-block of Haight St. in front of the De Avila school building. The toilet briefly stood at that location several years ago before it was removed at the behest of parents concerned about the well being of their children in the elementary school. The building is now scheduled to house City College classrooms through Spring 2008, so the 1300-block spot may again be in play––although at least two merchants on the block are adamantly opposed to that site.

Other sites that have been considered include further down the Masonic hill by the Panhandle, although a restored Panhandle restroom recently reopened at Ashbury; and further down Haight Street in front of Buena Vista Park, although that location is a long shot considering its distance from the commercial corridor, the opposition of the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association, and the fact that the land is in District 8, not 5.

Some community members are wondering why the Park Police would come out against the toilet now, after all these years. It is unclear whether Captain John Ehrlich will reassume control of Park District, and some wonder why Jimenez would co-sign a policy recommendation regarding a long standing Park District issue when he has already cleared out his desk at Park Station and is awaiting reassignment.

Flip Sarrow, who as president of the Haight Ashbury Merchants Association spearheaded the drive for a public restroom, believes that the latest setback for the toilet reeks of political motivations.

“The last three captains were supportive of the toilet,” he said. Regarding the police’s suggestion that criminals could use the toilet to shield their vices from view, Sarrow said, “There are ways to open the toilet in the case of emergency.

“This is a badly needed facility,” continued Sarrow. ‘Everybody is for it unless it is put next to them.”

Will this debate stretch into a third presidential administration? Stay tuned…