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Council Member Sandy Nurse advocates for citywide public bathroom network
0:30:13
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Council Member Sandy Nurse presents a passionate argument for Introduction 694-A, a bill to create the first citywide public bathroom network in New York City. She highlights the current shortage of public toilets and the disproportionate impact on marginalized communities.
- The bill aims to more than double the number of public toilets to over 2,100 by February 1935.
- Nurse emphasizes the need for regular planning and maintenance of public bathrooms every four years.
- The initiative was inspired by a lawsuit from homeless individuals and developed with input from diverse community groups.
Sandy Nurse
0:30:13
Thank you, majority leader.
0:30:15
Today, we are voting to make New York City flush with public toilets.
0:30:20
We are not just flushing Queens anymore, we are flushing everywhere.
0:30:24
This bipartisan bathroom bill will create the first citywide public bathroom network.
0:30:29
By 02/1935, we'll have a network of over 2,100 public toilets, more than doubling what we have now.
0:30:37
Every single person walking around New York City should be free to pee in a private, clean, and functioning bathroom.
0:30:44
No one should have to experience the humiliation or stress of having to relieve themselves out on the street.
0:30:51
New York City has 8,800,000 residents, but just over a thousand public bathrooms.
0:30:57
That is one toilet for every 7,000 people, and I believe we can do better.
0:31:02
The consequences of the failure to plan for more public toilets are thousands of predominantly black and brown New Yorkers getting criminal and civil summonses, tickets, and fines simply for having a bladder.
0:31:15
Thirty four years ago, four homeless men filed a lawsuit against the city demanding safe and better access to public toilets.
0:31:23
Since then, our city has grown, our budget has grown, but somehow we have not managed to address this issue.
0:31:30
Through Intro June, for the first time, our city agencies will not only have to actually come up with a plan to maintain and expand a citywide public bathroom network, but they'll have to plan every four years.
0:31:42
Right now we don't have a plan.
0:31:43
We don't have a strategy.
0:31:45
We have a hodgepodge of agency specific processes that create a disjointed, stunted, and some might say foul approach.
0:31:53
This bill was developed out of the Free to Pee Coalition, the original foreman who sued the city, inspired a diverse coalition of menstruators, pregnant people, parents, caregivers, homeless people, older people, and workers who came together to demand our city plan for this basic human need.
0:32:11
I thank you for all the colleagues who have supported, and I encourage you all to vote yes today.
0:32:15
Thank you, majority leader.