A whopping two-thirds of New York City public restrooms either had health and safety hazards or were kept closed during operating hours, according to a new City Council report released Thursday.
The survey, dubbed Nature’s Call: An Assessment of NYC Park Restrooms, includes observations from staffers with the council’s Oversight and Investigations Division of 102 public lavatories accross the city, according to the report. Council staffers gathered the data by visiting one men’s and one women’s bathroom in each of the city’s 51 Council Districts between July 9 and 11 during the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The report’s chief finding was that the vast majority, nearly 67%, of the public restrooms surveyed either presented unsafe or unsanitary conditions, or were closed when they were supposed to be open — seeming to confirm common complaints about the facilities.
City Council Member Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), chair of the body’s Oversight and Investigation Committee, said the report showed that many of the city’s public restrooms are in desperate need of repairs and better stewardship.
“This is a topic that gets discussed often but never resolved,” Brewer said in a statement. “Many of the restrooms would benefit greatly from simple fixes, such as replacing sinks or toilets. Others need much more. I urge the Administration to allocate funding for necessary bathroom upgrades.”
However, the Parks Department, which runs the majority of the city’s public restrooms, rebuked the council’s report as “skewed” and noted that it only examined 15% of the over 700 restrooms operated by the agency.
“Public restrooms are by nature challenging sites to keep pristine, but we’re proud that Parks’ own inspection reports reflect over 90% acceptable ratings for litter and amenities at restrooms citywide,” Parks spokesperson Chris Clark said in a statement. “The council looked at less than 15% of our facilities and targeted locations that were already known by them to be problematic. This skewed report does a disservice to the hundreds of Parkies who work tirelessly every day to make sure they are cleaned, stocked, and well maintained.”
The report found that nearly 40% of the bathrooms visited by council staffers had litter strewn across the floor, while 23% had unsanitary or hazardous conditions, such as bodily fluids on surfaces. Additionally, 9% of bathrooms were closed during regular operating hours, but staffers only observed members of the public in line to use the facilities at one bathroom.
In addition, the council found that one in nine stalls they surveyed did not have a working lock and that garbage cans were missing from 30% of the lavatories they inspected. Other necessities such as soap, toilet paper, and hooks inside stalls were found missing across many public restrooms.
“Public bathrooms, just like paved roads, schools, or fire stations, are critical infrastructure for New York City families,” Council Member Shekar Krishnan (D-Queens), who chairs the Parks and Recreation Committee, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the City Council’s own inspections of park bathrooms across the five boroughs frequently found broken locks, empty toilet paper holders, and wet, dirty floors. ”
The report is just one of several recent efforts the council and other branches of city government have launched to address longstanding issues with the cleanliness and availability of public bathrooms in the five boroughs.
Those recent actions include council legislation that would force the city to finish building 151 new public bathrooms that it pledged to construct in 2022—so far, the city has only advanced plans to install 55 out of that commitment. Furthermore, Mayor Eric Adams announced plans earlier this summer to build 46 new restrooms and renovate another 36.
