SF Supe Seeks To Save 24-Hour Bathroom Access Amid Proposed Cuts

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — With possible cuts to a program providing 24 public bathrooms in San Francisco, Supervisor Matt Haney on Friday proposed a plan to fund the program and save it from being eliminated.

The city's Pit Stop program offers public bathrooms for anyone to use, with most locations in the city's downtown areas.

In 2019, the Pit Stop program, operated by the Department of Public Works, moved to make 3 of its 25 locations accessible for 24 hours a day under a pilot program. Then, during the pandemic, Pit Stops expanded to a total of 62 locations, with 36 of them being 24 hours.

According to Haney, the proposed budget for the upcoming year by Mayor London Breed would drastically reduce funding for the program, reducing the number of Pit Stop locations back to 25, and no 24-hour locations.

Haney, whose district includes the Tenderloin and South of Market, has been a proponent for 24-hour bathroom access, which he said is essential to keeping streets clean and to providing people with dignity.

"We absolutely cannot go backwards and reduce access to public bathrooms," Haney said in a statement. "Public bathrooms, open and accessible, when people need them are essential for a clean, safe and healthy city. If we want clean and healthy streets, if we want business and tourism to return, if we want to honor the basic human needs of our workers, visitors, and residents both housed and unhoused, we need to maintain funding for Pit Stops."

Haney, who chairs the city's Budget and Appropriations Committee, said he's committed to adding a minimum of $3.3 million to the Public Works budget for the upcoming year in order to restore at least 5 24-hours bathrooms and add 5 additional bathrooms.

"We need 24hr restrooms because access to a public bathroom is essential. We deserve to be treated with dignity," said Cheryl Shanks with the Tenderloin People's Congress, an organization advocating for the 24-hour bathroom access.

Copyright 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. — Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.