Business owners and residents are expected to embrace the installation of two public automated toilets on the east side of downtown.
The two washrooms come with a hefty price tag for the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, the group spearheading the East Village redevelopment. The total cost is estimated at $300,000.
The washrooms play music when the door is closed and locked, and a sanitized toilet seat emerges from the wall.
A similar automatic washroom was installed as a pilot project in Tomkins Park, near the heart of the Red Mile, in 2008.
Barb Stein, the Executive Director of the Uptown 17th Avenue Business Revitalization Zone, says the automatic washroom has been a welcome addition to 17th Ave.
"It's been well maintained by the City of Calgary," says Stein. "It's been well received by Calgarians that have had the opportunity to use it."
"Our statistics are way down from our street cleaning personnel that have had situations in the past, especially in our laneways. Now that we have the facility, it is being used."
The staff of a pizzeria located across the street from Tomkins Park has seen the benefit of an automatic public washroom in the neighbourhood.
"I like it. It keeps a lot of the stuff out of here and I don't have the problems to deal with," says Heather Bull of Manies Pizzeria and Greek Cuisine.
Bull adds the number of requests to use the restaurant's bathroom has reduced. She likes being able to point non-customers across the street.
Vicky Young, who owns a business in the area, is also a fan of the public washroom.
"It's really convenient for us," says Young. "We sometimes have people who want to come in and use our toilets, and obviously for security that's not ideal. "Being able to forward them to the park is great."
The Tomkins Park washroom has all but eliminated the number of people relieving themselves in public. According to Calgary Police, the number of tickets written for the offence is down 30 per cent across the city.
