NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — There is only one public bathroom for about every 7,500 residents in New York City, a statistic that prompted officials and city dwellers to gather on the steps of City Hall Thursday morning to advocate on behalf of two bills being discussed by the city council that would expand access to restrooms in the five boroughs.
The argument is that a lack of bathrooms impacts all New Yorkers, but especially vulnerable populations including the homeless, individuals with health conditions, disabled people and children, and solutions are needed.
Bathroom quantity has not been increased since the 1970s, and many were closed due to budget cuts.
To remedy this, the city council has introduced two pieces of legislation that would provide access to more restrooms, including a short-term solution that would allow access to the restrooms in public buildings, like municipal buildings.
City Councilmembers Sandy Nurse and Rita Joseph joined Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and a group of advocates at Thursday’s rally to push in favor of the legislation.
Levine said he was “thrilled to join forces with the Free to Pee Coalition and the [city council]” to demand accessible restrooms, calling the proposed legislation that was discussed in Thursday’s oversight hearing “a crucial step towards a more equitable city.”
1010 WINS spoke with Teddy Siegel, the founder of got2gonyc, which began as a TikTok account dedicated to sharing the location of free NYC bathrooms and has evolved into a community activism platform. The account currently has nearly 200,000 followers on the platform.
“Bathroom access has now become a privilege in New York City, because if you have $5 that you can spare every time you need to use the bathroom to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks, that is a privilege, and it is just really not fair,” Siegel said.
Jacqueline told 1010 WINS that is her typical solution, out of necessity.
“Usually what I do is find a restaurant, go in and buy something to be able to use the bathroom because there really are no other options,” she said.
In addition to the issue of equity, infrastructure needs to be addressed. There are about 1,000 public bathrooms operating in the city, and only two are open 24/7.
Siegel said that NYC needs to be open to more creative solutions when considering bathroom access.
“I think we also need to be thinking more outside the box and maybe looking to what other countries are doing, because there are other countries that are way ahead of New York City and that are doing a way better job at this than we are,” Siegel said. “I know in London, they have something called Community Toilet Schemes, where they give private establishments that make their bathrooms publicly accessible tax cuts.”
According to the City of London, participating establishments receive free publicity on the city website and maps, expansion of potential customers and a financial contribution from the City Corporation in exchange for providing clean and safe facilities.
A recent city council report found that over 23% of restrooms across NYC parks had unsanitary conditions, and 9% were closed during scheduled hours.