New Yorkers have a reputation of being rude. I say, those New Yorkers probably needed to use the bathroom!
I have a notion that a public bathroom initiative throughout the city may cause a downward trend in violent crimes caused by aggressive behaviors. This thought is my Mental Playdough.
We all know how difficult it is to maintain a positive attitude and mental outlook when you have to go. I believe there is a positive correlation between the ringing volume of nature’s call and one’s threshold to irritation. One may become more susceptible to react rather than respond to stimuli and New York City is full of stimuli. New York is also full of business owners who say silly things like “we don’t have bathrooms”. Huh? Where do you go?!
After graduating University, I ventured out to bars with friends. Upon returning home on the train, the consumed beers orchestrated a collaborative effort to remind me that the myth of seal-breaking is not much of a myth. The showtime dancers occupying my space, making me twist to dodge their attempts to wow tourists with backflips pissed me off. Everything became much more annoying. The crowds, the stop and go train traffic, people holding the doors open as I held my bladder.
Eventually, I prematurely fled the train and the station to purchase a McChicken and fries in McDonalds in order to learn the push-button combination to the bathroom door to finally… go! Thank goodness! I continued my way home with an empty bladder and a full tank of renewed patience, optimism, and integrity… most of my integrity at least… I just paid about $7 to use the bathroom in Mcdonald's.
You are not the same when you have to go. Immediacy and urgency gradually postpone one’s active participation in reinforcing social contracts. On the flip side of this: a proliferation of a bathrooms accessible to the public may completely amend social contracts.
My nearly three year experience living in a society full of accessible bathrooms revealed how this is so. Japan put me in a position to renegotiate the terms of social contracts, and gave me some perks!
Japan has made public restrooms extremely accessible. They are everywhere! Every block has at least one. You can even enter a random businesses to use their bathrooms too, if needed… but the amount of convenience stores alone pick up a lot of the bladder burdens. If you feel a sudden urge to go… just walk for 45 seconds… you’re saved. Train stations, malls, fast food chains, parks, and even solely dedicated bathroom structures. Everywhere.
How did this change social contracts/norms?
I can say with certainty that within the three years in Japan, my experience visiting friend’s homes in Fukuoka… I have only seen maybe six bathrooms out of dozens of home visits. It became normal to use the bathroom before entering someone’s home. It also became normal to wait to leave to use the bathroom in the train station on my way home.
I never witnessed someone urinating on the street, subway platform, side of buildings, or on a tree, etc.
Japan is a country of “Omotenashi” (hospitality). It was one of the core messages of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Game invitational address.
I recall several instances during my first days in Japan when I would say “thank you” to store clerks for letting me use the bathroom, and confusing them immensely. It is not a privilege to go… it is a right! The culture is vibrant, friendly, fun, and safe.
I can name several factors as to why Japan experiences such an incredibly safe lifestyle. It is an active pursuit, with moral education being a compulsory subject in school, and the language itself which is rooted in honorifics to respect self and others. With this in mind, I will make a final bold claim that the accessibility to public restrooms still contribute to this harmony of solace that is Japan’s safe society.
We can strive for this in New York, too! Many train stations here have public restrooms. For fair reasons they were shut down due to the influx of drugs in the 70s and 80s. Victims of drug abuse found folded over on toilet seats in pools of their own vomit, and sometimes even deceased from overdose. Prostitution hitting a peak in the 70’s also participated in the demise of our public MTA toilets as “John’s” would take the sex workers to bathrooms. Sometimes, a combination of both. With bathrooms being tough to monitor for safety, the risks outweighed the benefits.
With the worst of those days seeming more and more behind us, we can move ahead of this and renovate, restore, and install bathrooms across the city within our subway system.
There is a huge opportunity here for business marketing ventures. Emerging tech companies can capitalize on this. It is an emerging market that has been around forever... it's like building solar panels for the stars.
There are several ways to incentivize business owners to open their restroom to the the public. The department store closest to my home in Fukuoka placed their restrooms on the opposite wall of the entrance. I discovered that the bread store had deals on Saturdays during my exit from the bathroom to the front door, as the huge promotions escort people to and from relief . Guess who became a Saturday customer at that bread store? I went every Saturday. Fresh Melon Pan for 100 yen? Unbeatable.
I can think of a couple of ways this could go wrong… but if done correctly and successfully… It can yield a plethora of positive outcomes. I have some ideas to incentivize and mobilize businesses to partner with government entities and private tech companies to leverage their toilets. This is my Mental PlayDough.
I do not know who intends to run for the NYC mayoral office next term, but I will surely vote for the one who proposes plans to implement the "accessibility to public toilets" initiative.
We can: reduce public urination, reduce spread of germs, and potentially reduce violent crimes.
Let's go, New York!
That would be the slogan.
Please share your stance on Bathroom accessibility to the public? Are you for it? Against it? Why?
Comment, Share.
Let's Go!
Written by:
Louis Rodriguez
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