- Denis C. Theriault
- Great success! Roz Eisenstark emerges from the new loo.
It was just about 1 o'clock this afternoon when the telltale WHOOSH issued through the vents of the new loo down on SW Naito and Taylor. Roz Eisenstark, visiting from Del Rey Beach, Fla., emerged shortly after to wash her hands and marvel at the gun-metal facility where she had just done her business.
"It was great," gushed Eisenstark, the first civilian to press the flusher button inside the toilet, which opened with modest fanfare this afternoon. "It was clean and it was noiseless and it was efficient."
The toilet, like its counterpart on 5th and Glisan, which opened back in 2008, is the brainchild of Commissioner Randy Leonard, patron saint in these parts of those who need to piss. Like RIGHT NOW. OH SHIT! OH GOD! RIGHT NOW!
Leonard, beaming like a proud papa, was on hand to show the thing off. And he was greeted by a handful of bureaucrats (including Commissioner Amanda Fritz) and a slightly smaller handful of reporters clearly looking for the, um, straight poop. (Sorry, first and last one of those.) He gave the honors of the first flush, at 12:45 sharp, to one of his aides, Stuart Oishi.
If it was a big day for Leonard's office, the doubling of Portland's stock of ballyhooed loos, it's only because the road to a piss-pot on every corner has been a bit strained.
In fact, some people are downright pissed the city is putting up toilets period. And keeping them open 24/7? The horrors! Why so mad and will the toilets keep popping up? Keep reading.