The plan, he said, would deliver bathrooms faster and cheaper than traditional city construction projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone knows the feeling of needing a bathroom and not being able to find one,\u201d Mamdani said at the press conference, joined by City Council Speaker Julie Menin. \u201cWith this new commitment to public toilets, we\u2019re ensuring New Yorkers can travel through our city with a little less anxiety.\u201d<\/p>\n
But even as the administration pushes to build new bathrooms in busy neighborhoods and high-need areas, dozens of existing public restrooms in city parks remain out of service.<\/p>\n
All told, there are nearly 1,000 city operated public restrooms across the five boroughs, roughly 70% of them in parks. The Parks Department says about 90% are operational.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that leaves roughly 50 Parks Department bathrooms currently closed for repairs or renovations, some of which have dragged on for years, according to city budget records. Some have been in the design phase for months, and others have taken years to get going, according to the agency\u2019s online tracker.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Manhattan Councilmember Gale Brewer said the mayor\u2019s proposed bathroom expansion plan makes sense, but warned that fixing what already exists should be just as urgent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the mayor is talking about spending money on new bathrooms, we do need to fix the ones that exist,\u201d Brewer told THE CITY. \u201cThe Parks Department is where most of the public bathrooms are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brewer noted that aside from the 50 that are officially closed for repairs, many open bathrooms are in rough condition. In Manhattan, she said, only a handful are widely praised<\/a> including the well-maintained<\/a> facility in Bryant Park, which has a full-time attendant, and another in Bella Abzug Park in Hell\u2019s Kitchen.<\/p>\n By contrast, several bathrooms in Riverside Park \u2014 including ones near playgrounds and ballfields \u2014 are in \u201cvery bad shape,\u201d she said, with renovation costs estimated between $5 million and $13 million.<\/p>\n The price tag for park bathroom construction has been climbing for years.<\/p>\n A 2019 investigation by THE CITY<\/a> found that the typical Parks Department restroom \u2014 a no-frills rectangular structure with four walls, several toilets and a handful of sinks \u2014 cost taxpayers just under $3.6 million on average. That was nearly triple the $1.3 million average the agency spent in 2011.<\/p>\n The bathroom battle highlights a broader budget debate.\u00a0<\/p>\n On the campaign trail, Mamdani repeatedly vowed to boost funding for the city\u2019s Parks Department.\u00a0<\/p>\n The preliminary budget released last month keeps funding for the agency essentially flat, at roughly half the 1%<\/a> of the total budget Mamdani had pledged.<\/p>\n Park advocates are urging the mayor to follow through with his campaign promise and add funding for the city\u2019s green spaces \u2014 and some of their busted bathrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n The final budget must be approved by the City Council by the start of the fiscal year on July 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brewer and some of her colleagues have long advocated for more resources for city bathrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n A December 2025 report from the New York City Council Oversight and Investigations Division \u2014 launched by Brewer\u2019s office and titled Good To Go?<\/a> \u2014 says the bathroom problem doesn\u2019t just entail spots that are closed for repairs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Council investigators inspected 172 restroom sites across all five boroughs and found that more than one in 10 surveyed restrooms \u2014 all located in parks \u2014 were closed during posted operating hours. Nearly one in nine park restrooms were closed when they were supposed to be open.<\/p>\n The report also found that more than two in five restrooms surveyed were missing at least one basic necessity such as soap, toilet paper, a garbage can or a way to dry hands. More than one in seven restroom stalls lacked a functioning lock. And more than a quarter of open restrooms did not have a diaper changing table.<\/p>\n \u201cThese closures represent a lack of reliability for members of the public,\u201d the report concluded, warning that uncertainty around whether bathrooms are open can contribute to a broader perception of restroom scarcity citywide.<\/p>\n \u2018Screaming About Bathrooms Forever\u2019<\/p>\n At Riverside Park, the situation is particularly stark, according to Merritt Birnbaum, president and CEO of the Riverside Park Conservancy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been screaming about bathrooms forever,\u201d Birnbaum told THE CITY.\u00a0<\/p>\n Riverside Park has 14 restrooms in total \u2014 13 open to the public and one mobile restroom that the conservancy purchased, operates and staffs itself near the pickleball courts. That unit, she noted, is seasonal and currently closed for the winter.<\/p>\n Of the 13 public restrooms at Riverside maintained by the Parks Department, five are currently closed.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s five out of 13,\u201d Birnbaum said. \u201cThey\u2019re closed either because they don\u2019t have heat, because water mains broke in the area and haven\u2019t been fixed, or because of electricity and crumbling infrastructure issues.\u201d<\/p>\n In some cases, she said, water is not being restored because broken lines serve only park facilities, and the department lacks sufficient plumbers to prioritize the repairs. \u201cThis is going on several weeks of no one being able to fix water issues in our park,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Even among the bathrooms that remain open, most haven\u2019t seen major interior upgrades in decades.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of them haven\u2019t been fixed or upgraded inside for 70 to 80 years,\u201d Birnbaum said. \u201cThey are falling apart and disgusting.\u201d<\/p>\n Birnbaum also pointed to the city\u2019s slow-moving procurement system as another obstacle.<\/p>\n In July 2021, then-Councilmember Mark Levine secured $1.8 million in discretionary funding for a modular restroom near Discovery Playground in Fort Washington Park, she said. \u201cEveryone was very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n Five years later, the bathroom has yet to arrive.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still in procurement,\u201d Birnbaum said. \u201cWe\u2019re nowhere near construction. The system is so broken that it cannot, five years later, deliver what was considered to be an easy bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the mayor\u2019s new bathroom plan, the administration says the 20 to 30 modular units \u2014 similar to models rolled out in Los Angeles and Portland \u2014 could be installed within months, dramatically accelerating a city process that often drags on for years.\u00a0<\/p>\n A new self-cleaning, fully accessible public bathroom is slated to open later this year at the West Harlem site where Mamdani spoke, with the New York City Department of Transportation overseeing installation.<\/p>\n The new initiative is aimed largely at plazas and commercial corridors beyond the parks system, where access can be even scarcer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time a mayor is pushing for additional bathrooms.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2006, the Bloomberg administration announced<\/a> a 20-year franchise agreement with Cemusa, later bought by JC Decaux<\/a>, to put in 20 automatic public toilets, 3,500 bus stop shelters and at least 330 newsstands in New York City.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/030226_howard_beach_bathroom.jpg\")
A public bathroom was closed in a Howard Beach park, March 2, 2026. Credit: Lilly Sabella\/THE CITY<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/030226_riverside_park.jpg\")
The sun sets over Riverside Park in Manhattan, March 2, 2026. Credit: Lilly Sabella\/THE CITY<\/p>\n