The New York Times, months after the fact, has cottened to the story about San Francisco's aborted attempt to build a public toilet. The effort was halted in mortification after it was reported that the cost was $1.7 million. What's amusing about the Time's coverage is the way it falls into what I call "human events as weather".

You see, California is run, top to bottom, by Democrats. This presents a challenge to media outlets like the Times when debacles arise that can't be ignored, such as a $1.7 million dollar toilet. You see, there are no Republicans around to be blamed. The typical solution, exemplified here, is to shift to the passive voice and describe the situation as something that "happened". Under no circumstances will there be any individually identifiable people with agency who made choices. The situation is discussed in terms that you or I might use to discuss an earthquake, or a flood: an act of God; there's nothing to be done.

San Francisco "gets bogged down by inefficiency", you see (rather like a swamp). "Numerous layers of review by commission after commission require the city to pay for staff time"– what can you do?

Someone interested in understanding the story might take a look at the multiple corruption cases in San Francisco city government the Federal government has been pursuing. The current situation in city governments such as San Francisco didn't "just happen":