04:54 PM CST on Monday, January 31, 2005

By Doug Miller / 11 News

HOUSTON -- Downtown Houston has all sorts of new amenities to complement the revitalized street life, but there's one thing visitors will still be hard-pressed to find.

KHOU

Downtown pedestrians may be out of luck if "nature calls."

"Do you know if there's a bathroom around here?"

"No, sure don't."

"That's a helluva question. You have to have a friend in a building."

Where do you go when you've gotta go? People walking around downtown can laugh, but to downtown boosters its no joke.

"Well, we've got water fountains. Houston's a hot city."

Downtown redevelopment officials have talked about public toilets for years now.

"But at this point, it's pretty much cost-prohibitive, because to maintain it on a monthly basis would be about $1500 a month," said Vicki Rivers with the Main St. Market Square Revelopment Authority. "The hard cost is about $150,000, as we're told by one of the vendors."

Seattle is one of the cities that recently installed public toilets. But unlike Seattle, Houston officials figure the cost is so high, the Bayou City's public bathrooms would have to become pay toilets.

Another big question: Where to put the public toilets? After all, if you own a restaurant or a bar downtown, do you really want your customers looking out of the window at a public toilet?

Until downtown boosters find the money for public restrooms, downtown pedestrians will have no relief in sight.