{"id":1115,"date":"2008-07-12T11:14:19","date_gmt":"2008-07-12T16:14:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/2008\/07\/12\/montreals-public-washrooms\/"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:42:21","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:42:21","slug":"montreals-public-washrooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2008\/07\/12\/montreals-public-washrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal&#8217;s public washrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.cyberpresse.ca\/apps\/pbcsi.dll\/bilde?Site=CP&#038;Date=20080712&#038;Category=CPACTUEL&#038;ArtNo=80711275&#038;Ref=AR&#038;Profile=5155&#038;MaxW=300&#038;Q=85\" align=\"right\" \/>La Presse has taken upon itself to evaluate the state of Montreal&#8217;s public washrooms. While this might seem, in some respects, like an exercise in summer-brand Journalism Lite, it&#8217;s actually a pretty important topic. Public toilets are an essential but woefully overlooked aspect of public space, if only because they enable people to actually use that space &#8212; after all, everybody&#8217;s gotta pee at some point or another, and it just isn&#8217;t right to expect them to run home or into a private business to relieve themselves. For people who spent most of their time in the streets, such as the homeless, public washrooms are not just convenient, they&#8217;re essential.<\/p>\n<p>So how do our facilities fare? <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyberpresse.ca\/article\/20080712\/CPACTUEL\/80711275\/5155\/CPACTUALITES\">Not so well<\/a>. Although some are particularly well-kept, like those in the chalet on Mount Royal or in the Palais des Congr\u00e8s, most are cramped, dirty and in need of renovation. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Dans les parcs, certaines toilettes causent des probl\u00e8mes, plus particuli\u00e8rement lorsqu\u2019elles sont am\u00e9nag\u00e9es \u00e0 l\u2019int\u00e9rieur de vieux chalets d\u2019hiver v\u00e9tustes. C\u2019est ce que nous avons constat\u00e9 aux parcs Lafond et P\u00e9lican, dans l\u2019arrondissement de Rosemont\u2013La Petite-Patrie. Ces deux endroits sont carr\u00e9ment insalubres.<\/p>\n<p>Au parc Lafond, du c\u00f4t\u00e9 des femmes, un lavabo sur deux contenait une substance ressemblant \u00e0 des vomissures, et une toilette sur deux \u00e9tait totalement bouch\u00e9e. Le plancher aurait m\u00e9rit\u00e9 un bon coup de vadrouille. Pas de papier hygi\u00e9nique, de savon, de s\u00e9choir ni de papier essuie-mains \u2013ce qui est d\u2019autant plus d\u00e9plorable que les toilettes jouxtent une pataugeoire.<\/p>\n<p>\u00c0 cela, le charg\u00e9 de communications de l\u2019arrondissement, Louis Tremblay, explique la situation par le vandalisme et le mauvais comportement de certains usagers: \u00abLe vandalisme nous emp\u00eache de maintenir nos chalets de parcs ouverts en permanence, dit-il. Quelques employ\u00e9s y sont affect\u00e9s du jeudi au dimanche, de l\u2019apr\u00e8s-midi \u00e0 la fin de soir\u00e9e. Cela nous permet de garder les chalets ouverts.\u00bb Autrement, les chalets ne sont ouverts qu\u2019au moment d\u2019activit\u00e9s particuli\u00e8res. Dans certains cas, on peut obtenir savon et papier aupr\u00e8s des pr\u00e9pos\u00e9s aux pataugeoires.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/spacing\/868011201\/in\/set-72157601351259372\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1174\/868011201_8a3693f904.jpg?v=0\" width=\"250\" align=\"right\" \/><\/a>Quant au nettoyage, il a lieu une fois par jour. Donc, si un \u00abd\u00e9g\u00e2t\u00bb survient le matin et que l\u2019\u00e9quipe de nettoyage passe le soir, il faut prendre son mal en patience&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Dans Ville-Marie, on nous dit que des toilettes chimiques sont install\u00e9es dans les parcs au moment d\u2019une activit\u00e9 sp\u00e9ciale ou parce que les toilettes du chalet sont bris\u00e9es.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>La Presse&#8217;s reporters have even <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyberpresse.ca\/assets\/pdf\/CP1880711.PDF\">prepared a chart<\/a>, in PDF format, comparing the state of various public washrooms around Montreal. For the most part, though, they fail to press the city on why there are so few public washrooms outside of the usual parks and tourist areas. Many cities, particularly those in Europe and Asia, have dedicated public washrooms located in busy areas. Some are elaborate free-standing structures, like in Hong Kong, while others are the kinds of small, self-cleaning toilets pioneered by Paris. They aren&#8217;t always clean but at least they&#8217;re there. <\/p>\n<p><i>Above right: Public washroom in Stockholm. Photo by Matt Blackett<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>La Presse has taken upon itself to evaluate the state of Montreal&#8217;s public washrooms. While this might seem, in some respects, like an exercise in summer-brand Journalism Lite, it&#8217;s actually a pretty important topic. Public toilets are an essential but woefully overlooked aspect of public space, if only because they enable people to actually use<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2008\/07\/12\/montreals-public-washrooms\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Montreal&#8217;s public washrooms&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7841],"tags":[497,2719,2718,1937,125,704,68,1964],"class_list":["post-1115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-services","tag-europe","tag-louis-tremblay","tag-many","tag-matt-blackett","tag-montreal","tag-paris","tag-public-services","tag-stockholm"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Montreal&#039;s public washrooms - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2008\/07\/12\/montreals-public-washrooms\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Montreal&#039;s public washrooms - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"La Presse has taken upon itself to evaluate the state of Montreal&#8217;s public washrooms. 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