NYC public park restroom survey: What it says
A new, scathing report by the New York City Council says that 70% of the public bathrooms in parks across New York City are in poor condition, with dirty and wet floors, no garbage cans and other issues.
NEW YORK – A new, scathing report by the New York City Council has painted a grim picture of the state of public park restrooms across the city.
Highlighting widespread cleanliness and accessibility issues, the investigation, titled “Nature’s Call,” surveyed over 100 park bathrooms and found that a majority had serious health and safety concerns, with many facilities closed altogether.
“70% of our public bathrooms in our parks across New York City have really bad conditions. Dirty and wet floors. They don’t have garbage cans. They don’t have toilet paper holders or soap,” said Shaker Krishnan, chair of the New York City Council Committee on Parks and Rec.
Key findings from the report included:
- Trash was found in 40% of the inspected restrooms.
- 23% of the facilities had unsanitary conditions.
- Only 8% of bathrooms had feminine hygiene dispensers.
- 17% of women’s restrooms lacked baby changing stations, while 30% of men’s restrooms did not have them.
Krishnan attributed much of the problem to budget cuts, calling out the Adams administration for reducing funding for the Parks Department.
“Despite campaigning on increasing the parks budget, Mayor Adams has decisively cut funds each year,” Krishnan said. “He is hamstringing the ability of the Parks Department to do their job.”
In response, the Parks Department said that the report was not representative of the entire system. A spokesperson said, “The Council looked at less than 15% of our facilities and targeted locations already known to be problematic. This skewed report does a disservice to the hundreds of Parkies who work tirelessly every day to ensure the facilities are clean, stocked, and well-maintained.”
