City Announces $4 Mil Infusion Into Public Bathroom Program

Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced on Jan. 10 that he had earmarked $4 million to go towards expanding access to public bathrooms citywide.

Specifically, the city has put out a Request for Proposals (RFPs) process on “high-quality modular” restrooms, with the aim of awarding a bid to the company that can install said toilets both quickly and at the lowest possible price.

Administration officials say that other major U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles or Washington, D.C., install public restrooms in a far more efficient manner than NYC does. There are around 1,100 public restrooms in New York City, 70 percent of which are located in city parks which are generally closed at night.

Mamdani made the announcement at the corner of 12th Ave. and St. Clair Place in West Harlem, which happens to be where one new bathroom is slated to pop up. Set to be installed later this year, with the approval of the NYC Department of Transportation, the bathroom will be self-cleaning and include a water bottle filler.

Speaking alongside City Council Speaker Julie Menin (who represents the UES) and City Council Member Shaun Abreu (who represents part of the UWS), Mamdani described the universally-shared experience of nature abruptly calling—and the dread that occurs when one realizes that no easily-accessible restroom is nearby.

“You’re out in the city. The sun is out. Maybe you’re running an errand, spending a weekend afternoon with some friends, or just going for a walk,” he began. “Then suddenly, you feel it. You have to go to the bathroom.”

“In a city that has everything, the one thing that is impossible to find is a public bathroom,” he added. He said the new toilets would be self sustaining without requiring a need to tap into sewage and water systems. Similar self cleaning public toilets have been installed at a limited number of sites in the city already.

“New Yorkers should not be worried about where to go...when they have to go,” Menin said. “Thanks to the Mayor and Council Member Abreu, we are literally flushing that worry away.”

Menin also emphasized a telling ratio, that of public bathrooms per capita: “In a city of 8.5 million people, to have 1,100 public bathrooms is really shameful.”

Abreu, meanwhile, connected public bathroom accessibility to other quality-of-life measures such as trash containerization and pedestrian safety. “We can do it all,” he said. “We have to protect our public space and prioritize people in the process.”

The installation of public bathrooms across New York City has proven to be a popular municipal initiative for years, even if previous efforts have not yet effectuated the mass scale-up that full-bladdered New Yorkers say is necessary.

Back in 2024, then-Mayor Eric Adams announced a program slated to build 46 new public bathrooms over five years, as well as renovate 36 existing ones. He cheekily called the initiative–which remains ongoing after the mayoral transition–“Ur In Luck.”

Moreover, a notable law did pass City Council last summer that would all but double the meager “1,100 public toilets” figure cited by Menin; namely, it demands that the city maintain a total of 2,120 public toilets citywide by 2035. The Council Speaker touted the law, quite simply known as the “Bathroom Bill,” in a statement praising the new $4 million infusion of funds.