Funding expands Tenderloin ‘Pit Stops’

A public toilet and waste program in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood that was set to end on Friday has been extended, with plans to expand, according to Supervisor Jane Kim.

Kim announced today that $203,200 has been secured for the Tenderloin Pit Stop program, which currently operates at three locations in the Tenderloin neighborhood and will be adding another in the South of Market neighborhood sometime this year.

An ordinance for the program was appropriated during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance committee meeting today and will be voted on by the full board on Jan. 27.

The pilot program is a partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Works and nonprofit San Francisco Clean City Coalition making available portable toilets and sinks, used needle receptacles and dog waste stations. The facilities are staffed through the coalition and moved to the sites by truck, according the public works department.

The toilets run on solar power and are cleaned off-site everyday, city public works officials said. The current sites are at Ellis Street between Taylor and Jones streets; Hyde Street between Eddy and Turk streets; and Golden Gate Avenue between Jones and Taylor streets.

They are open Tuesdays through Fridays from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. In the past six months, the program saved the city 165 gallons in cleaning water daily and about 2,640 gallons per month, according to Sunny Angulo, legislative aide to Kim.

There were 275 syringes safely disposed during the first 14 weeks of the program, Angulo said.

Kim said in a statement:

“Public toilets are part of keeping a neighborhood healthy, safe and clean, and we are using data to help target the most cost-effective way to address the great need.”