New York Real Estate Eyes on Public Restrooms Construction

Apart from the five biggest real estate projects in NY this 2016, it seems that construction of public bathrooms could be the next big project in New York City this year, reports say.

Reportedly, NYPD issues 20,000 to 30,000 citations for public toilet usage every year, prompting the New York City government to detect the city's infrastructure problem as far as public toilets are concerned, as per The Real Deal.

Aside from the citations issued per year, many have also noticed that the public lavatories are poorly managed and are locked most of the time. Most of the city's public bathrooms are located in parks and subway stations but there are only three existing toilets ready for public use across the five boroughs in NYC. These toilets, located in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, are not even free but come with charges after every use.

Such reality has really moved government officials to do something with the current infrastructure problem. Carol McCreary of Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human (PHLUSH) expressed via Atlas Obscura how significant public toilets are in a booming city like New York.

"Public toilets are as essential a part of street infrastructure as streetlights. They need to be part of the same package, and the fact that they're not makes no sense," said Carol McCreary.

Moreover, other environmental advocates and groups like Safe2Pee also share the same sentiment. They also lobby for a positive change in the city's public utilities for the benefit of the countrymen and the whole environment.

The Real Deal also reveals that New York City has never allocated budget for building and maintaining public restrooms unlike the cities in Berlin and London. On the contrary, source also reports that public restrooms attract crimes as they are money pits, according to critics and activists.