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Chayne Hampton is the manager at Santa Cruz Plumbing Inc., operating the company’s residential plumbing department.

Plumbing was prominent in Hampton’s life growing up in Santa Cruz. His father has been working for the UA Local 38 Plumbers & Pipefitters union in San Francisco since Hampton was born. Around age 20, Hampton began to work alongside his father. But that soon ended because of what Hampton calls “bad life choices.” Hampton struggled with a drug addiction that ultimately led him in 2016 to serve three years at San Quentin State Prison for burglary. After his release in 2019, he entered rehab and sought employment. He reached out to Santa Cruz Plumbing owner Jason Allison, who gave Hampton a chance. He started out as a shop hand, eventually working his way up to manager.

Transitioning from incarceration to the workforce is no easy feat. Hampton says people “have to learn how to operate in a world that’s not the world that you’ve been in.” Many will pass judgment, he says, but if someone is a hard worker their past shouldn’t hold them back. Hampton relishes the simplicities of life, having gone through losing his freedom while in prison. He prides himself on maintaining a job long term, something he struggled with in the past. He enjoys what he describes as “normal-people stuff,” like traveling, working out and spending time with his wife.

Hampton also shared stories on the “Ear Hustle” podcast, as well as narrating parts of the audio version of the book “This is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life” by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods. He hopes to be able to progress in his career, either growing the residential plumbing sector or working for himself and beginning a family business.

Education:

• San Lorenzo Valley High School
• Cabrillo College: construction estimating, plumbing code, blueprint reading

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout: Can you walk me through how you became involved in the plumbing industry?

Chayne Hampton: My dad’s a plumber and he works for the [plumbing] union in San Francisco, and he’s worked there since before I was born. When I turned 20-something, I tried to join the union and I ended up getting in. I was commuting over the hill with my dad and that commute was just kind of a nightmare. I can see it now in retrospect how draining that drive is and just working in the city in general. They would pay you a lot but it’s a lot of time off your life. But that’s not why I left the union — I made some bad life choices that ended my career there.

I went to jail two times before I went to prison. Just little six-month stint[s]. I thought that would be the end of it, they would never send me away because I was such a petty criminal. The judge looked at what I was doing and saw that it was gradually getting worse and worse. I was taking bigger and bigger risks and that got me a prison sentence. I ended up going to prison for a little bit and when I got out I was in a rehab, New Life on the Westside.

I turned in an application [to] Anne Keating, who’s our HR person [at Santa Cruz Plumbing]; [she] got my application, showed it to [company owner] Jason [Allison]. One of my past employment [experiences] was at San Quentin, [at] the waste management plant. I was trying to make it look pretty without saying I’d been to prison. Jason, not being an idiot, put it together and gave me a call and he said, “I’m very empathetic to a guy in your position. Where are you at? I’m going to come talk to you.” So he came to where I was at. He was like, “All right dude, we’re going to start you at this [wage],” which in retrospect was exactly how much money I needed to make at that time. Now I make twice that.

I had minimal experience, at that point I think I was a [shop hand]. [Jason said,] “All right, we’ll get you digging some holes.” So that’s where I started, digging a little bit [and] organizing the truck, nothing too complicated because, I mean, I was like a baby. After a while, slowly more responsibilities [were] put on my lap. Jason is pretty hands-on and he saw where I had some strength, which was mostly relatability with people, deescalating situations [with] customers [or] other contractors, just general customer-service skills. My employment took a bit of a shift to more management, so I have guys working under me. I’ve been doing this now for about a year.

Lookout: What does a typical day look like for you?

Hampton: For me, I just started checking my emails. [But] whenever I get started I get parts [and] lay [it out for the] guys, like, “This is the job we’re doing today.” Then I’ll go to the job with them and get a material list for them so that they don’t have to drive back and forth to the supply house, kind of streamline things. [I’ll] check in with the customer to make sure they’re doing OK, no one is making a mess, everyone is parking where they should be parking, let them know if the water is going [to] be off. From there, I head back to the office [to] follow up on quotes that I had written and then from time to time I [find] myself in the field tying up loose ends, [like if] a customer needs to be walked through how their new tankless water heater works, then that’s the last thing I’ll do in the day.

Lookout: What was the experience of transitioning from prison back to the workforce?

Hampton: I mean, I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance in hell. I’ve got tattoos. Even before going to prison I lived in a prison of my own making. Through lifestyle choices I created a very small world for myself, [it was] very limiting. I [could] never be too far away from the action. My life was confined to six or seven blocks in each direction. I was crippled by drugs and addiction, mentally and physically.

I didn’t have any proper skills. But Jason, once again, I [have] to give this guy all the props in the world. I don’t know what he saw in me, maybe he thought I’d only last a week or a year. I’ve never done anything [for work] for five years [and now] someone just took a shot on me. I have buddies who are in the same situation as me, and [it’s] “I can’t find work” and this and that. It’s not easy for a lot of dudes with tattoos on their face and a rough background or a record, but it’s not impossible. I also have a ton of friends who brought themselves into unions. You’ve just got to be willing to start from the bottom. I was trying to be very humble about it: You want me to dig holes? I’ll dig holes.

Lookout: What was it like working in the sewage treatment plant at San Quentin?

Hampton: So my sewage treatment job, when I first got it, I was like, “Cool, sewage treatment, I’m going [to have] a breaker and some chemicals, maybe some goggles.” Yeah, I had goggles, but my tools were a pitchfork and a hose. I would go into this thing they called the pit where all the sewage travels through it. I would have to unclog these drains with the pitchfork and the hose. When you make food in prison you make it in a spread bag [a plastic bag] and when you’re done with it guys will just tie it and then flush it. So when I’d be in there spraying off sewage, sometimes I’d hit one of those bags, it’d ricochet into my face. That’s why I was going to have the goggles and that’s when I stopped having a beard.

They tell you this is your job then you show up for it and if you [try] to refuse it, it’s going to be bad. There’s this weird illusion of free will [that] people think is so necessary, but after being incarcerated, I’ll tell you what, I miss sometimes having someone tell me when to do things. Like, sure, you’re free, but at the same time, that’s a lot of thinking, decision-making, responsibility [and] accountability.

When I applied for the job [at Santa Cruz Plumbing], of course with Jason I was all-in. I was in the union but I don’t necessarily want to tell this guy I’ve been to prison. I’m just going to be honest, but also say, I worked in the sewage treatment plant in San Quentin. San Quentin is not just a prison, I’m pretty sure it’s a town. He took one look at that and was like, “mm-hmm.” So he figured it out.

Lookout: What do you love most about your job?

Hampton: I like interacting with people. I like getting people set up and stoked. Maybe changing the narrative a little bit that you can’t trust your mechanic, you can’t trust your plumber. Everybody is trying to sell you something extra. It’s like no, man, I’m really not. You just have this active water leak I’m trying to get taken care of. My wife called me from the mechanic and she’s just, “Oh, they’re trying to sell me this fluid. I don’t know if I need it.” I was like, “Maybe you need it.” Everyone’s so scared and I get it. One of the things I like doing is [to] just surprise people by giving them what they want and maybe telling them what they need.

I’ve been able to hire guys too, Jason has allowed me to have that responsibility. There’s been guys that were like me, I’m like, “Let’s give you a chance.” Not all of them have worked out but like one of them did, [and] that’s great. Who doesn’t like a comeback story?

Lookout: What have been your biggest challenges in your career?

Hampton: Realizing what a lack of proper education I had going into this, whether it’s spelling, mathematics, writing an email properly, talking to people [professionally]. Those are these huge hurdles I’m working on every day. Those are things I’ve had to adapt to. Also being kind of a self-starter, my days aren’t always laid out for me. I’ve got to keep myself busy and productive.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout: What advice would you give to someone who is interested in this type of career?

Hampton: Just be humble and ready to show up. I mean, just because you got paid $25 an hour under the table by Jimmy Jams Plumbing in Boulder Creek doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to get that somewhere else. And that’s OK, then you go and you learn. I’ve taken classes at Cabrillo that correlate with my career: construction estimating, plumbing code, blueprint reading. Those weren’t things I asked my boss to pay for, either. It’s not his responsibility, it’s your responsibility. If you want to get paid more, be worth more. I know that’s a tough thing. The trades are riddled with guys that have problems showing up on time or attitudes. Just be stoked you got a job, show up a little early, stay a little late. Don’t look [at] your time clock, [or write] every email like, “I actually [finished] work at 3:05, [so] I should get paid for those five minutes.” You should get paid for those five minutes but my dad always told me, “If you got to stay a little late to fix your mistake, don’t make Jason pay for it.”

Lookout: Who is the best person suited for the job?

Hampton: I mean, anybody. Man, women, [or] whoever, a worker [is] a worker. Maybe you’re working with a guy who doesn’t speak any English, but plumbing’s like a universal language, like mathematics. You watch YouTube videos on silent on how to cook things, you could watch a plumbing tutorial in Spanish while you only speak English and still learn something. Just bust ass, move fast and don’t make too big of a mess.

You have to be able to work with dispatch, guys who are ordering parts and you have to have some degree of communication skills and traveling up on your own. It’s a team effort.

Lookout: What can someone expect to be paid when they’re going into this career field?

Hampton: I don’t know, maybe $20-ish if you have a license? You’re not only getting a job but you’re also getting hands-on training that translates to other places. You could probably get a job for more starting at a restaurant, for example. It’s like, what’s your intention?

If you’re really good you can make like $75 an hour. If you’re doing your own thing you could charge $125 an hour, you could charge whatever you feel like you’re worth, as long as you’re being fair with the customer and honest. If you’re new to a company but you’ve done plumbing for 15 years, they may start you off at a certain dollar amount and then once you’re able to prove yourself then your price will go up.

Lookout: What’s the difference between a union and non-union plumbing?

Hampton: A lot, it’s a big question. [In a] union, there’s guaranteed work. It’s hard to say, because some people prefer the union, but you have to pay dues to the union. You’re not allowed to really strike out on your own, like your knowledge is essentially theirs. Prevailing wages, some projects are only union, like this is a union plumber job and it’s prevailing wage. That could be upwards of $75 an hour, but that prevailing wage job doesn’t necessarily last forever.

Lookout: What is something that most people misunderstand about your job?

Hampton: There’s a lot more to it than you think. It’s not just unclogging toilets, it’s also opening up walls, installing new plumbing systems [and] knowing how hot water works. I understand it’s just water, but [it’s] temperatures, also gas and gas pressure. Like what size should your gas line be if it’s servicing these three different fixtures? I’ve got to find out what’s on the fixtures and this degree of math to size something correctly because it’s going to go underground. I don’t think it’s a trade you would see depicted in a movie. Like I’m Mario and Luigi and we just got these plungers. There’s a lot to it. There’s a complement of electrical and HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems]. They all culminate into one.

Lookout: What kind of jobs do you think there will be out there in the plumbing field?

Hampton: I think the technology around plumbing is always changing, new applications, making it so jobs can be done quicker. There’s all kinds of routes that you want to take [because] plumbing is not just water and poop. It’s also gas [appliances]. There’s new water heaters that are electric — in California, we’re trying to go in that electric direction. That means your old gas water heaters have to go, and your new electric ones have to go in.

Lookout: What does the trajectory of your job look like?

Hampton: For me, I would like to grow [into] the service department and have more guys. Jason, the owner, is responsible for over 100 guys. If I could have my little department where I’m doing that in my own way, that’s the goal. Maybe one day be competent enough to do something on my own or have my dad involved and keep it in the family. Jason started his company from the ground up, out of his garage. I do more residential stuff at people’s houses, if I were able to grow that. Right now we have five guys. When we have 10 guys, we’d really have a thriving service department along with [a] thriving construction side.

Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

Lookout: What would be your advice to someone who is getting out of jail or in a position where they ask, “What’s my next step?”

Hampton: Apply, apply, apply. Just apply and be forthcoming. I genuinely believe there are business owners out there [who] want to be that person that gave that dude [a] chance and he just crushed it. Understand though, too, other guys have come before you and they let people down. Understand that people are going to pass judgment. Don’t lie, be forthcoming. The bottom line is, none of that [stuff] will matter if you’re a really good plumber or you’re a really good hand [or] worker.

Lookout: What motivates you every single day to continue on considering all the hurdles you’ve gone through?

Hampton: Personally, it’s the security of having something to do every day. I know that idle hands [are] like the devil’s playground. Too much idle time, either you’re just on social media or you’re distracting yourself in one shape or form. At least this way, I’m driving around on this side of the hill. That’s the great part. I could be on the Westside, in Aptos or Felton all in the same day and that just keeps me busy. I also have a wife now, she works here cleaning vacation rentals. We’re a DINK [couple], dual income, no kids. So we like to go out to dinner, travel or whatever and those things cost money.

Lookout: What does the future look like for you?

Hampton: I would like to get a dog. Me and my wife want to go to Italy. It’s a lot of normal-people stuff that maybe to the average person is like, “Yeah, that [stuff] is cool.” But understand I came from a place where, like I said, I’ve never done anything for five years. I don’t know how else to describe it, I’ve had a job for five years, like I’ve been fired from everywhere I ever worked. The second I got off drugs and started trying, I was able to keep things. I think that was a pretty big constant in my life before, I was always losing things. Whether it was something as simple as losing the money I had in my pocket for the drugs, losing this and losing that, and losing my freedom. Now I try, and I genuinely put in the effort. It’s just my belief that when you put in the effort you get gifts.

The post How I Received My Job: After spending time in jail, plumbing supervisor Chayne Hampton discovered goal in a profession within the trades appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

(The Center Square) – In states like California, Colorado, Washington and Arizona, cities this summer are spending millions buying hotels and converting them to shelters for the homeless.

In Los Angeles, there is a ballot initiative in 2024 to require hotels to use vacant rooms to house homeless people besides paying customers. The American Hotel & Lodging Association has objected to the proposal.

The spending on homelessness is fueled by the federal pandemic money and a national movement led by the White House to address the problem of how to house the estimated 582,000 people in the U.S. are homeless.

The city of Berkeley is planning to spend $12.5 million over the next five years to house homeless people in Super 8 motel rooms.

San Francisco officials will spend an additional $10 million on securing rooms in area hotels for the city’s homeless population.

The city of Tucson completed a deal with Pima County to have the county run a former Knights Inn hotel as a shelter for homeless people. The county will pay the city a monthly fee of $39,922.92 to use the property. The city will make repairs and pay for utilities and provide two overnight security guards.

“I like using hotels as shelters – they give people some privacy and the dignity of a door that closes,” said Marybeth Shinn, a Vanderbilt University professor in the Department of Human and Organizational Development. During the pandemic, many cities used hotels as safer places to shelter people than congregate facilities, and some cities converted hotels to studio apartments (relatively easy to do, since individual units already have plumbing, and with a refrigerator and microwave, you can set up marginally adequate housing).

Tucson had considered using shipping containers for homeless people but found they were not in good enough condition and scrapped the plan.

“I don’t like shipping containers,” Shinn said. “They may be less dangerous than sleeping outdoors, but they don’t afford people basic dignity.”

In Scottsdale, Arizona, the state backed out of supporting a deal to house homeless people and illegal foreign nationals. State Rep. Matt Gress, R-Phoenix, had criticized the deal and said it may not be legal and Scottsdale residents didn’t want their tax dollars spent on homeless from other cities and foreign nationals. 

The city of Denver approved a $2.9 million contract for a nonprofit to operate a shelter where up to 300 homeless households will be put up in a motel.

The state of Washington gave King County Regional Homelessness Authority $12 million to lease a hotel for emergency housing.

Los Angeles included $250 million in the fiscal year 2023-2024 budget for homeless individuals living on the streets to stay free stays at hotels as they transition into longer-term housing.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association released on Aug. 7 a poll that found 71% of LA residents said that their city couldn’t afford to pay for homeless to check into any hotels with vacant rooms. The poll also found 66% of LA residents thought the policy would hurt tourism and lead to cuts in city services like education and public safety.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness has promoted a policy called “Housing First” that focuses just on housing the homeless.

“Housing First does not require people experiencing homelessness to address all of their problems including behavioral health problems, or to graduate through a series of services programs before they can access housing,” the National Alliance to End Homelessness stated in March. “Housing First does not mandate participation in services either before obtaining housing or in order to retain housing.”

Michele Steeb, formerly of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Stephen Eide of the Manhattan Institute questioned that approach in a 2022 commentary.

“In the homelessness debate, the fascination with housing, including the technical details of how to finance and build as much as possible, has displaced interest in solutions to the problems of untreated mental illness, addiction, and chronic health conditions,” they stated in the commentary. “Without a focus on treating these diseases, hotel conversions are a distraction posing as an innovation.”

John Bonura, a scholar with Texas Public Policy Foundation, also questioned the strategy on housing homeless people.

“Despite the increase in housing units dedicated to housing homeless people the overall number of people experiencing homelessness has increased,” Bonura said in an email to The Center Square. “The central failure is that the only metric used for success is the nights that people stay housed or the number of housing units they have procured. Success isn’t measured by the aspects that give people a quality of life. No importance is placed on employment, sobriety, or mental health treatment. Cities are content with spending taxpayer dollars on housing without focusing on the dignity that comes from being independent.”

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By Brandon Miller, CFP

I remember my very first Pride celebration, and while it pales in comparison to the party San Francisco throws every year, it’s an important memory for me as it symbolized what a community coming together could mean. Sure, there were parties, banging music, great outfits and all that, but there was more. I just felt it TO BELONG.

It was exciting. It was scary too. Being openly gay in small town Kentucky took a lot of courage. Since that Pride long ago, building and celebrating my community has been a priority for me, now here in San Francisco. It could be watching my boys parade, throwing my own party, or handing out ice cream to clubgoers at midnight sharp. Sometimes all of the above! I need to spend the day recreating the sense of belonging I felt when I popped my Pride cherry.

This year’s theme is “Retrospect and Future”. I can imagine that the renewed attack on LGBTQ+ rights was not necessarily in the back of our minds when choosing this topic. What should be a joyous time of celebration must serve double purpose as a call to action. I hope you come with me?

As a financial advisor working in this community and being a proud member of the community, it has been particularly important for me to acknowledge how far our rights have come, but also that there is still work to be done – particularly in recent attacks on ours Rights with a total of 124 bills introduced so far in 2023, focusing on restricting LGBTQ+ people, restricting their freedom of expression, transgender student livelihoods and basic access to gender dysphoric health care.

In 46 states, these anti-LGBTQ+ laws specifically target young transgender people, and it is clear that we are entering a new era of attacks on our communities. In 2019 there were no state laws banning transgender youth from participating in sports, and now in 2023 there are bans in 19 states. Unthinkable, right? The aim is to oust LGBTQ+ people from public life. Why do you ask? hatred and fear. It is important that we understand the source of the attacks so that we can combat them.

The current status of the rights of our communities is frightening. What can we do when we see our rights are threatened? fight back! This can mean through traditional political and human rights channels, but also through the small things you can do every day, not just in June, to make a difference and raise the voices of others.

community

Be present in your community. Use your gay money to spend in gay or gay friendly places. Don’t give your money to corporations or governments that are actively working to undermine progress. You can search for certified LGBT businesses designated by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. It’s so easy to make a difference.

volunteer

There are so many dedicated organizations locally and globally working to keep us safe every day. Find one or more that appeal to you and get involved. You’ll be surprised how fulfilling volunteering is! Studies suggest that those who volunteer are happier. Yay for serotonin!

You have no time? give money

Do you have enough money to give to charity? Do it. Make a one-time donation. A recurring promotion is even better and can really improve cash flow for nonprofits. Setting up a donor-recommended fund is even better. Build your legacy plan to give back to the communities and causes you care about.

Speak your truth and live loud

Be your authentic self, uncompromisingly the unique, gay little snowflake that you are. We gain strength from numbers and representation. What drives a hateful, fearful tyrant mad? You are happily living your best life!

ally and ask for help

We need our wonderful allies at our side in battle. Ask for help and encourage them to share with their networks the challenges ahead and what they can do throughout the year and not just in June. We really are all in the same boat.

Let’s show the world that we’re not afraid to put in the work to keep moving forward. Happy pride!

Brio does not provide tax or legal advice and nothing contained in these materials should be construed as such. The opinions expressed in this article are for general information purposes only and are not intended as specific advice or recommendations for any individual or any particular security. It is intended solely to provide information about the financial sector. To determine which investments may be suitable for you, consult your financial adviser before investing. Past performance discussed under this program is not a guarantee of future results. Any indices used for comparison are unmanaged and cannot be invested directly. As always, please remember that investing involves risk and a potential loss of capital. Please seek advice from a licensed professional.

Brio Financial Group is a registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an SEC endorsement of Brio, nor does it indicate that Brio has achieved any particular level of ability or skill. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where Brio Financial Group and its agents are properly licensed or exempt from licenses. Brio Financial Group is not permitted to provide advice without entering into a Customer Care Agreement.

Brandon Miller, CFP®, is a financial advisor at Brio Financial Group in San Francisco, specializing in helping LGBT individuals and families plan for and achieve their financial goals.

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Biden declares “America will not default” and says he’s confident the budget deal will come through with Republican lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden has expressed confidence that the US will avoid an unprecedented and potentially catastrophic debt default and says talks with Republicans in Congress have been productive. Biden made his remarks as he headed to Japan for a world summit. He will return on Sunday hoping to agree to a final deal. “I am confident that we can reach an agreement on the budget and that America will not default,” Biden said in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. He said he and lawmakers would come together “because there is no alternative”. Spokesman Kevin McCarthy agreed, although he was more combative, saying Biden “finally backed down” and came to the negotiating table.

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The BP subsidiary agrees to a $40 million fine and measures to reduce pollution at the Lake Michigan refinery

TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan (AP) — Federal officials say a BP subsidiary will pay a $40 million penalty and install technology to control the release of benzene and other pollutants at its Whiting oil refinery in northern Indiana . The measures announced Wednesday settle a civil case against BP Products North America Inc. It was filed by the US Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency. They describe the penalty as the highest ever imposed under the Clean Air Act for pollution from a structure. In addition, the company will invest approximately $197 million in improvements. Officials said the refinery on Lake Michigan near Chicago violated pollution limits.

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Twitter is deleting inactive accounts, including those of people who have died, angering those who are still grieving

WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk announced last week that Twitter would “delete accounts that have had no activity at all for several years.” The move sparked outrage from people who feared they could lose tweets from now-inactive accounts, including those of deceased users. Some users reported that profiles of deceased loved ones disappeared – or the message “Account suspended” appeared in them. Musk said affected accounts would be archived, noting that releasing abandoned accounts was the reason the accounts were being deleted. However, most of the details remain unknown. In 2019, Twitter attempted to implement a similar policy and received the same backlash.

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Target is struggling with spending downturns and theft that could cost the retailer more than $1 billion this year

NEW YORK (AP) – Target reported another quarterly profit decline and issued a cautious sales and earnings outlook for the current period. The discounter is struggling with rising costs and more cautious consumers. Still, Target’s first-quarter financial results on Wednesday beat Wall Street expectations and the company reiterated its annual sales and earnings guidance. Target is among the first major U.S. retailers to report first-quarter earnings. Retail industry analysts will be watching how persistently high inflation and the credit crunch are affecting shoppers.

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Elizabeth Holmes will be sentenced to 11 years in prison on May 30 after refusing her attempt to remain free

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Disgraced Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes remains at large until Memorial Day weekend before turning himself in to authorities on May 30. That would be the start of her more than 11-year sentence for defrauding investors in a blood test scam. A federal judge set Holmes’ revised arrest date after her attorneys suggested it in a filing filed Wednesday. This comes after a federal appeals court late Tuesday denied her request to be released from prison while she seeks to overturn her conviction on four counts of fraud and conspiracy. The penalty also includes a $452 million refund. Holmes, 39, will leave her two young children behind when she reports to jail.

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The EPA rule would enforce the cleanup of toxic waste dumped near coal-fired power plants

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency is tightening a regulation to control and clean up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A Wednesday proposal would require safe disposal of coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills, “old” ponds and other inactive sites currently unregulated at the federal level. EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the plan would hold polluters accountable for controlling and disposing of coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal that can contaminate groundwater, drinking water and air and has been linked to cancer and other health problems. The plan follows an EPA proposal last week to introduce new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants.

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Minnesota lawmakers strengthen quota protections for warehouse workers

Minnesota lawmakers passed legislation that gives warehouse workers who are required to meet productivity quotas more protections, a move aimed at helping employees at companies like Amazon. The safeguards were part of a broader omnibus bill passed Tuesday night by the Minnesota Senate by a 34-33 vote. The House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 70 to 61. The bill would require employers to provide each warehouse worker with a written description of any quotas. Among other safeguards, it prohibits employers from firing workers or taking adverse action against them if they fail to meet a quota that has not been communicated to them.

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The abortion pill case goes to the Court of Appeals, on the way to the Supreme Court

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Appellate judges who have advocated abortion restrictions in the past are hearing disputes over access to a drug used in the most common method of abortion. The case will likely end up in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has already intervened to maintain the availability of the drug mifepristone while litigation continues in court. Three judges of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals listened to an argument that is expected to last at least two hours on Wednesday afternoon. It is about the initial approval of mifepristone by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 and actions by the FDA to make the drug more accessible in later years. The judges will not decide immediately.

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The Biden administration is investing in carbon capture, increasing pressure on industry to report results

The Biden administration announces a $251 million investment in carbon capture and storage projects in seven states. The goal is to reduce the pollution that drives climate change. The announcement comes a week after the Environmental Protection Agency published new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, which could force them to use carbon capture and storage to cut emissions. Although the EPA has said carbon capture is “sufficiently proven” to control pollution, some still question the technology’s ability to work on a large scale, including US Climate Change Commissioner John Kerry.

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The S&P 500 rose 48.87 points, or 1.2%, to 4,158.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 408.63 points, or 1.2%, to 33,420.77. The Nasdaq Composite rose 157.51 points, or 1.3%, to 12,500.57. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 38.32 points, or 2.2%, to 1,774.50.

The post Biden assured on price range deal; Goal wrestles with spending pullback, theft appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A growing program in San Francisco aims to reduce landfill and help restaurants save money with some new plates and mugs.

Since 2021, 120 restaurants have participated in the city’s commercial reuse program, receiving $24,500 in grants and diverting thousands of pounds of waste. Now the San Francisco Department of the Environment, the city’s environmental protection and policy agency, is expanding the program to reach 200 restaurants each year that still use disposable foods to serve their customers.

The program offers grants of up to $500 per company to help cover the cost of purchasing reusable food and related equipment, such as bus vans and trash cans. The move is a means of implementing San Francisco’s 2021 climate action plan, which includes a goal to halve waste going to landfill by 2030.

City officials have conducted case studies with previous grantees and found cost savings of approximately $3,000 per restaurant after labor costs are deducted from the introduction of reusable materials such as dishwashing and the diversion of approximately 1,500 pounds of waste per year. The House of Dim Sum in Chinatown saw an outsized effect as it saved $33,561 in net expenses and reduced its landfill waste by 7 tons.

Disposables are ubiquitous in San Francisco, said acting director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment, Tyrone Jue. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in the use of single-use items due to fears of transmission and as takeout has become a lifeline for restaurants. “People use them at home, when eating out, or even when eating out at a restaurant,” Jue said. “It’s impossible to quantify the exact number (of items used), but we’ll start with the low-hanging fruit.”

Maritza Castillo, co-owner of Mexican restaurant Que Chulada in the Richmond District, is among local restaurateurs replacing single-use foods with reusable items. The restaurant received a $500 grant from an SF Environment Department program.

Michaela Vatcheva/Special on The Chronicle

Food made from Styrofoam and other non-recyclable, non-compostable materials has been banned in San Francisco since 2017, and plastic food accessories like coffee stirrers and toothpicks have been banned since 2019 (though disposable plastic straws are available). for people with disabilities on request). But even single-use items that are recyclable or compostable can still be wasteful, explained Katherine Baird, associate director of sustainability at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Many cities don’t have the infrastructure to break down compostables, and they may just end up in landfill where they can’t be broken down properly. Additionally, the shift to reusable products offers an opportunity to mitigate the impact of mass-producing single-use products.

“The most important part of an environmental footprint is how (a product) is made, not just whether it’s compostable, recyclable, or ends up in a landfill,” Baird said.

The commercial reuse program started in 2018 in partnership with ReThink Disposable, a program run by environmental non-profit organization Clean Water Action to discourage the use of single-use food packaging. It began with a test run at restaurants in the Seventh Ward, which includes the West Portal and Park Merced neighborhoods. With regular $200,000 in funding from the Department of Environment from waste fees, the program can reach 400 restaurants over the next two years.

Que Chulada in the Richmond District is one of them. Co-owners Maritza Castillo and Salvador Cervantes opened just under a year ago, but have already built a group of lunchtime regulars who drop by to enjoy slow-cooked carnitas and dripping Birria quesadillas. On a midweek stop, neighbors ate big burritos and crispy potato tacos while Castillo and Cervantes’ daughter Alysson doodled at the register.

Castillo served her spicy chicken enchiladas on paper plates, based on a family recipe from Guanajuato, with the usual side dishes of rice and beans. Now she serves them neatly on new oval plates.

The San Francisco Department of the Environment recommended new plates, glasses, mugs, silverware and bus accessories, such as a shopping cart and trash can, to Que Chulada, a Richmond District restaurant, to replace its single-use plates and cups.

Michaela Vatcheva/Special on The Chronicle

“The enchiladas are pretty good, but they look even better and bigger on real plates,” Castillo said.

Some items like burritos and tacos still come in reusable plastic baskets with a disposable sheet of waxed paper.

Restaurants can’t just pick and choose the plates they want: Environment Ministry staff are conducting a needs analysis and recommending which reusable plates are most appropriate. At Que Chulada, program staff recommended new plates, glasses, cups, cutlery, and bus accessories such as a trolley and trash can.

Que Chulada received his full kit three weeks ago, so hasn’t had time to track how much the reusable food has reduced waste or single-use expenses. However, Castillo said garbage collection dropped from three to two a week, which almost immediately saved money. She says a box of 480 paper plates, about $80, lasted about a week at the restaurant. The restaurant still uses some single-use items for takeout orders, which account for 20% of its transactions.

The commercial reuse program is among a few other programs in the Bay Area that aim to reduce single-use garbage from restaurants. The non-profit environmental organization Surfrider Foundation offers an Ocean Friendly Restaurant certification for restaurants that only use reusable produce and meet other related criteria. (Twelve San Francisco restaurants are participating in the program.) Back in 2019, Bay Area chain Blue Bottle Coffee announced its intention to phase out paper cups, but ultimately shelved the plan in the wake of the pandemic.

Reach Mario Cortez: mario.cortez@sfchronicle.com

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As the cost of a new building at Manatee County’s Bishop Animal Shelter in Bradenton continues to rise, county commissioners have laid down their financial leg.

A $17 million estimate by county employees to construct a building in Bishop to triple the shelter’s 53 kennels was presented to commissioners on February 14 for the first time.

After the district commission approved the Bishop Animal Shelter’s donation in December 2021 and then took control of the facility the following March, the conversation focused on whether the district could close its existing 85-kennel shelter in Palmetto and whether to build a new facility would be needed in the Lakewood Ranch area.

Sarah Brown, department head for the county’s animal services, told commissioners that a centralized facility would best serve the county so animal services staff could work together more effectively, rather than being split across different facilities.

District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh told Brown that the palmetto plant “definitely needs to be flattened.”

With $8 million in county funds diverted from a potential facility in the Lakewood Ranch area and earmarked for the Bishop Animal Shelter, the commissioners made it clear that they are committed to a centralized individual animal shelter.

However, the commissioners rolled their eyes when told that plans for a new building at the Bishop Animal Shelter had skyrocketed to $17 million. According to Tom Yarger, Manatee County Construction Superintendent, a $17 million facility would have consisted of about 15,000 square feet with 100 kennels.

As of March 2022, the donation of the Bishop Animal Shelter and associated 14 acres was estimated at $18 million.

Do taxpayers want a $35 million animal shelter?

“I see you need more kennels,” Baugh told Brown. “Right now we need to find an $8 million solution. Jokes aside, I don’t know if we can afford to give you more. I don’t see how we can add anything to that.”

Commissioner Kevin Van Ostenbridge agreed.

“I don’t see more money coming into play here,” he said. “But we want to get you out of Palmetto.”

Commissioners urged county staff to come up with a plan for an $8 building at the Bishop Animal Shelter — and no more. They said when that plan is in place to return to the commission with a presentation.

At the February 14 meeting, the commissioners went through a list of capital improvement projects that had become far more expensive. The commissioners said they were not informed of the project’s grossly inflated costs by former administrator Scott Hopes.

Related article

The animal services improvements were just one example of spending running amok and unbeknownst to the commissioners of the plans.

One of the arguments for building a shelter in the Lakewood Ranch area was that residents there would not use shelters in Palmetto or West Bradenton.

This was felt to be a problem as animal shelters could not rely on their fastest growing area to take in abandoned pets and thus make room for more pets.

Commissioner General Jason Bearden said the county should be able to overcome such a problem by increasing its marketing to the Bishop facility and by targeting residents of Parrish and the Lakewood Ranch area.

He said many people he spoke to didn’t know there was an animal shelter in Bradenton.

Van Ostenbridge said he spoke to Hopes about providing $500 in advertising money for Manatee County Animal Welfare’s public relations and events specialist, Hans Wohlfahrt, to refer residents of Parrish and Lakewood Ranch to the bishop could draw attention to.

In June 2021, then-Commissioner Carol Whitmore said the need to build an emergency shelter in East County was all about smart planning for the future in the face of a growing population. At the time, some commissioners suggested the county wait until the donated Bishop facility was operational for a period of time before making a decision.

The current Bishop facility includes a veterinary clinic and cat homes.

Yarger said the new Bishop facility would include an educational component but not a veterinarian component like the current building does.

He said a new building would need a lift station, as well as the standard ventilation for both dog and cat kennels, and enough plumbing for each kennel to have access to a drain and hose.

The construction of a new building would require the removal of much of an old building, originally constructed in the 1950s and renovated in the 1970s but which has since deteriorated.

Some of the bricks used in this building would be preserved for historical value.

Deputy Administrator Charlie Bishop talks about the shelter.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Assistant District Manager Charlie Bishop said while he could not elaborate on the project in its “quiet phase,” the district is preparing to select a project architect.

It is also being considered whether a new building must be hardened for hurricanes up to category 3 so that the animals do not have to be taken to another area in the event of a large storm.

The new building in Bishop is hardened.

Yarger estimated that not hardening the new building would save about 25% on construction.

Bishop said he recommended spending $50,000 to add double-throw separation so a generator could be activated by the flick of a switch in the event of a strong storm. The commissioners agreed that this was a good idea.

Manatee County Animal Services division chief Sarah Brown told commissioners that hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent on the Palmetto facility’s “patch care.” She said that despite significant repairs, problems with the installation arise every day.

“It’s a money pit,” she said.

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Questions are being raised over the price tag of a public toilet in San Francisco.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the single toilet is costing the city $1.7 million. It will be located near 24th Street in Noe Valley’s main commercial corridor.

Supervisors said they got the funding from the state budget to build the restroom per requests of families in the area.

In a joint statement issued to the newspaper, the Park and Rec Department of Public Works said there are several reasons for the costs, including the cost to build in the city and the rising construction costs for materials.

“It’s crazy. It’s just sort of an artifact of everything going crazy in the city,” said former San Francisco resident, Michael Papanek. “How could it possibly be 1.7 million dollars?”

There was supposed to be an announcement by state and local public officials Wednesday, proclaiming their success in securing the funding from the state.

But they abruptly canceled it once word of the price tag got out.

Questions are being raised over the price tag of a public toilet in San Francisco.

“It sounds so fishy,” said Dalia Martinez, former San Francisco resident. “And given that they were gonna announce it today and they just bailed, it’s just, so suspicious.”

The only elected official who has responded to any of our questions about the project, and the price tag, is assembly member Matt Haney. He was able to get the $.17 million from Sacramento.

“I’ll defer questions about the cost for the bathroom to Rec and Park,” he said in a statement. “The cost also seemed shockingly high to me. They told me they couldn’t build it for less, so if I wanted a public bathroom there, that’s how much I had to deliver.”

NBC Bay Area reached out to Park and Rec for a breakdown of costs but have not heard back.

The restroom would be completed until 2025.

NBC Bay Area’s Sergio Quintana gives us a closer look at San Francisco’s plan to construct a $1.7 million bathroom.

The city already operates a whole bunch of free public restrooms, some of them even available 24 hours a day and fit within the 150-square-foot footprint at Noe Valley.

The cost to the city is nothing.

According to the San Francisco Department of Public Works, it has a deal with the company JC Decaux to provide the self-cleaning public potties for free in exchange for advertising revenue made from the units.

By the end of this year, brand new ones will be getting installed throughout San Francisco to replace the aging ones — all for free.

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Questions are being raised over the price tag of a public toilet in San Francisco.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the single toilet is costing the city $1.7 million. It will be located near 24th Street in Noe Valley’s main commercial corridor.

Supervisors said they got the funding from the state budget to build the restroom per requests of families in the area.

In a joint statement issued to the newspaper, the Park and Rec Department of Public Works said there are several reasons for the costs, including the cost to build in the city and the rising construction costs for materials.

“It’s crazy. It’s just sort of an artifact of everything going crazy in the city,” said former San Francisco resident, Michael Papanek. “How could it possibly be 1.7 million dollars?”

There was supposed to be an announcement by state and local public officials Wednesday, proclaiming their success in securing the funding from the state.

But they abruptly canceled it once word of the price tag got out.

Questions are being raised over the price tag of a public toilet in San Francisco.

“It sounds so fishy,” said Dalia Martinez, former San Francisco resident. “And given that they were gonna announce it today and they just bailed, it’s just, so suspicious.”

The only elected official who has responded to any of our questions about the project, and the price tag, is assembly member Matt Haney. He was able to get the $.17 million from Sacramento.

“I’ll defer questions about the cost for the bathroom to Rec and Park,” he said in a statement. “The cost also seemed shockingly high to me. They told me they couldn’t build it for less, so if I wanted a public bathroom there, that’s how much I had to deliver.”

NBC Bay Area reached out to Park and Rec for a breakdown of costs but have not heard back.

The restroom would be completed until 2025.

NBC Bay Area’s Sergio Quintana gives us a closer look at San Francisco’s plan to construct a $1.7 million bathroom.

The city already operates a whole bunch of free public restrooms, some of them even available 24 hours a day and fit within the 150-square-foot footprint at Noe Valley.

The cost to the city is nothing.

According to the San Francisco Department of Public Works, it has a deal with the company JC Decaux to provide the self-cleaning public potties for free in exchange for advertising revenue made from the units.

By the end of this year, brand new ones will be getting installed throughout San Francisco to replace the aging ones — all for free.

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San Francisco politicians will gather at the Noe Valley Town Square Wednesday afternoon to congratulate themselves for securing state money for a long-desired toilet in the northeast corner of the charming plaza.

Another public toilet in a city with far too few of them is excellent. But the details of this particular dresser? They’re mind-boggling, maddening and encapsulating so much of what’s wrong with our city government.

The toilet — just one loo in 150 square feet of space — is projected to cost $1.7 million, about the same as a single-family home in this wildly overpriced city. And it won’t be ready for use until 2025.

Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) secured the $1.7 million from the state for the toilet after hearing “loud and clear” from the community that families needed a bathroom. The plumbing is already there, added when the plaza was constructed six years ago, but there was never money for the actual bathroom. Until Haney stepped in.

The former San Francisco supervisor said the Recreation and Parks Department told him the going rate for one public bathroom was $1.7 million so he secured the full amount, not questioning the pricetag.

“They told me $1.7 million, and I got $1.7 million,” Haney explained. “I didn’t have the option of bringing home less of the bacon when it comes to building a toilet. A half a toilet or a toilet-maybe-someday is not much use to anyone.”

True, but instead we have a toilet-maybe-in-more-than-two-years that could have paid to house a family instead. So why is a public bathroom so insanely expensive, and why does it take so long to build? A joint statement from Rec and Park and the Department of Public Works, which will work together to build this extravagant bathroom, pointed to several reasons.

For one thing, the cost to build anything in San Francisco is exorbitant. The city is the most expensive in the world to build in — even topping Tokyo, Hong Kong and New York City. We’re No. 1! Even for places to go no. 1.

Like everywhere, construction costs have risen 20% to 30% in the past couple of years due to global supply chain issues and the rising costs of fuel, labor and materials. But like always, there’s a certain preciousness to the process in San Francisco. (Just look at the years-long, ongoing quest to design and manufacture bespoke city trash cans.)

“It’s important to note that public projects and their overall cost estimates don’t just reflect the price of erecting structures,” the statement said. “They include planning, drawing, permits, reviews and public outreach.”

For a toilet? Apparently so.

An architect will draw plans for the bathroom that the city will share with the community for feedback. It will also head to the Arts Commission’s Civic Design Review committee comprised of two architects, a landscape architect and two other design professionals who, under city charter, “conduct a multi-phase review” of all city projects on public land — ranging from buildings to bathrooms to historic plaques, fences and lamps.

The web-page describing that process states the point is to ensure “that each project’s design is appropriate to its context in the urban environment, and that structures of the highest design quality reflect their civic stature.”

sorry kid I know you’ve got to go, but have you considered the context of the urban environment?

The project will then head to the Rec and Park Commission and to the Board of Supervisors. According to the city’s statement, it will also be subject to review under the California Environmental Quality Act. Then, the city will put the project up for bid.

“Once we start the project, we’ll have a clearer timeline, but we expect to be able to complete the project in 2025,” the statement read.

The city said the $1.7 million estimate “is extremely rough” and budgets “for the worst-case scenario due to the onerous demands and unpredictable costs levied by PG&E,” the possibility code requirements could change during the project and in case other unexpected circumstances come up

The city is in a legal battle with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. over the city’s claim that the utility has slowed projects and forced them to be more expensive unless they obtain electricity directly from the utility instead of the city’s Public Utilities Commission.

José Segue (center), San Francisco resident, occupies a table for himself and a friend at Noe Valley Town Square on Tuesday, October 18, 2022 in San Francisco, Calif. Noe Valley Town Square will be the site of the construction of a toilet stall that will cost $1.7 million and take more than two years to build.

Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle

The bathroom will be built by unions whose workers will “earn a living wage and benefits, including paid sick time, leave and training.”

“While this isn’t the cheapest way to build, it reflects San Francisco’s values,” the statement read.

I’m a union member myself, and of course the majority of our public projects should be union built. But does a $1.7 million single bathroom really reflect San Francisco’s values? I don’t think so.

The supervisors in 2019 approved a Project Labor Agreement between the city and unions that requires union labor for all “covered projects” — but this bathroom isn’t one of them because it’s not worth $10 million and it didn’t come from bond funding.

There are other, much cheaper options. I e-mailed Tom Hardiman, executive director of the Modular Building Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia, and asked him to guess what San Francisco was spending to build one toilet in 150 square feet of space.

“I’m going to guess high, I think, and say $200,000,” he wrote back.

I seemed to nearly give him a heart attack by telling him the actual figure in a subsequent phone call.

“This is to build one public restroom?” he asked incredibly. “What are they making it out of — gold and fine Italian marble? It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragically flawed.”

He then said he’d do some research and found a cheaper option within minutes. He said Chad Kaufman, CEO of Public Restroom Company, just delivered and installed seven modular bathrooms in Los Angeles for the same price San Francisco will spend to build one. These are not Porta Potties, but instead have concrete walls with stucco exteriors and nice fixtures with plumbing.

“There will be some onsite labor which absolutely can be union,” Hardiman said, pointing to crane operators, laborers and plumbers.

And, he said, they could be delivered in eight months.

Phil Ginsburg, director of the Recreation and Parks Department, said many park systems around the country use pre-fabricated restrooms, which are much cheaper — and he hopes San Francisco will become more politically open to them too. The department has occasionally used them in the past — including at the Redwood Grove playground in McLaren Park — and it’s unclear why one seems off the table for Noe Valley.

“Given how much the public values ​​and needs public restrooms, I would hope these could be more common features in our parks that don’t currently have restrooms,” he said. “Our parks continue to need investment and every dollar saved by installing one allows us to make additional improvements elsewhere in our parks.”

Rudy Gonzalez, secretary treasurer of the San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council, said that the $1.7 million pricetag sounded just plain unbelievable and asked how the city came up with that figure.

Unions have pushed back on modular housing, and only a few projects in San Francisco have advanced despite being faster and cheaper to build. Gonzalez said he’d want to know more about the pre-fabricated bathrooms and whether workers on those projects would be paid prevailing wages.

Haney, a staunch labor supporter, said he’d be open to modular bathrooms if they didn’t violate the Public Labor Agreement.

He’ll be at Wednesday’s toilet celebration along with State Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. All three seemed to have their enthusiasm for the project somewhat flushed when told of the details. Wiener said it pointed to the city’s “self-inflicted wounds” that make every project take way too long.

Mandelman said he appreciates Haney’s efforts and is glad the plaza will eventually have a bathroom, but he said the price and timeline exemplify how the city’s project management process is broken.

“We seem to be all tied up in knots in a thousand different ways and I don’t know which of those knots is responsible for this particular example,” he said.

An example of one such knot emerged this week when the city’s Human Resources Department acknowledged it takes an average of 255 days to hire one city worker. But, in fairness, city departments are working to tackle the problem. Why haven’t San Francisco leaders addressed the high costs of public projects?

Todd David, a Noe Valley resident who pushed for the creation of the town square, said neighbors are delighted they’ll eventually have a toilet after pushing for one for many years. But he’s getting lots of questions about why it costs so much.

“The pricetag’s a shocking number,” he said. “Oh my god, this s—’s expensive.”

In this case, quite literally.

Heather Knight is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf

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San Francisco plans to spend an “inexplicable” $1.7 million for a single public toilet that will not be finished until 2025, an assemblyman said.

The lavatory is being built in the town square of the city’s Noe Valley neighborhood. The plumbing infrastructure for the toilet already exists, but funding for the restroom had not been allocated when the town square was constructed in 2016.

When Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents the Noe Valley neighborhood, secured the funding after the urging of residents, he asked for and received $1.7 million.

He did not question the price tag given to him by the city’s Recreation and Parks Department.

“They told me $1.7 million, and I got $1.7 million. I didn’t have the option of bringing home less of the bacon when it comes to building a toilet,” Mr. Haney told the San Francisco Chronicle, but added he now considers the price “inexplicable.”

The city’s bureaucrats defended the price tag.

“It’s important to note that public projects and their overall cost estimates don’t just reflect the price of erecting structures. They include planning, drawing, permits, reviews and public outreach,” a joint statement from the San Francisco Department of Public Works and the Recreation and Parks Department read, according to Fox News.

Other cost factors include the city’s Public Labor Agreement that mandates hiring unionized workers and paying them benefits, as well as “onerous demands and unpredictable costs levied by [Pacific Gas & Electric],” city officials explained to Fox News.

City officials have also noted that the eventual final cost of the toilet may be less than $1.7 million.

“In the end, the project may well be delivered for far less, with leftover funding put toward further improvements or maintenance,” the Recreation and Parks Department told KPIX-TV, a San Francisco CBS affiliate.

Private experts, on the other hand, were perplexed by the city’s cost calculation.

“This is to build one public restroom? What are they making it out of — gold and fine Italian marble? It would be comical if it wasn’t so tragically flawed,” Tom Hardiman, executive director of the Modular Building Institute, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Prefabricated, modular bathrooms, which are made of concrete and have plumbing, are one cheaper option the city could have used, Mr. Hardiman explained.

Residents are also baffled.

“It shouldn’t cost that much, that’s ridiculous. I mean it just seems exorbitant. Ten times exorbitant,” said Richard Andronaco, who also told KPIX-TV that he enjoys spending time at Noe Valley Town Square.

When Mr. Haney learned of the reasoning for the toilet’s cost from the aforementioned San Francisco Chronicle article, he canceled a press conference intended to celebrate its planned construction.

Mr. Haney also plans to send a formal letter to Recreation and Parks Director Phil Ginsburg asking why the toilet costs so much and why it would not be completed until 2025.

“I’m glad that Noe Valley will at some point get a bathroom, but it shouldn’t cost this much and it shouldn’t take this long, and I’m angry about it. It’s not something I want to celebrate right now,” Mr. Haney told the San Francisco Chronicle.

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