Chicago makes splash with first self-cleaning public toilet

It is 12-12 everyone. Okay, yes, we might have some jokes and puns about this next one here, but this is a big deal and it's happening in Westtown. Yeah, we're talking about a new public toilet. It's the first of its kind in the city. Saquon was there for the ceremonious first flush and brings us the latest. Hi, Sae. Hey, guys. Good morning. Good afternoon. I can't even remember what time it is. So we are here, as you mentioned, on the border of West Town and Wicker Park. And this is where Chicago's first ever public self-cleaning toilet is located. It's, of course, in kind of a perfect location. You're close to public transit. It's very busy around here. So for a lot of folks who live in the area, maybe you take public transit around here and you got to go. Now you have a place that you can go to. Here's what things look like inside of the bathroom. And I won't stay here too long because I want to show you how the cleaning process actually all works. But technically, you would be coming in through this door. And what you do is you press a button, you get inside, and then a timer goes off. So you have 15 minutes from the moment you walk inside of this bathroom. You have 15 minutes to do your business. You know, I got a really interesting question on my social media today. And someone asked, what happens if you're not done with your business in 15 minutes? Honestly, there isn't really a clear answer, but Door will automatically open up in 15 minutes. I'm going to step outside so you can actually get a view of what things look like. It's pretty spacious. I mean, it's ADA compliant, so that space is really, really important. Also perfect for anyone, obviously, who might be using some sort of wheelchair, right? There isn't any sort of step to get into this bathroom, so it makes it really, really convenient. So that's what it looks like when the door opens up, you can see. So that's technically where you would enter through. And as soon as that door shuts, as I mentioned, you have 15 minutes. To do your business. Okay. So there's the toilet right there. And it's so interesting. So when you are done with your business, that toilet will kind of go into the back room there, like you're seeing right now. And this is the cleaning process. So once again, I mean, this isn't just like a porta potty. This is like a high tech sanitation type of porta potty. They clean it with all of these jets that you're seeing. It's spraying water. These jets. I'm not kidding you guys, I think are stronger than the shower head that I have at home. And then it's gonna clean the floors as well. So not only does it just clean the toilet, it actually disinfects just about every single surface area on the ground here and you're gonna see that in just a second. Here it is. It's gonna start. Look at these jets you guys. So they literally disinfect everything. I had to step out to make sure I wasn't getting soaked over here. But this is what that cleaning process looks like and nobody really gets to see this stuff, right? Because this all happens when no one is in here obviously, but that's what is happening. And now it's actually ready for the next person to walk in. So each time someone actually uses this bathroom, It's always cleaned and disinfected before that next person walks in. It's really neat. This is something that's been seen in bigger cities like New York, Paris, San Francisco. This has kind of taken shape all really over the world. And of course, this is the first time Chicago has ever seen this concept come to life here. And so, you know, as part of this pilot program, of course, it's expected that this could be successful. And if it is. This might be something that we see citywide in different neighborhoods, so we'll have to wait and see. It's been very fun out here. A lot of people are checking it out. A lot of people are very impressed, and a lot of people are also telling me that finally it's in Chicago. Guys, back to you. And say with all this excitement too, there are some people who are not excited about this. Can you bring us the other side of the story too, the concerns that people have with this? Well, I mean, I think the obvious concerns are just, you know, I honestly haven't really heard that myself. So I don't know where that's necessarily coming from. I think people here for the most part have been very excited about this. People seem to be really celebrating the fact that this is free and available for the entire community to use while at the same time they don't have to deal with the smells and the gross concerns of maybe just a regular porta potty that doesn't necessarily. I know that we reported that some people were just nervous about drug use and stuff like that, but that's going to be in anything like this. Say thank you so much for your reporting. Really appreciate it.