A new City Council study finds that New York's park toilets are in utterly terrible condition.
Nearly two-thirds of public park toilets inspected across the five boroughs were locked or had health and safety hazards, including urine-splattered floors, litter and a lack of soap or toilet paper. The report released by lawmakers on Thursday.
The report, titled “Nature's Call”, found that of more than 100 toilets it inspected across the city, a third had no trash bins and dozens lacked essential baby-changing stations.
A total of 40 percent of the toilets were strewn with rubbish or worse, and many contained a mysterious stomach-turning liquid, according to the 19-page report.
Visitors to the park on Friday called the filthy conditions “horrible” and said they would rather ignore the call of nature than confront the rotting toilets.
“It's so gross, I just wait until I get home,” said Rose Analia, a 20-year-old New York University student who lives near Washington Square Park. “It's just too much hassle.”
Some said they had seen worse scenes, including blood splatter, drug users and people smoking in the toilets.
“It was disgusting,” said Jennifer Purcell, 54, an insurance agent in Las Vegas. “It was filthy. There was toilet paper on the floor and things falling from the ceiling.”
The investigation saw council inspectors check men's and women's toilets in each of the city's 51 council districts over three days in July and found many to be in an unpleasant state.
Around 40 percent of the public toilets surveyed were littered with rubbish and nearly a quarter were in poor condition, with “body fluids on surfaces”, the study said.
Meanwhile, 10% of restrooms did not have hand soap, and 13% did not have toilet paper.
One in nine toilets had a non-working lock and about 30% did not have a trash can.
Lawmakers said there is a lot of work to be done to resolve the issue.
“This is an issue that is often discussed but never resolved,” Rep. Gayle Brewer, D-N.Y., who chairs the committee's Oversight and Investigations Committee, said in a statement.
“Many restrooms would be greatly improved with simple repairs, such as replacing the sink or toilet bowl,” Brewer said. “Other restrooms need a lot more.”
Additionally, more than a quarter of facilities had no place to dispose of menstrual products, and about 24 percent did not have baby-changing stations for urban parents of young children, the report said.
“Like paved roads, schools and fire stations, public restrooms are critical infrastructure for New York City families,” said Shekhar Krishna, chair of the City Council's Parks and Recreation Committee.
“The solution to this mess is clear,” Krishna said. “We need to stop cutting budgets and start investing in New York City parks to provide the safe, clean public restrooms that New Yorkers deserve.”
Others who visited Washington Square Park on Friday said the men's restrooms in particular had been vandalized.
“[There are] “The bathrooms have puddles of piss and dirt all over the floor. People are on drugs,” said Cameron, who lives in Brooklyn and works in the area. “The city-run bathrooms are awful.”
According to the report, councillors said toilets in each neighbourhood were selected based on local complaints and past substandard inspection results up until 2018.
The city Parks Department regularly inspects public restrooms under a system established in 1984.
In 2019, the city auditor general's report, titled “Unpleasant Bathrooms: Condition and Accessibility of New York City Park Bathrooms,” examined the condition of bathrooms, including compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the availability of amenities like changing stations.
At least one nonprofit has also conducted inspections for many years, and the city's borough president's office has also conducted inspections at various points over the years, according to the City Council investigation.
Additional reporting by Natalie O'Neill
