“Twilight” is a homeless man in his 30s who’s been living in Golden Gate Park for years. He talks about standing outside a bakery on Haight Street asking people for change. What strikes him most is not the fact that passersby don't respond to his request, but that they won't even react to his presence.

“They acted as if I was not there, as if I was not a person at all. Those things would not have happened a few years ago,” Twilight says.

Since the '60s, Haight Ashbury has been known as a neighborhood of tolerance, a home and later a tribute to the hippie movement. Today, the area’s reputation for counterculture draws thousands of visitors each year. But some residents say the area is changing rapidly as its property values have increased, leading to a slow decline of the liberal values once so prominent.

One result is a six-year-long conflict over the installment of a public toilet, which would be the second in the area after the one at Waller and Stanyan Streets. Since residents in the neighborhood brought the need for more toilets to the city’s attention, other residents, merchants and property owners have voiced their opposition, delaying the project for years. A number of public meetings have taken place and the proposed site has changed more than once.

Despite protests, the city’s current plan is to install the toilet at the intersection of Masonic Avenue and Haight Street. Department of Public Works official Daniel McKenna says if the city can fill a budget gap of $18,000 or negotiate it with PG&E, construction will begin shortly.
But as plans continue, so do protests. Today, in Positively Haight Street’s store window, a large white sign sends a clear message: “The installation of a toilet at this site will set a precedent. With more than five toilets being negotiated, you too may have one installed in front of your property, without your permission and without any compensation.”

James Preston, owner of Positively Haight Street, says that public urination has been a problem in Haight Ashbury for years, but he doesn’t believe a public toilet will solve the problem. Moreover, he worries a public toilet will negatively impact his business by blocking the view of the store and bringing its odor inside.

“I don’t think anybody that has a business in San Francisco wants a toilet in front of it,” Preston says.

Gave Gee is the manager of Mom’s Body Shop, a tattoo store adjacent to Positively Haight Street. Gee says he doesn’t object to another public toilet in the Haight, he just disagrees with the location. He has been a merchant in the Haight for 12 years and says as recently as a few years ago, the corner of Masonic and Haight attracted drug dealers.

“They were intimidating passersby, and they were trying to sell drugs,” Gee says. “We worked hard to clean it up, and it’s been a tremendous difference in the traffic. People used to not come to this corner of Haight. I’m worried that if they put that toilet there, that’s gonna happen again.”

Others say public toilets are a basic human need. Trust Rose, 28, is one of them. He has been living on the streets for five years, spending most of his time on Haight Street. He says he prefers the Haight because it’s the most tolerant place in the city for someone who’s homeless. But ultimately, that doesn’t mean much, he says.

“You can get a ticket for peeing in the street, but if there is no bathroom I can use, where should I go?” Trust says. “People refusing other people their human need, it’s not compassion. San Francisco is not compassionate.”

Ash Heart has been homeless for 25 years, spending much of his time in the Haight and Golden Gate Park. He says residents’ attitudes toward homeless people have changed over the years.

"They’ve become pretty much indifferent to [homelessness],” Heart says. They will give change if you press them to—there was a time when the community at large was at our side. It’s not like that anymore.”

Haight Ashbury’s liberal atmosphere has its origin in the '60s, when students from SF State moved into many of the old, relatively cheap Victorian houses. At the same time, anti-war student movements developed in Berkeley. Soon Haight Ashbury became a home for the hippie movement. This resulted in the creation of a number of social services, such as the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic, which still provides free medical services for those in need. Today, the area’s history not only attracts tourists, but the population of homeless in the area is also believed to be higher than in many other parts of the city.

Cynthia Broussard, a 66-year-old San Francisco native, remembers coming to Haight Ashbury with her friends to smoke pot and hang out in the park.

“I remember a lot of music, the music was always blasting,” Broussard says. “You saw hippies on every block. Everybody was really nice, everybody was having a good time. Everybody got along; black, white ...” Today, she says, the most striking difference to the area is the silence.

Fred Kazzouh, owner of Fred’s New Lite Supermarket on Haight Street, agrees the Haight is changing. Since the demand for property in San Francisco is so high, property values have increased dramatically, resulting in private business owners being driven out of the area. Kazzouh worries the spirit of Haight will get lost as the demographics of the area change.

“What makes the Haight? The spirit of the Haight Ashbury,” Kazzouh says. “If you take the spirit away, you have no Haight. It’s just a matter of time before it gets there.”

When it comes to the issue of public toilets, Kazzouh agrees it’s important, but he doesn’t want them in front of his store. Which is where the city originally planned to put the controversial toilet. Kazzouh objected because he thought it would be bad for business to have a toilet in front of a store that sells food, and the city changed the location.

“If they put it in front of my business, I’m definitely gonna say no. I’m a businessman,” Kazzouh says.

For some people living on the streets of Haight Ashbury the lack of public toilets is not only affecting them directly, but they believe the cause is an effort to decrease homelessness in the area. Heart says the city consistently avoids placing public toilets in areas with a high population of homeless.

“We’re already here,” Heart says. “There’s no moving away to avoid it. They need to realize the fact that we’re here and try to get along with us.”