San Francisco public toilet to cost $1.7 million, will take two years to build

A San Francisco official canceled plans to celebrate a public bathroom he had long fought for after learning that it would cost $1.7 million dollars and take more than two years to build.

California State Assembly Member Matt Haney, a Democrat who represents San Francisco, secured funding in the state budget for a public bathroom in Noe Valley Town Square, which did not have one since opening in 2016.

But he canceled his Wednesday press conference to announce the victory after learning from a San Francisco Chronicle column that the bathroom would cost more than a single-family home in the city and not open until 2025.

Press conference to announce this awesome, genius-level plan just got canceled. Wonder why 🙄

— Kate Stoia for D8 Supervisor (@kate_stoia) October 19, 2022

“When Rec and Park first told us the number, it sounded shockingly high to me,” Haney told Chronicle columnist Heather Knight.

“I’m glad that Noe Valley will at some point get a bathroom, but it shouldn’t cost this much and it shouldn’t take this long, and I’m angry about it,” Haney added. “It’s not something I want to celebrate right now.”

A spokesperson for the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department told Fox News that the $1.7 million price tag is due to  "onerous demands and unpredictable costs levied by PG&E," construction costs that have skyrocketed 20% to 30% in the past two years, and employment of workers who are being paid a living wage with benefits.

The spokesperson added that the estimate covered not only construction, but also “planning, drawing, permits, reviews, public outreach and construction management." Any left over funds would be put toward maintenance. 

The Chronicle reports the Noe Valley bathroom “kerfuffle is just one example of a city bureaucracy so overly complicated and enamored of process that nothing seems to get done.” Another example it gave was how the city’s transportation agency announced this week it would take seven years to remove parking spaces from curbs in front of bus stops to help wheelchair-bound passengers and the elderly board more easily.

Haney said he can’t do anything about the $1.7 million committed in the state budget for the bathroom but called for reforms.

“The cost is insane. The process is insane. The amount of time it takes is insane,” Haney said.