Thursday, April 3, 2008

$13,000 city toilet not all it's flushed up to be ..

Would you pay 13 grand for a toilet? Akron City Council did .. sort of ... and no this isn't an April Fool's story.
Council recently approved ten new thrones for the women's rooms at Lock 3. I don't think anyone will argue that's a good investment based on the success of the venue .. and let's face it .. women ain't coming to Lock 3 if they can't be comfortable.

The approved cost was $13,000+ .... each.
They're not quite the gold ones pictured here, but at that price, some folks might expect a high-class seat for their business. I just couldn't resist this photo I found on the web.

City Hall tells me that the cost also covers some sinks .. and a few other bathroom essentials .. and renovations .. but on the surface, $136K sure sounds like a lot of Jack for our Janes to have nice Johns.

I'm assuming that either:
  • Each flush will generate college $$ in the sewers for scholarships proposal.

  • The toilets are so nice that women will want to leave the gritty, dirty uni-sex toilets of their downtown offices and schedule their lunch breaks near Lock 3.

  • The tissue paper that compliments a 13K commode is so soft women just won't want to leave.

  • Now that we have four women on council, someone is finally paying attention to ladies' needs.
I still want to see the actual work orders so I can see what we're getting for our tax money .. but I'm already putting together the idea of pink t-shirts that say: "I went #1 and #2 at Lock #3"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'mon Eric... have you ever done any construction at your house? The costs approved by Council include a lot of construction, a lot of plumbing, with vents, pipes, the whole 9 yards. And Oh yes ---about 9 yards of concrete too for a floor. Walls, ceilings, fans. You HAD to be kidding us. You're too smart to have missed all the costs of bathroom construction for 10 stalls.

Ben said...

seems a tad excessive

Eric Mansfield said...

Anonymous .. if you read my post again, you'll see the I reference the cost of the entire project .. and that it does include more than just toilets ...

much of it is quite tongue-and-cheek ...

but as I'm told, the work order specifies a bill based on a "per toilet" rate ... so $136 / 10 equals $13,000 per throne ...

even for concrete and the removal of a wall, the $136K new bathroom at least deserves a second-glance from average folks who could take $5K and turn their own bathrooms into palaces ...

enjoy my humor will ya!!!!

Anonymous said...

Eric, I am not surprised that Akron would spend that much. It is a drop in the bucket for them. They will make up for it with the speeding cameras. I dont care how bad the economy is, every government loves to waste money.

laurac19 said...

I LOVE your idea for the T-shirts...what a HOOT!!