New Yorkers demand city provide safe, clean public bathrooms

Finding a public restroom that is clean, or even open for use, is no easy feat in New York City. Here at Curbed, we’ve tried to make the task a little less arduous with this handy map, but there is obviously more work to be done on a political level. On Tuesday, elected officials and advocacy groups rallied in Madison Square Park to call out the city’s lack of safe, clean public restrooms, reports the New York Daily News.

“New York City currently lacks adequate safe and clean public restrooms, posing a disservice and quality-of-life issue to all residents, especially the homeless,” said City Council member Antonio Reynoso. “I urge the de Blasio administration and the Department of Transportation to place higher priority on getting (automated public toilets) out of storage and into use” (referring to 15 automated public toilets that were purchased with tax-payer dollars and have been sitting in a warehouse in Queens since 2006).

Per the Daily News, the city has only provided five automated, self-cleaning toilets—one of which is located at Madison Square Park and has been out of service for the past week. The city’s public bathrooms in places like Tompkins Square Park are in bad shape, with missing toilet seats and stall doors.

• New Yorkers demand city install safe, clean restrooms for city’s 8.5 million residents [New York Daily News]
• The best public restrooms in NYC [Curbed]