A City Council investigation of public bathrooms in New York City parks found that two-thirds of the approximately 100 public restrooms inspected were closed, dirty or unsafe.
Nearly half the restrooms were littered with trash, 23% were found to be unsanitary and 30% were missing garbage cans. Many also lacked soap, toilet paper or functioning locks on stall doors.
“This is a topic that gets discussed often, but never resolved,” Councilmember Gale Brewer, chair of the Committee on Oversight and Investigation, 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.”
The report, released Thursday, also found that nearly one in four restrooms were missing baby changing stations, one in every nine stalls lacked working locks and one in five restrooms didn’t have soap.
Four restrooms were rated “extremely dirty” on a five-point scale, while 14 were rated “extremely clean.”
The Parks Department pushed back against the results of the Council’s investigation, pointing out that of the 700 restrooms it operates, more than 90% were deemed “acceptable” for litter and amenities like soap, toilet paper, and hand dryers, according to the department’s own inspections.
“The Council looked at less than 15% of our facilities and targeted locations that were already known by them to be problematic,” department spokesperson Chris Clark said in statement. “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 investigation used Parks data to find the bathrooms in each district that consistently received low ratings or complaints, and then inspected the park restroom in each Council District that had the highest rate of unacceptable conditions or closures.
The report called for “adequate funding” for the Parks Department to continue bathroom maintenance. The city’s Parks Department is receiving $20 million less funding this fiscal year than last — as the city’s overall budget increased by $5 million.
Originally, the department was slated for even more cuts: An earlier version of the mayor’s executive budget proposed slashing the Parks budget by $54 million.
The investigation, which was led by the Council’s Oversight and Investigation Division, with the Community Engagement Division and Parks and Recreation Chair Shekar Krishnan’s office, inspected a total of 102 men’s and women’s bathrooms located in each City Council district.
“The solution to this mess is clear: to provide the safe, clean public bathrooms that New Yorkers deserve, we need to stop cutting and start investing in our NYC Parks,” Krishnan said in a statement.