Friday, September 27
How much does it cost to clean the toilets of Kreuzberg?
Syringes, blood, condoms, clothes, drug packets: cleaning up Berlin’s public toilets is a tough job. The Berlin Senate will invest 1.6 million euros to keep the facilities around Kotti and Görlitzer Park clean for a project lasting until the end of 2025.
Since the end of July, toilet inspectors working in teams of four have been travelling through on daily patrols, but they’re faced with a desperate reality. The 13 public toilets are used for all sorts of illegal activity: drug use, prostitution, rough sleeping, even by people looking for a sheltered place to charge electronic devices. Some of the toilets are shut at night, but then have their automatic doors vandalised. Groups congregate around the toilets at night, leaving litter behind.
The money spent does not just cover cleaning services, though, the Senate have set aside 180,000 euros for social workers whose remit will include countering the “increasingly aggressive behaviour” of the toilet users. And increased spending on social care would seem to be the right approach. After all, not everyone can afford to do their drugs in the elegant and refined surroundings of Soho House.
