Of all the complicated tidbits swirling all over San Francisco’s internationally infamous $1.7 million rest room, the astronomical value to structure it was one particular of the most perplexing.
Now, Supervisor Myrna Melgar is determined to get to the base of just how the town calculated the $445,000 in architecture and engineering expenses for a small bathroom in the Noe Valley Town Square. Soon after all, it is just one rest room in a 150-sq.-foot framework — not the Rest room Taj Mahal.
On Tuesday, Melgar gave the Division of General public Is effective 60 days to make clear that belly-churning determine and give a complete accounting of latest tasks performed by its in-residence architects and engineers when compared with people set out to bid to private firms.
“You inspired me!” Melgar advised me with a laugh. “It’s seriously outrageous. Which is what a residence expenditures in other components of the place, not building a toilet.”
The situation of the pricey commode first arrived to light-weight in this column 6 weeks back when Assemblymember Matt Haney, D-San Francisco, prepared a potty get together in the Noe Valley Town Sq. to rejoice winning $1.7 million in condition money to build a long-sought lavatory.
When this column pointed out that determine reeked and the projected opening day of 2025 smelled even worse, Haney canceled the celebration — and Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that he was withholding the condition resources till Rec and Park could occur back again with a extra palatable prepare.
Melgar, a former president of the Organizing Commission, also strategies to question how a great deal DPW’s staff of architects and engineers has swelled in excess of the earlier five bond cycles. They’re now a workforce of 283 persons whose salaries and added benefits full about $57 million for each calendar year — not which include managers.
And they’re not compensated out of the city’s normal fund like other town workers they’re paid by other town departments for every venture using bond or grant money. When some departments can decide to set jobs out to bid, some others cannot, and should offer you DPW the suitable of initially refusal. Rec and Park has the alternative to go the bidding route.
Because there’s no opposition for DPW on lots of assignments, Melgar stated she miracles no matter whether the division has an incentive to inflate its expenses. She explained she’ll probable maintain hearings on the subject right after obtaining solutions from the section.
The $445,000 estimate for arranging and planning the Noe Valley lavatory provided $300,000 for DPW architects and engineers, $40,000 for DPW to “verify current conditions” of the site utilities, $30,000 for a guide to estimate the fees of the undertaking and $75,000 on reserve in circumstance, amazingly, these charges grew even larger.
And that doesn’t involve really developing something.
Rachel Gordon, spokesperson for DPW, defended the department’s team of architects and engineers, stating the metropolis is blessed to have this sort of major-notch industry experts planning gorgeous public jobs.
The architects, landscape architects and engineers know the city’s laws inside of out and can fine-tune operate on recurring initiatives which include playgrounds, department libraries and homeless shelters, she said. She additional they’re aggressive expense-wise with private firms and aren’t pushed by gain.
She said DPW disputes Rec and Park’s spending plan breakdown for the $1.7 million Noe Valley bathroom and wasn’t consulted on it. Rec and Park dependent its projections on equally expensive modest solitary-toilet bogs in McLaren Park and Alamo Square, but Gordon said these jobs were much more sophisticated than the Noe Valley web page. She mentioned the architecture and design and style expenses for the Noe Valley task “could be” as small as $50,000, however DPW has not accomplished the perform to supply a real estimate.
Melgar, however, isn’t so sure.
“Let’s have some transparency,” she explained.“The taxpayers are getting rid of our have confidence in when things like this takes place. We will need to make certain they know that we can provide factors on time and at price tag, and this technique does not.”
She additional that DPW having on initiatives devoid of opposition skirts the city’s community enterprise company plan, which is created to give non-public smaller firms helmed by girls and individuals of coloration a leg up in winning metropolis contracts. To be honest, assignments put out to bid can be particularly costly, also.
Jason Elliott, Newsom’s deputy main of employees, advised me Monday that the governor’s office environment has read practically nothing from Rec and Park over and above the office forwarding a letter from Common Supervisor Phil Ginsburg to Haney detailing why the toilet would value so much. Elliott would not say how considerably for a longer time the governor is keen to hold out.
Tamara Aparton, a spokesperson for Rec and Park, mentioned the division will ship a revised spending budget when it is completely ready, but had no timeline.
While the toilet tale prompted chuckles around the country and even the earth, its lessons are critical. No one appears to like the inflated expenditures, insanely extensive timelines and huge quantities of purple tape concerned in acquiring just about something accomplished in San Francisco.
But the many years of dubious choice-earning that made a landscape in which one particular bathroom can expense $1.7 million have grow to be just element of the city’s fabric — like its fog and hills, but minus the attraction.
“This is the issue that bugs me the most,” Melgar said. “There was no mayor or Board of Supervisors who manufactured that conclusion. It just variety of took place.”
But she and other supervisors — including Haney ahead of he joined the point out Legislature — have rubber-stamped highly-priced jobs without asking more than enough concerns, indicating every person at Town Corridor demands to do the job more difficult to ferret out why the city’s technique of setting up jobs is so damaged and how to resolve it.
In the meantime, Chad Kaufman, CEO of the General public Restroom Co., satisfied with staffers from Rec and Park a couple of weeks in the past to present a no cost modular bathroom for the city square that would just take just three days to put in.
The metropolis of Los Angeles not long ago purchased 7 of his bathrooms, which retail for $135,000, which includes some to be placed on Skid Row. You’d assume that if they’re strong adequate for Skid Row, they’re durable enough for Noe Valley. Kaufman stated the San Francisco staffers were being “receptive” but they have not formally acknowledged his supply.
Kaufman explained if his bathroom is installed, he’ll toss a actual potty party — comprehensive with espresso and doughnuts.
“My tagline is, ‘Building far better areas to go.’ At conferences, I give away whoopee cushions with my brand on them,” he mentioned. “This is ideal up my alley.”
Aparton explained Rec and Park is “indeed pretty hopeful” about accepting Kaufman’s donation. It’s nevertheless a significantly means off, however. Any grant would have to be accepted by the Rec and Park Fee and the Board of Supervisors, at which stage the section would find the good permits and submit its revised funding prepare to the governor.
Haney on Monday advised me he’s spoken with Kaufman and supports the installation of the modular bathroom in Noe Valley — and that he hopes the metropolis will set up extra like it.
A new rest room cannot arrive quickly plenty of for the town square. A Porta-Potty meant for use on the weekends by farmers’ industry sellers was eradicated just after folks regularly broke its lock and created messes inside of.
Leslie Crawford, co-founder of the Town Sq., claimed she’s been certain by Supervisor Rafael Mandelman and Condition Sen. Scott Wiener that Noe Valley will get a suitable bathroom — a person that’s less expensive and a lot quicker to establish.
Advised of Melgar’s prepare to suss out the motives for the overpriced bathroom, Crawford was delighted.
“We require to glimpse at how to do items far better,” she stated. “This is not about Noe Valley. This is about a nicely-operate city.”
And last but not least attaining that must be job No. 1.
Chronicle information visualization developer Nami Sumida contributed reporting to this story.
Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf
