PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Daniel Alam, Senior Policy Analyst from the Office of the Manhattan Borough President
1:54:44
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3 min
Daniel Alam, representing Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, testified on Intro 267, a bill to increase public bathroom access in New York City. He emphasized the current shortage of public bathrooms and the equity issues this creates across various demographics.
- Highlighted recent progress in expanding public bathroom access, including new park restrooms and reopened MTA station bathrooms.
- Explained that Intro 267 would require city agencies to identify and open available bathrooms in city facilities to the public.
- Stressed the need for better maintenance, accessibility, and public information about bathroom locations.
Daniel Alam
1:54:44
Good afternoon.
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Chair wrestler, and members of the committee on government operations, state and federal operations.
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My name is Daniel Olom, and I am a senior policy analyst for Manhattan Brewer, President Mark Leet, and I will be testifying on his path to that.
1:54:57
Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony at today's hearing on increasing government efficiency and access to city facilities.
1:55:03
There are many valuable topics this hearing is sure to explore, including ensuring government processes, are inclusive of gender identity and language diversity, expanding access to public building resources, ensuring 3011 is responsive to public needs, and more.
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My testimony submission will focus on the legislation.
1:55:19
I am proud to sponsor with council member Joseph intro 267 a bill that builds on our work to ensure more public bathrooms are built, that more existing bathrooms reopen, and that the public the the sorry, that the public knows where they can access a bathroom, and that bathrooms remain accessible and function for public needs.
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As of now, there are fewer than 1200 public bathrooms for 8,600,000 residents.
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That's roughly one for every 6000 New Yorkers.
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Every New Yorker, tourist and resident alike, knows what it is like to be searching for a public bathroom but public bathroom to access is also a sign of a more inclusive accessible city.
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A public bathroom is a place where one can change into a new outfit while during a met during a met meant mental period to change diapers to support a basic human need without any extra cost.
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A lack of public bathrooms is an equity issue across gender, disability, age, income, and more.
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Bathroom access should be a basic human.
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Right?
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We have made huge strides in recent years expanding access to public bathrooms.
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Recently, the mayor announced that in the next 5 years NYC Parks will be building and refurbishing 82 public restrooms, including 28 new public restrooms in Manhattan.
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The city will also be establishing a joint task force to cite and approve 14 new high-tech self cleaning automated public toilets on city streets and plazas.
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The MTA has reopened dozens of public bathrooms temporarily closed during the pandemic with at least 62 stations currently offering bathroom access to New Yorkers.
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We applaud these results.
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And have been glad to partner with local agencies and council member Rita Joseph who we have partnered with on several cases of legislation on public bathrooms.
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We still can do so much more.
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It is not enough to be building new public bathrooms.
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We also must be working to open up more existing bathrooms to the public.
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These efforts must start with city buildings by opening city run facility bathrooms to the city itself.
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Intro 0267 dash 2024 would require the Department of Citywide Administration Services to work with the heads of all agencies managing or operating city facilities to identify and open every available bathroom to public use during each facility's operating hours, including ADA accessible bathrooms.
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This bill would also require signage item by each bathroom's location, hours, and accessibility for persons with disabilities.
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With these bathroom's locations would be posted to a city website listing all public bath terms in the city and including included in a city land use list maintained by the Department of Citywide Administration Services.
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This won't solve our public restroom challenges by itself.
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More must be done to fix the current restroom stock, particularly to ensure that they are well maintained and accessible to all new workers.
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And we must push the MTA to open public restrooms underground and to make more digital signage and announcements on trains to ensure new workers' no public bathrooms.
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But we must and we must use every tool on our toolkit in this effort.
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I thank you for your consideration and look forward to working with the council and the administration to keep expanding access to public bathrooms and building a more equitable New York City for all of us.
