With reporting by Stacie Joy
As we first reported on Jan. 9, the three porta-potties were whisked away from their temporary home in Tompkins Square Park near the Ninth Street and Avenue A entrance.
At the time, we didn't realize that this might be permanent.
Sources tell us that there are no plans for new ones and that the old porta-potties were constantly trashed and not really the most fun things to use. So, the thinking is, Why replace them with more only to meet the same fate?
A contact at the Parks Department provided us with a porta-potty-worthy comment: "We don't know anything. No one tells us shit."
The temporary toilet situation has caused a stink from the get-go.
In February 2023, a Parks official explained that temporary toilets were not part of the contract "and cannot be supplied during construction." The alternative for public use during this period: The restrooms at the McKinley Playground on Fourth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue adjacent to P.S. 63/the Neighborhood School — roughly a seven-minute walk.
According to the Parks Department website, work at the field house is 27% complete, with an anticipated wrap-up date of September 2024.
For now, the 10.5-acre public park doesn't have any restroom facilities, which, predictably, has caused an uptick in sightings of (and discovery of afterward of) public urination and defecation from everyone from TSP regulars to asylum seekers waiting near St. Brigid on Seventh Street and Avenue B.
We're told that the McKinley Playground is the default public loo, though there isn't any signage anywhere to inform people of that development.
If the park remains porta-potty free, the situation will only get more fragrant this spring and summer as people will spend more time here with concerts and other warmer-weather social activities, from children's birthday parties to White Claw blanket ragers on the main lawn.
Top photo: It's important to pause for a moment and strengthen your resolve before entering.
As previously reported, the restrooms in the Tompkins Square Park field house are now closed as part of an 18-month renovation.
The Parks Department website lists the construction as 72% complete with a September 2024 completion date.
