By ERIC STIRGUS

The hand-washing station has a "warming device" for water. Toilet paper is automatically dispensed. The soft jazz sounds of "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and other tunes play over a speaker.

Not bad for a public toilet.

The official term is "automatic public facility." Atlanta is placing five of them around the city: at City Hall, Piedmont Park, Woodruff Park, Fire Station 4 on Edgewood Avenue and Fire Station 21 on Roswell Road.

A private company working under the supervision of the city's Public Works Department is installing the units. The restrooms, and the two-year maintenance contract for them, cost $1.5 million. The money came from the Atlanta Development Authority's Homeless Opportunity Fund.

The restrooms are part of Mayor Shirley Franklin's commitment to a commission on homelessness, which said the city needed more public restrooms.

Commission member Bill Bolling has pushed for them since the early 1990s.

"I think for people who don't have access to public facilities, it's important," said Bolling, executive director of the Atlanta Community Food Bank. "I think having a clean, sanitized place is something we all deserve as citizens."


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