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What Happened to the Public Restroom?

Madison Square Park's automatic public toilet (via).

When you gotta go, you gotta go. Unfortunately, in a city of 8.3 million people, finding a suitable place to relieve yourself can be difficult—especially in public parks and subway stations, where there isn’t a Starbucks nearby. Public restrooms are in demand, and the city seems to be doing little about it.

In 2005, the city signed a street furniture deal with Spanish advertising company Cemusa. The 20-year-contract calls for Cemusa to install a mere 20 APTs, or automatic public toilets. They will also install 37 bike parking structures, 330 newsstands, 200 bus shelters and replace all current ones (totaling 3,300 bus shelters).

Since 2005, only two APTs have been built—one on Madison Avenue and 23rd Street and one at National Street and Corona Plaza in Queens.

The APT is a uniquely weird structure. The restroom, which is extremely wide (6’7” x 12’), resembles Cemusa’s newsstands and bus stops, with glass and silver finishes and even prominent ad space. Check the green “vacant” light is lit; insert 25 cents (coins only, no bills) and the doors open like an elevator.

Then it gets a little awkward. The doors remain open for an additional twenty to thirty seconds to accommodate wheelchairs, leaving the customer impatiently waiting and avoiding the gaze of any passerbys who can see in.

Once the door closes, the APT is ready for use. The structure is soundproofed to keep all street noise out, but it’s easy to feel exposed. The toilet, which is stainless steel and has no lid (there are tissue seat covers available), openly sits in the corner.

The toilet is surrounded by a series of buttons: red for emergency, yellow for assistance, blue to flush, and black for toilet paper. Each user is only allowed three helpings of sixteen-inch strips of toilet paper. After twelve minutes, a yellow warning light turns on. The green button opens the door if the user is ready before their fifteen minutes are up.

What happens after a person exits the APT is what makes it truly unique. The doors shut and the “occupied” light stays lit. Inside, two robotic arms spray the toilet, sink and floor with disinfectant. Dryers then dry the space. After 90 seconds and 14 gallons of water, it’s ready for use again.

The inside of Madison Square Park's APT (via).

The main reason for the lack of APTs is the strict site requirements. Possible locations must be sidewalks or plazas controlled by government agency or public authority, traffic islands under the DOT’s jurisdiction, on parks property, or on wide streets in commercial districts. Access to phone and plumbing lines are also necessary.

Engineering issues halted construction on three additional APTs at the 69th Street Pier and on Marcus Garvey Boulevard in Brooklyn and the Lippman Arcade in Flushing, Queens, according to the New York Times in August 2009. Since then, none of the three have completed installation.

Many community boards also reject the APTs due to their high costs. The toilet and its installation cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000. Others, like Community Board 2, feel the futuristic design does not fit into the neighborhood aesthetically.

Laureen, who lives on 23rd Street, agrees with Community Board 2. "I think it's really cool," she said of Madison Square Park's APT, "but it looks a little funny next to the park."

In 2001, the 34th Street Partnership gave similar self-cleaning automated public restrooms a try. The number of visits to the two restrooms, located at Herald Square and Greeley Square, dropped from 28,000 to less than 14,000 in 2007, according to the New York Times in December 2009. They were replaced with regular restrooms that are manually cleaned in 2008.

Automatic or not, there are just as few restrooms underground. Of the city’s 468 subway stations, according to am New York, there are only 129 restrooms in 77 stations. About 60 of them are locked or used as storage. "They may be locked at any given time due to vandalism and ongoing repairs," said NYC Transit spokesperson Charles Seaton to am New York on April 11. Unlocked restrooms are closed between midnight and 5 a.m. for cleaning.

There doesn't seem to be much cleaning going on in the rare underground restrooms. Those deemed safe enough for use were filled with garbage and standing water and smelled of various odors, according to am New York. The men's restroom in the Hunts Point Avenue station didn't even have walls on the stalls.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they [the bathrooms] were disgusting," said Rebecca, who was riding the E train on a Saturday afternoon. "I wouldn't even know where to look for one."

Bayonne Bridge Needs To Grow Up

As the face of commerce begins to transform, the Bayonne Bridge will need help catching up, reports NJ.com. The bridge, which at the time of its opening in 1931 was considered the largest steel arch span in the world, may be too short to let future cargo ships pass in and out of Newark Bay. A study completed in 2010 by the Port Authorities of New York and New Jersey confirmed that, should immediate action not be taken, the area could lose both jobs and business.

Back in 2006, a $5.25 billion dollar plan was approved by the people of Panama to revitalize the Panama Canal. By 2014, the canal will be double the size it is now, allowing for larger trade ships to pass through with less congestion and time in transit. Cargo ships will also become commonplace due to the change.

The bridge, which connects Staten Island to New Jersey, and crosses the Kil Van Kull, is the sole waterway entrance into Newark Bay. Nearly 270,000 exist around the shipping industry alone. It's height ranges between 115 to 151 feet depending on the tide. The yearly 5,000 ships that pass through just barely pass underneath the bridge. With a future trend in larger commercial ships, Newark Bay could be cut off entirely as these ships begin to take their business elsewhere, leading to a loss of billions in cargo and around 31,000 jobs.

"Our port is one of the most active in the country and is critical to the future of good quality jobs in my district," said Michael E. McMahon, a representative for the House Transportation and Infastructure committee, during a press release. "If we do not immediately start addressing the Bayonne Bridge height limitation, our local economy will undoubtedly suffer.”

Raising the bridge will cost $1.3 billion dollars, and is estimated to not be completed until at least 2019. Some groups, such as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, suggested a tunnel, but that would not be completed until 2022.

Should the many ports along Newark Bay lose business with these commercial ships, they will still end up in New Jersey via train to Pennsylvania, followed by truck.

In recent speeches, Governor Christie gave his support to fixing the Bayonne Bridge, saying it was vital for the state's economy. The Port Authority, in many statements, has committed itself to finding a solution, but has yet to announce any official plans.

Image Credit.

Internship Woes?

With the semester coming to an end and summer vacation right around the corner; students will have to decide whether to work 9 to 5 over the next 3 months as an investment in their futures or simply laze around their apartments watching morning cartoons.

Internships are as much apart of college life as oversleeping, and under-aged drinking. If you happen to have $20,000 laying around you can spend your summer as Donatella Versace's intern she'll even throw in a autographed T-shirt, signed bottle of perfume, and a single meet and greet with Donatella herself.

At the New School internships are of course a huge issue with many students complaining about internships from hell where they are tasked to fetching coffee and mailing packages. According to Jeff Feld Administrative Coordinator for Eugene Lang Advising, many students have come in with complaints, but their has been success with particular companies like Gawker Media. Students who currently don't have an internship can also go to the Academic section of the Eugene Lang homepage to take a gander at their list of approved internships.

Gawker media is one of the leading media & news companies specializing in blogs. They own several popular blogs that a leading authorities in the their field like video game blog Kotaku, technology blog Gizmodo and auto blog Jalopnik. The application process is strenuous and competitive with college attendance, and credit acquisition being a requirement for all interns. "Thats one students seem to enjoy, I hear good things about it" said Feld.

I have personally gone through this process, and been chosen to intern for Kotaku under Deputy Editor Stephen Tolito, at the Gawker Media New York office in Soho. The whole process elapsed over the course of 3 months starting in February. I sent the Kotaku office a copy of my resume, cover letter, and three clips which represented the range of journalistic writing I've done over the course of my collegiate career. This was followed by a phone interview in late February with an on the spot quiz about Kotaku writers and history and a impromptu pitch meeting. Upon completion I was assigned by Tolito to come up with three pitches by Wednesday that week with one being a weekly feature.

In April received the coveted call of affirmation having lost hope and interest with plans to live in London for the summer. Tolito had hired me for an unpaid internship to start in May.

Internships while good at heart sometimes turn into a sad repeat of the first half of Devil Wears Prada. They have received a particularly bad rap with law makers in recent weeks detailed in one New York Times article here.

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