Last fall, after Chris Lee took over as Santa Monica’s building official, he couldn’t resist making a day trip to Seattle. It wasn’t for the views of Mount Rainier, the Olympics or the Cascades. Lee wanted to see the composting toilets at Seattle’s super-sustainable Bullitt Center.
“We left for the airport at 4 a.m., flew to Seattle, spent three hours at Bullitt Center and returned that night,” says Lee, who traveled with his predecessor, Jack Leonard.