Gotta go right now
In New York, they've always been there. Often horrendously nasty drug, sex and sleep dens for the disturbed or addicted, often just boarded up, they've never been particularly welcoming for staphangers. But now, the MTA is waking up to the need to go, installing four loos at Times Square. How long they stay clean is anybody's bet. Mine is for as long as they see it fit to pay an attendant to watch over them for any suspicious behavior. It's really a shame that public bathrooms are always so awful, especially because most of the mess is caused by a few inconsiderate people. But such is the cost of a free ride.
On a related note, a good example of how clean toilets can improve a public space is New York's Bryant Park. Once purely dealer and homeless territory, those in charge of fixing up the park discovered that successful parks have mothers and children, who drive away nasty elements by simply taking up space that would otherwise be used by junkies and pushers. They also found that mothers could be enticed to visit a park if it had clean bathrooms. In mid-1980s New York City, this was revolutionary. Growing up around then, I was a frequent visitor to my neighborhood's parks, all of which, despite good maintainance elsewhere, had universally awful public bathrooms. Long story short, Bryant Park became known for having the cleanest public bathrooms in the city and the dealers found other places to deal.
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rj3 | 11:11 AM |
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