...cows for instance. Rats? Nope. Food. Life in the food chain. So it goes...
Seattle relieved to lose its high-tech toilets
August 15, 2008 7:33 PM EDT
SEATTLE - City officials have finally gotten rid of five high-tech, self-cleaning toilets that cost Seattle $5 million - but sold online for just $12,549.
The city installed the modernistic stand-alone toilets four years ago, hoping they would provide tourists and the homeless a place to do their business while downtown. But they became better known for drug use and prostitution than for relief.
Neighbors and analysts said they were less cost-effective than regular public restrooms and, in May, the City Council voted to sell them on eBay.
After a failed first attempt, when a $89,000 minimum didn't attract a single bid, the city revised its strategy in hopes of sparking a bidding free-for-all.
But despite more than 9,000 combined page views, only 148 bids were cast.
One of the five toilets, which currently graces the downtown waterfront, sold for $4,899, but the average sale was just over $2,510.
A Rochester, Washington, business, Racecar Supply, won all five auctions, which ended Thursday. Butch Behn, the owner, said he plans to use two of the units at the South Sound Speedway and sell the other three.