Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

catcollector787 t1_ja9bl7x wrote

Unfortunately the true cost of a usable bathroom in the city is whatever drink is cheap at a bar.

135

[deleted] t1_ja9gt0o wrote

[deleted]

76

thoughtsarefalse t1_jaa5cqp wrote

This gets rougher if you are a minority or in a bad neighborhood. Still reasonable advice.

33

[deleted] t1_jaa5mhv wrote

[deleted]

36

vaultboy115 t1_jaan099 wrote

Sad but super true. I do this all the time. One time when I was younger my friends and I were hungover after an all nighter I just pulled into a holiday inn and went in and started eating the breakfast they put out. The staff didn’t say anything because I was white and dressed appropriately to be there.

9

travislayfear t1_jad3586 wrote

They wouldn't say anything if you werent...holiday inns have like 100 guests a day, the breakfast workers rarely work the front desk, and they dgaf as long as you arent being disruptive

Source: I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night

1

koreamax t1_jaagame wrote

It's difficult yo find a restroom in a bad neighborhood regardless of race.

5

dadefresh t1_jaa58l1 wrote

I work in a restaurant. This is accurate.

28

woodcider t1_jab6zk3 wrote

As a former Letter Carrier the worst bathrooms by far are small/medium-sized supermarkets. Not only are they located in the bowels of the Earth, but they may not have toilet tissue, despite selling it.

13

sctp1999 t1_jaapss8 wrote

I find that if its a dive bar you can just go in and out without issue.

9

iliveoffofbagels t1_jabl4y2 wrote

I'm just reminded how many times I've gone into Union Pool solely for the restroom, especially since the urinals have a separate weight wait to stalls.

I usually ended up getting a taco after the fact anyway so it's not like I wasn't giving them my patronage

3

LongIsland1995 t1_jabds29 wrote

If it's a larger, busy bar it's pretty easy to just walk right in and use the bathroom (if you're old enough to get in at least).

5

4BDN t1_jaakmuy wrote

I always used to just find a crowded bar and walk to the bathroom without paying. I guess it probably depends on the time of day and location.

14

sirzoop t1_jaap151 wrote

I've literally never heard of having to pay at a bar to use the bathroom. I know plenty of people who walk in use it and walk out...

9

sirzoop t1_jaaowt4 wrote

I've never seen a bar require you order a drink before using the bathroom.

2

ucabearfan05 t1_jab17uy wrote

Find a crowded/busy bar or restaurant, if someone stops you at the front tell them you’re meeting your friends who are already at the table, then make a beeline for the bathroom.

1

bkornblith t1_ja9dudl wrote

"As THE CITY has reported, the cost of installing what are known as “comfort stations” in city parks ballooned before the pandemic — from an average cost of $1.3 million in 2011 to $3.6 million as of 2018. "

What the actual fuck... The biggest issue in NYC is everything costs millions of dollars for literally no reason.

97

akmalhot t1_ja9sowv wrote

Everyone has their hand out. Top to bottom .

Buddy suodating his house in Nassau, came to a standstill. Had to hire a an accelerator or whatever to get the permit people to come approve things.

Total scam

34

bkornblith t1_ja9udla wrote

I have a friend who bought in Forest Hills and its been a year and a half and still hasn't got his plans approved by the city for renovations... truly a wild amount of corruption everywhere.

21

akmalhot t1_ja9vy8u wrote

Oh, get one of these accelerators it'll be approved in a month or so

5

bkornblith t1_ja9wtn1 wrote

He has one…

4

akmalhot t1_ja9xbls wrote

Half of me grows to hate ny more and more..

The other half can't go back to suburban life.

It's like a terrible drug in ways...

Id definitely tell others who's careers are not accekerates or better by living in the tristate to never move here.

10

isowater t1_jaaugwl wrote

You can just say fuck it and do the renovations anyway. The Philly approach

2

djdjddhdhdh t1_jab8grv wrote

Ye then you’ll you’ll be the guy in states island who keeps getting sent to jail for not having 300k to tear down illegal renovations lol

2

ehsurfskate t1_jab18fh wrote

I’m a professional engineer and depending on the work he is doing it could be self cert by a registered architect or professional engineer. Only downside is cost to retain us to do that, but it usually gets through permit in days.

3

ehsurfskate t1_jab2n5w wrote

So not all work can be self certified so it may fall under that. Alternatively, the special inspector may be giving him a hard time. Usually for the jobs we do we also inspect -as licensed engineers or architects it’s easy to get the special inspection credentials.

3

bkornblith t1_jab1m37 wrote

That super weird as he has an architect who made the plans. Basically, he’ll get an inspector from the city, they’ll come by and say these two things need fixing, he’ll fix them, they’ll send a new guy, different shit, repeat forever.

2

Freddy-Sez t1_jaaqlg0 wrote

I always wonder how permit expeditors get into that line of work

4

Adriano-Capitano t1_jabrmyl wrote

I’m in that industry.

Walked out of a job, went to a bar, talked about walking out of my job to random people at the bar, one of whom offered me a temp job. One of my co workers at the temp job had an old friends who was looking for an employee, and like that I was hired.

Small family run business that’s been doing it for decades, not many people do it so you tend to run into the same people doing related work, engineers, installers etc all the time. A lot of internal drama, often if you get on the wrong side of a city employee they will make it difficult for you to get things permitted. Or often previous owners had unfinished permits, violations which make things more complicated.

Overall it’s an easy job that pays OK and my office in particular is closed whenever the Department of Buildings is closed, we work pretty much all remote, and by 3PM it gets quiet and I can more or less sign off.

I have also learned why projects like these can take so long to get approved and why they seem like a scam. If you’re doing an inspection, often the client, business owner, property owners, engineers, property electrician, general contractors, people who provide lifting trucks, city inspectors all have a stake and need to be present to ensure things go smoothly on all ends. One person missing the inspection might fuck the entire inspection up if they forgot to point something out and now you have to reschedule ALL those people and it costs thousands more suddenly. And the city inspector is pissed they have to come back again so they will find a way to give you a hard time or ignore you.

5

drpvn t1_ja9kgf3 wrote

About $1 million per toilet. And the structure itself costs only $185k. The rest is all NYC.

> The five Portland Loo toilets, made by an Oregon-based metal firm, cost roughly $185,000 each, according to a Parks Department spokesperson.

>But the overall budget to buy and install five Portland Loos, in one pilot location in each borough, starting as early as summer 2024, could reach as much as $5.3 million.

>And strict New York City building code restrictions on prefabricated construction have dragged out getting potties to parks, a Parks spokesperson acknowledged. A sales manager for Portland Loo’s manufacturer, Madden Fabrication, told THE CITY that securing approval in New York was more difficult than in any other location the company has worked in.

>“I built 180 of these, from Portland to Alaska to Miami, and I’ve never had this certification problem,” Evan Madden told THE CITY. “New York City has been the most difficult to have a permit approved for.”

49

supremeMilo t1_ja9poxk wrote

We could be a utopia if we cut the grift and waste.

29

mowotlarx t1_ja9c44w wrote

Look forward to everyone being angry about these bathrooms that have been demanded to be put into city parks for years.

PUT IN MORE BATHROOMS. NO, NOT LIKE THAT!

Other cities with even worse issues with homeless populations have successfully implemented these bathrooms. There's nothing so special about NYC that they wouldn't work here. What is unique is our stubbornness and inability to try.

24

k1lk1 t1_ja9d8i7 wrote

Did you read the article? Bathrooms aside, it's about how the city, as usual, was bureaucratic, incompetent, and slow.

> And strict New York City building code restrictions on prefabricated construction have dragged out getting potties to parks, a Parks spokesperson acknowledged. A sales manager for Portland Loo’s manufacturer, Madden Fabrication, told THE CITY that securing approval in New York was more difficult than in any other location the company has worked in.

> “I built 180 of these, from Portland to Alaska to Miami, and I’ve never had this certification problem,” Evan Madden told THE CITY. “New York City has been the most difficult to have a permit approved for.”

He goes on:

> Madden, the loo fabricator, told THE CITY he didn’t hear a peep from New York City officials until February 2022, when one of them angrily called and asked why the firm wasn’t providing the potties.

> The short answer: Nobody had ordered them.

35

mowotlarx t1_ja9jcua wrote

Yes, I read it. And it's almost as if we had a pandemic since these were first proposed and inflation has been nuts, in addition to supply chain issues. Oh, also we got a new mayor with new priorities and new Commissioners in every agency. Of course it was delayed. Of course it costs more now.

>when one of them angrily called and asked why the firm wasn’t providing the potties.

Who called? An elected official? Someone at NYC Parks? This anecdote doesn't mean anything unless they specify that the agency managing and buying the Loos made the call. And based on the fact that he didn't say an official at NYC Parks, I bet some slack jawed City Council member or Borough President called. As a rule, they don't know anything except when the next public event with a podium will be.

−7

k1lk1 t1_ja9jy81 wrote

You are really going hard in defense of the city's obvious, well-documented, problems with bureaucracy.

It's very simple. NYC has more barriers than any of the other places this dude did 180 toilet builds. 5 toilets is peanuts, but I assure you, this same stupidity and these same barriers exist when we want to do such things as extend the 2nd Ave line and such.

> This anecdote doesn't mean anything unless they specify that the agency managing and buying the Loos made the call.

This "anecdote" - some would call it an interview - shows that the city is exceedingly dumb.

20

akmalhot t1_ja9t18c wrote

Comeon man the cost of the the toilets didn't change .... It just cost 4x for the beauracracy and union contracts

5

yasth t1_ja9u8l5 wrote

Eh, there are some aspects of their likely deployment that may cause issues. Like, according to the DC conducted survey, problems were found where they were used without a lot of foot traffic or commerce, which would probably be a lot of parks at night. I mean a lot of current comfort stations are locked during the night, and you could do the same, but trying to go 24/7 is likely going to have issues. Also in that report areas with lots of troubled users had serious issues up to and including requiring a monitor all day. Not unique problems, just other city's issues that will be particularly problematic in NYC.

Also I kind of understand the not these bathrooms crowd. It is like a glorified port a potty for a million dollars for a single "stall" and a lot of ongoing cost. Your $3-5 million traditional comfort station probably has higher capacity, and has some benefits like storage for park maintenance and the like.

8

originalmango t1_ja9asuj wrote

So who cleans it? Sanitation department? Parks department? Nobody department?

I really hope it works well.

21

mowotlarx t1_ja9bc0h wrote

Parks.

6

originalmango t1_ja9brdo wrote

I hope this takes hold around New York. Just to give the homeless a halfway decent place to clean up alone is worth the cost and maintenance. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

−3

Quiet_dog23 t1_jac954g wrote

If these get taken over by the homeless, they have failed

3

[deleted] t1_ja98a8r wrote

[deleted]

18

thebruns t1_jab201o wrote

You can tell who doesnt actually live in NYC by the idiotic comments.

"it wont work it will be destroyed in a day homeless drugs yadayada"

Most parks have a free open public restroom. Even in Manhattan. They work fine. The issue is there arent enough.

Those of us who actually spend time in the city know this.

16

Jarreddit15 t1_jab3v0i wrote

Have you ever tried to use (let alone go near) the public restroom they installed on the southeast corner of Madison Square Park?

10

thebruns t1_jab42bc wrote

No, but Ive used Tompkins Square Park and Carl Schurz Park, among others. They were fine.

6

candcNYC t1_jabu9pg wrote

Yes and I’ve seen many tourists use it. It has its bad days when homeless people camp out by it on the benches or where the trash is kept, but most of the year it’s fine—and it’s been much better since foot traffic picked back up.

2

NewNewark t1_jada0cg wrote

I like how you were downvoted because you responded to their querry with facts

1

bsanchey t1_ja9alhh wrote

People bout to complain the homeless will use them because they rather the homeless piss and shit on the street right. Just make sure to pay the person who clean them 6 figures.

13

yasth t1_ja9sepk wrote

Eh, well I mean many of the complaints are likely to be that the homeless more or less take up residence in them. I honestly don't know why they are so long, as it seems just an invitation for camping.

7

MandatoryDissent55 t1_jaa8xnp wrote

People finna complain because these things cost a million dollars over the price of materials and labor, and everybody who lives here knows that mentally ill homeless people will intentionally render them completely unusable for the rest. It's pointless. They need to be institutionalized.

4

mowotlarx t1_jaao8xt wrote

I guess we'll just (checks notes) round up all of the homeless people in the city and "disappear" them so then we can install public bathrooms. Sounds like a great final solution you have there.

−5

koreamax t1_jaag2zr wrote

I grew up in Sf and my dad is a journalist. He did a story about these things. The issue is, they're used for shooting up heroin and break so easily. Portland is not a model we should follow

8

thebruns t1_jab1t9k wrote

What if I told you that people will shoot up heroin anywhere?

What a stupid reason not to do anything

9

candcNYC t1_jabtywq wrote

Plus, according to the website, these loos use blue tinted lights that make it difficult for drug users to locate veins.

I imagine they’ve made design iterations since the first installations.

4

koreamax t1_jadwaj8 wrote

Ah I didn't see that. That's really smart.

2

space_______kat OP t1_ja97sdd wrote

"Nearly four years after floating the possibility, the city Department of Parks and Recreation is preparing for a trial run of prefabricated, kiosk-like bathrooms that cost a fraction of the multimillion-dollar price tag for building traditional restrooms. 

The five Portland Loo toilets, made by an Oregon-based metal firm, cost roughly $185,000 each, according to a Parks Department spokesperson. 

But the overall budget to buy and install five Portland Loos, in one pilot location in each borough, starting as early as summer 2024, could reach as much as $5.3 million."

6

space_______kat OP t1_ja9c1gg wrote

This should be all around the city, not just in parks. The problem here is that the cost of anything in this city is insanely high compared to other cities.

3

Insanezer0x t1_jaa5tgf wrote

It will be a homeless encampment in a week

5

mowotlarx t1_jaanrua wrote

You'd rather people shit and piss on the street?

4

TheLastHotBoy t1_jabzevo wrote

So what crazy person isn’t just gonna chuck shit into that while someone’s doing their business. Eric Adams is a train wreck.

5

akmalhot t1_ja9s5f3 wrote

1 million for the toilets, 4 million to install (red tape, unions etc per the article )

4

DawgsWorld t1_jaarjdc wrote

This will absolutely, positively be a disaster. No public facility will work unless there's a full-time attendant during hours of operation, especially with the current plague of permissiveness. Look for these to become drug dens, love booths, and yeah, housing. How do I know? The city has been here before, so either city council members hadn't been born yet or they have amnesia.

4

echelon_01 t1_jaa3mqo wrote

Do they have full plumbing and electricity, or are they like semi-permanent portapotties...?

2

railsonrails t1_jabfdut wrote

They have plumbing as in the toilets flush and there’s a tap on the outside of the loo with a gutter, not a sink (to deter bathing etc). I think they have electricity via solar panel — it’s dim-ish blue lighting to ensure it’s harder to find veins to shoot up. Oh, and there’s a hose connection so someone can hose down the whole thing to clean it if it gets bad.

The restrooms are really well-optimized for public safety, used one in Burlington, VT, it did the job well!

2

NetQuarterLatte t1_jaagn7z wrote

> But the overall budget to buy and install five Portland Loos, in one pilot location in each borough, starting as early as summer 2024, could reach as much as $5.3 million.

1 million per loo. Not even counting operation/maintenance costs.

And I naively thought that 5k per homesless shelter bed per month was too expensive.

2

mowotlarx t1_jaao2ih wrote

>The five Portland Loo toilets, made by an Oregon-based metal firm, cost roughly $185,000 each, according to a Parks Department spokesperson. 

>But the overall budget to buy and install five Portland Loos, in one pilot location in each borough, starting as early as summer 2024, could reach as much as $5.3 million. 

It's $185k to buy. The rest is the operation and maintenance. They need to run electric and plumbing to them.

0

Eviana27 t1_jaca8xm wrote

Into this - I am a runner I need access to toilets 🚽

2

SaitoPrecise7 t1_jaaxhm8 wrote

Idk why most of ya’ll be having problems finding and using bathrooms around the city. I’ve never once had a issue.

1

candcNYC t1_jabuhyc wrote

The website FAQ is pretty interesting. Eg:

>How often do we need to clean The Portland Loo®? In Portland they get cleaned 2-5 times a day. There is also a number to report incidents inside the restroom for cleaning.

>How does The Portland Loo® address the issue of drug use? The Portland Loo® uses angled louvers for police and security to limit privacy. The Portland Loo® also uses blue lights to prevent drug users from locating veins.  

>How does The Portland Loo® help reduce inappropriate use such as prostitution and drugs? The open bottom and top of the restroom allow sight lines and sounds to carry outside the restroom. The restroom should be sited with Crime Prevention Through Environmental Designs (CPTED) that places the restroom in visible areas that prevent crime with open sight lines.

>How long can I expect The Portland Loo® to last? With proper maintenance The Portland Loo® is expected to last up to one hundred years.

1

smackson t1_jacjvay wrote

Wait so may body expulsion sounds and smells are practically out in the open in a high foot traffic area?

And literally anyone can lean down and watch people go to the bathroom through the open slat design?

1

candcNYC t1_jadi0e0 wrote

No, the louvers are tilted for privacy, both from street level and building windows above.

The loos are also installed in high visibility spots that discourage peeping Toms and loitering.

Idk know about ‘body expulsion’ concerns… but open air dissipates smells quickly and it’s designed to be spray-washed clean.

1

smackson t1_jads68k wrote

> the louvers are tilted for privacy, both from street level and building windows above.

but from the FAQ you posted...

> How does The Portland Loo® help reduce inappropriate use such as prostitution and drugs? The open bottom and top of the restroom allow sight lines

I mean... it can't be both.

1

Karrick t1_jac8yc5 wrote

People in here bitching about the added cost but ignoring the fact that they're putting them in new locations and parks are not just blanketed in usable water and power lines.

>Parks Department spokesperson Meghan Lalor said the budgeted Portland Loo price tag included costs for running new electric and water lines to the units, along with prep work, foundation work and other construction needs. >...

>“We are installing Portland Loos in one park in each borough, in areas specifically chosen because they did not previously have bathrooms,” said Lalor.

Of course that shit's going to inflate the cost, you need to tap into water and electric from either inside the park or from the street. That's going to likely require digging a new trench, buying and laying new pipe and conduit, pouring a concrete pad and nevermind what might be in the way of all that work now.

1

lucialuccianna t1_jacpjrr wrote

Cleanliness is the main issue. Requiring supervision and cleaning. No getting around it.

1

LOVE2FUKWITHPP t1_ja9cnsu wrote

This is nyc and u know who runs it

So these toilets will be coverd in needles 💉 and feces and bed bugs within 1 week

And if u say anything bad u might get charge with a hayte crime

−7