This post first appeared in the Morning Report.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York City provides no lack of municipal FOMO for cynical San Diegans, but the city’s latest expansion of public restrooms hit especially close to come.
Earlier this month, Mamdani announced he would add 17 public restrooms across the city through a partnership with Throne Labs. The modular, single-user restroom units operate under an all-inclusive model, with maintenance costs included at a rate of $6,000 per month (compared to more than $13,000 per month for comparable prefabricated restrooms).
If this sounds familiar to you, it may be because San Diego test-ran a batch of Throne toilets starting in late 2024. Environment Reporter MacKenzie Elmer wrote about it at the time.
“The whole experience was a bit like taking a whiz inside a Pottery Barn bathroom on Mars,” she wrote. “But for once I felt cleaner leaving a public restroom than I did upon entering.”
So, what ever happened to the pilot program?
“We were on track to launch in early 2026 until local sales tax Measure E failed,” said Evie Smith Hatmaker, a representative for Throne Labs. “Facing significant budget constraints, the initiative was suspended.”
So, instead of 10 shiny, new robot restrooms, we lost more than 30 existing restrooms – some of which have since been restored due to public pushback.
Ah… what could have been </3