Q&A
Discussion on the appropriate ratio of public bathrooms to New Yorkers
0:55:55
·
122 sec
Council Member Restler questions Ya-Ting Liu about the appropriate ratio of public bathrooms to New Yorkers, addressing the implications of Council Member Nurse's legislation requiring one restroom for every 2,000 New Yorkers.
- Liu admits to not having a specific answer for the correct ratio
- The city is focusing on areas with high foot traffic and underserved areas
- Restler emphasizes the need for a master plan with numerical goals
- The lack of new bathrooms in high-traffic areas like Downtown Brooklyn is highlighted
Lincoln Restler
0:55:55
So in your testimony, you imply that council member nurses legislation that would require restroom for every 2000 New Yorkers would require thousands of restrooms and is perhaps too ambitious.
0:56:07
What is the correct ratio that we should be looking at of numbers of New Yorkers per bathroom?
0:56:11
How many bathrooms do we need?
Ya-Ting Liu
0:56:13
Yeah.
0:56:14
That's a great question, chair.
0:56:18
I'll be honest, I don't have the right answer.
0:56:22
I I I don't know.
0:56:22
That that's just the the the real honest answer.
0:56:25
I know that on the city side, we are looking at high areas of foot traffic.
0:56:32
So we know where, like, the high demands are and the most intensive places are.
0:56:38
And then we also know where sort of the underserved areas are.
0:56:42
And so when we look at sort of our existing resources and the map of need and use, that's how we're prioritizing.
0:56:51
I'm not sure that we have sort of the, like, a specific number of mind, like, oh, yeah, like this, this is gonna unlock unlock all the things for all the people.
Lincoln Restler
0:57:02
I hear you.
0:57:03
Yeah.
0:57:04
But I think it's the division of council member nurse's legislation, which I I agree with is that we need that master plan.
0:57:11
And that does require us to to hold our to set numerical goals and then hold ourselves to those goals.
0:57:17
So I do think it's it would be valuable for the administration to have a perspective on on that.
0:57:24
I would also just note, you know, Downtown Brooklyn are the most heavily trafficked locations in terms of foot traffic in the borough.
0:57:32
We've seen no new bathroom sited in Downtown Brooklyn in this administration despite the very clear need.
0:57:40
It's also an area where people come from across the borough for services, whether in the courts, reentry, mental health, substance use, etcetera.
0:57:47
And we're proud that it's kind of hub for those services, but we don't have the bathroom access to go along with it.
0:57:54
You noted in your testimony, and this may be a question for UN for Parks.
