My experience is that in just about every smaller city and town, all the larger grocery stores, electronics stores, Target, Walmart, Costco, BJ's, Home Depot, Lowes stores all have public restrooms. They don't require you to buy something first. Very large cities, especially in the concentrated areas, are an anomaly. Maybe that's what you give up to be in the heart of a really big city?
When I was a kid I could never understand why my mother always wanted to make certain, whenever we were driving somewhere, that we would be able to stop for bathroom breaks. “Why do we always need to stop, blah, blah, blah” I would whine. Now, 60+ years later boy do I know. While my new mantra is “GoBeforeYouGo” I know all the places on my usual travels to make an emergency landing. Mom - I owe you a heartfelt apology!
I recommend the recent Wim Wenders film, A Perfect Day. It’s about a guy who spends his days cleaning toilets in Japan. I winced the first time I watched him clean the toilet, but you get used to it and it’s a very good movie.
I asked a grocery staffer in a market close to home why they put locks on the bathroom doors a year or so ago. Turns out teens were having sex in them.
Among the reasons being a private college librarian was better than a public librarian: the people coming into our library were students, faculty, and staff of the college and I never felt the need to be an inveterate rule follower when it came to reasonable last-minute requests.
I used to live there and it’s a serious problem. You’ve pointed out the conundrum perfectly… it’s inhumane not to have an option and yet the onus shouldn’t be on restaurants etc. since they have employees and customers and it costs $. The new mayor is really on to something! European cities have had public toilets for ages…
My ugly American moment, in Paris, after a long walk and train ride from the tower, ended in a search for the bathroom in a department store. I was surprised to find four women waiting for the three closed stalls in a spotless facility. There was a fourth stall open, which was marked for families with small children. I took it, and gratefully, despite their furrowed brows when I emerged.
Indeed, searching for a restroom in NYC is a nightmare. A positive note: Taipei’s subway system has the best restrooms. Each station has clean toilets available to the public.
I quite agree that we should have more publicly supported restrooms; however, this is also a story that actually has a clear villain doing evil to these poor people being treated as subhuman: the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America. Legal bullies used the power of the state to force market solutions to the problem to close, eroding vital part of the urban landscape that dooms many of us to discomfort and minor disaster to this day. They deserve, at the very least, to be named for it.
I have not travelled extensively in Europe, but I much appreciated the clean, secure, and private pay toilets in Sweden!
I don't want to dogmatically demand that all toilets be a profitable market businesses, but allowing them really does seem to make the whole landscape of restrooms function better.
"committing $4 million to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for high-quality modular public restrooms"
$4 million just for the RFP, or is that $4 million for the actually bathrooms, if they ever emerge?
Anyway, it's not the bathroom itself. A Scout troop can build a bathroom in a couple of days, says the Eagle Scouts' mom. It's the ongoing maintenance and the cost of the people to do the maintenance.
A scout troop building a bathroom in a big city? Not likely. Permits, plumbing, concrete construction, sewer lines, tiling, fixture installation, electrical work for lighting and hand dryers? Liability insurance? Nah.
True, and all of that would greatly slow any construction in NYC while making the cost immense. Maybe they could install self-contained modular bathrooms, if their own rules permit it.
Good one, Jay. I always said you were a pisser.
My experience is that in just about every smaller city and town, all the larger grocery stores, electronics stores, Target, Walmart, Costco, BJ's, Home Depot, Lowes stores all have public restrooms. They don't require you to buy something first. Very large cities, especially in the concentrated areas, are an anomaly. Maybe that's what you give up to be in the heart of a really big city?
When I was a kid I could never understand why my mother always wanted to make certain, whenever we were driving somewhere, that we would be able to stop for bathroom breaks. “Why do we always need to stop, blah, blah, blah” I would whine. Now, 60+ years later boy do I know. While my new mantra is “GoBeforeYouGo” I know all the places on my usual travels to make an emergency landing. Mom - I owe you a heartfelt apology!
I recommend the recent Wim Wenders film, A Perfect Day. It’s about a guy who spends his days cleaning toilets in Japan. I winced the first time I watched him clean the toilet, but you get used to it and it’s a very good movie.
I asked a grocery staffer in a market close to home why they put locks on the bathroom doors a year or so ago. Turns out teens were having sex in them.
Among the reasons being a private college librarian was better than a public librarian: the people coming into our library were students, faculty, and staff of the college and I never felt the need to be an inveterate rule follower when it came to reasonable last-minute requests.
I used to live there and it’s a serious problem. You’ve pointed out the conundrum perfectly… it’s inhumane not to have an option and yet the onus shouldn’t be on restaurants etc. since they have employees and customers and it costs $. The new mayor is really on to something! European cities have had public toilets for ages…
I see another commenter beat me to it, but here's a link to the story of the villains. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Committee_to_End_Pay_Toilets_in_America
My ugly American moment, in Paris, after a long walk and train ride from the tower, ended in a search for the bathroom in a department store. I was surprised to find four women waiting for the three closed stalls in a spotless facility. There was a fourth stall open, which was marked for families with small children. I took it, and gratefully, despite their furrowed brows when I emerged.
Indeed, searching for a restroom in NYC is a nightmare. A positive note: Taipei’s subway system has the best restrooms. Each station has clean toilets available to the public.
Ever wonder why New Orleans smells the way it does?
I quite agree that we should have more publicly supported restrooms; however, this is also a story that actually has a clear villain doing evil to these poor people being treated as subhuman: the Committee to End Pay Toilets in America. Legal bullies used the power of the state to force market solutions to the problem to close, eroding vital part of the urban landscape that dooms many of us to discomfort and minor disaster to this day. They deserve, at the very least, to be named for it.
In Europe I have used Apple Pay, on my Apple Watch, to access very clean, modern toilets.
I have not travelled extensively in Europe, but I much appreciated the clean, secure, and private pay toilets in Sweden!
I don't want to dogmatically demand that all toilets be a profitable market businesses, but allowing them really does seem to make the whole landscape of restrooms function better.
"committing $4 million to a Request for Proposals (RFP) for high-quality modular public restrooms"
$4 million just for the RFP, or is that $4 million for the actually bathrooms, if they ever emerge?
Anyway, it's not the bathroom itself. A Scout troop can build a bathroom in a couple of days, says the Eagle Scouts' mom. It's the ongoing maintenance and the cost of the people to do the maintenance.
A scout troop building a bathroom in a big city? Not likely. Permits, plumbing, concrete construction, sewer lines, tiling, fixture installation, electrical work for lighting and hand dryers? Liability insurance? Nah.
True, and all of that would greatly slow any construction in NYC while making the cost immense. Maybe they could install self-contained modular bathrooms, if their own rules permit it.