![\"Pier](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Pier-97-Porta-Potty-Fire_2291.jpeg\")
Firefighters arrived on scene to put out the fire. Photo: Catie Savage<\/p>\nA portable toilet caught fire Monday afternoon on the Hudson River near Pier 97 \u2014 just steps away from a brand-new park that still doesn\u2019t have working bathrooms.<\/p>\n
Firefighters arrived on scene to put out the fire. Photo: Catie Savage<\/p>\n
A Citizen App alert<\/a> went out shortly before 2pm reporting \u201cPortable Toilet on Fire at Pier 97.\u201d I knew exactly where that meant \u2014 the grey porta potty that has sat for years between Piers 96 and 97. When I arrived, FDNY crews were finishing up, spraying down the melted remains of a smaller purple unit next to the grey one. I asked one firefighter if he\u2019d ever seen something like this before. He shook his head, adding, \u201cThat\u2019s a first for me.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, only one of the two toilets appeared to be damaged by the fire.The charred purple unit was added sometime in the last year, likely to serve construction workers at the Pier 94 redevelopment site. The older unit that regular park-goers know all too well was untouched.<\/p>\n The surviving porta potty has been the only public facility in this stretch of Hudson River Park for more than a decade. When I began volunteering with the Manhattan Community Boathouse at Pier 96 back in 2014, visitors routinely complained about its condition, and whenever it disappeared, rumors spread that it had been dumped in the Hudson.<\/p>\n The irony is hard to miss \u2014 permanent restrooms were built into the Pier 97 concession building, part of the park\u2019s $51 million transformation from a former Sanitation Department lot into new green space that officially opened in October 2024<\/a>. At that ribbon-cutting, Hudson River Park Trust leaders and local officials celebrated the completion of the long-awaited pier \u2014 which now features lawns, a playground and skyline views.<\/p>\n But more than a year later, signs on the restroom doors still read \u201cUnder Construction,\u201d and visitors continue to rely on the lone remaining portable toilet.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Hudson River Park told W42ST that the Pier 97 building completed all necessary inspections, but is awaiting a temporary Certificate of Occupancy from the City before they can open the restrooms. It is unclear when that will happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n The fight for public restrooms along this section of the waterfront goes back decades. In 2003, Manhattan Community Board 4 urged developers of the planned \u201cUnconvention Center\u201d at nearby Pier 94 to include a caf\u00e9 and bathrooms for park users<\/a>. When Vornado Realty Trust later took over Piers 92 and 94 in 2008, they made similar commitments \u2014 but none were built.<\/p>\n Vornado has since shifted its plans<\/a> toward the new Sunset Pier 94 Studios film complex<\/a>, again pledging to contribute public restrooms to Hudson River Park as part of that project. For now, however, the only \u201cfacility\u201d north of Pier 96 is one gray plastic box \u2014 and the charred remains of another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A portable toilet caught fire Monday afternoon on the Hudson River near Pier 97 \u2014 just steps away…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[21307,4922,75,84,83,9,24,63,21308],"class_list":["post-36337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-hudsonriver","tag-hudsonriverpark","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-pier97"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Pier](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Pier-97-Porta-Potty-Fire_2296.jpeg\")
The fire reduced the porta potty to a charred and melted heap of plastic along the Hudson River. Photo: Catie Savage<\/p>\n![\"Pier](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Pier-97-Porta-Potty-Fire_2297.jpeg\")
The public restrooms at Pier 97 remain closed a year after the new park was officially opened. Photo: Catie Savage<\/p>\n