Update on Additional Portland Loos in Downtown Kalamazoo

It doesn't take a lot of people to move the Kalamazoo City Commission

The single existing, open-to-the-public Portland Loo in Kalamazoo. It's located at 108 E. Water St., in the northwest corner of the Haymarket parking lot. A sign on the door reads "RESTROOM OUT OF ORDER". The sign has been there since at least Wednesday, January 17, 2024; likely a lot longer. Photograph taken on the afternoon of Thursday, ‎January ‎18, 2024.

During last evening's business meeting, Ryan Smith and another representative of the Southwest Michigan Democratic Socialists of America asked the Kalamazoo City Commission for an update on plans to install additional Portland Loos in downtown Kalamazoo:

I was going to use my 3 minutes to promote the upcoming polystyrene foam recycling drop-off event on July 13, but I instead mostly echoed DSA's calls for an update:

Later in the meeting, during the "REPORTS AND LEGISLATION" portion of the agenda, Chief Operating Officer Laura Lam gave a brief update on downtown restroom plans:

During Commissioner Comments, Chris Praedel asked for an update on downtown restroom plans:

This morning, WKZO radio broadcast a story titled AUDIO: Kalamazoo commission pushed for update on public restrooms downtown. I heard the story at 6:30 a.m., again at 8:10 a.m., and it probably aired a few more times during the morning. The other DSA member, Ryan, and myself are audio quoted in the piece, but our names are not included.

Also during the City Commission meeting, I weighed in on the possibility of changing city-owned parking ramps from gated systems to gate-less systems that use video cameras to capture license plate numbers:

I referenced This American Life episode 828, Minor Crimes Division.

In another story aired on WKZO this morning about last night's meeting, the newsreader again mispronounced Vice Mayor Jeanne Hess's first name, as if she leads a second life as a 1960s TV genie. She pronounces her name with the final "ne" silent.