Today brings an interesting post on the lack of public restrooms in Washington DC by blogger Lynda Laughlin, a sociologist whose day job is a family demographer with the US Census Bureau.    

Citing PHLUSH efforts in Portland, Laughlin says    Advocating for more public restrooms can be tricky. People are often too embarrassed to report difficulties finding a restroom, even though it is a common problem for all of us. The increased availability of public restrooms would benefit property owners, retailers, social service providers, health officials, tourism boards, mass transit authorities, pedestrian and cycling advocates and downtown workers and residents, it’s just a matter of getting all them all to realize that public toilets are in their own best interest. 

Let’s hope the well informed citizens blogging on Greater Greater Washington will pursue or address some of the threads, both informed and ill-informed, in the discussion of public restrooms that follows this helpful overview.

Interviewed about the shortage of public restrooms in downtown Portland and the resulting  inconvenience, PHLUSH Co-Founder Tom Carrollo notes that “people can’t wait”.    This axiom provided the title of a short documentary on the Portland Loo, which premiered to a full house at the Hollywood Theater on Wednesday night.  

People Can’t Wait from shieldsfilms.com on Vimeo.
The documentary is the entry of filmmaker Travis Shields in an international film competition.   His ShieldsFilm studio is a couple of blocks from the prototype Portland Loo on NW Glisan between 5th and 6th.