The current issue
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Dining Guide
Where to GO
Events calendar
Classifieds
The Brooklyn Wire
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
Brooklyn Cyclones
Merchant news
About The Paper
RSS Feeds
CNG Boro Politics

CB2 says this can is a can’t

By Mike McLaughlin
The Brooklyn Paper
Department of Transportation
It's good enough for Grand Army Plaza, but a committee of Brooklyn Heights's community board shot down a public toilet plan for Columbus Park.

Tools

Print this story
digg
del.icio.us

A city plan for a public restroom in Columbus Park should be flushed away, critics say, because planners chose a location that’s too public for such discreet business.

The Department of Transportation, which oversees the city’s tortured toilet-siting process, selected a site just north of Montague Street in the paved park that is too close to the Greenmarket, Supreme Court entrance and the Borough Hall subway station for a pay toilet, members of the Community Board 2 Parks and Recreation Committee said on Monday night.

“This is hideous,” said committee member Nancy Wolf. “How will the Greenmarket people feel about having to put out their vegetables near the bathroom?”

The Department of Transportation will consider alternate latrine locations, said agency spokesman Scott Gastel.

Some members also disliked the design of the modern loo, which will be wrapped with advertising, though there was a general level of support for this self-cleaning, 25-cent answer to nature’s call.

“It’s going to serve a good function for park users,” said Seth Taylor, business services manager of the Court, Livingston and Schermerhorn Business Improvement District.

And this ain’t your daddy’s Porta-Potty either. After 15 minutes, its door opens to discourage vagrants and deviants from camping out or prostitutes from plying their trade.

It also cleans itself after each visitor leaves, allegedly ensuring high sanitary standards.

Updated 06:17 pm, March, 19 2009: Story was updated to include a comment from the Department of Transportation.

©2009 The Brooklyn Paper

→Politics: Lander gets WFP endorsement

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.

Water Street Restaurant
Brooklyn Paper Parent

Links