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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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