Progress in Park Bathroom Quest

POSTED JUNE 1, 2007

Tribeca’s Washington Market Park has most everything you’d want in a small urban park: great play equipment; beautifully maintained lawn; community gardens; even a gazebo. But much to the dismay of a generation of local parents and caregivers, when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go somewhere else.

Last month, however, the park came closer to providing that convenience. Parks Department officials, including an architect and landscape architect, joined two Friends of Washington Market Park members—Nelle Fortenberry, the president, and Pam Frederick—to officially begin planning for the toilets.

The group toured the park and identified several possible sites where toilets (men’s and women’s) could go. The architects are to return with plans of what they could build in the various locations.

The bathroom will not be standard issue, Fortenberry said, because newly built ones are a rarity in the city. “It’s encouraging that there is no rote design,” Fortenberry said, “so it allows us to get something that fits the character of our park.”

Last year, a Parks Department spokeswoman said the structure would likely have “green features,” such as a planted roof and waterless urinals.

Just what these “comfort stations,” as the Parks Department likes to call them, might cost, is unknown. Early last year, when it was announced that the park would receive Lower Manhattan Development Corp. funds for a 900 square-foot bathroom, the cost was estimated as much as $1.3 million. City Councilman Alan Gerson had promised $650,000 and LMDC money was to make up the difference. But the price will likely go higher and Fortenberry said additional money may have to be raised.

At best, the comfort of those stations will not arrive soon.

“It could take two years before there is a potty in the park,” said Fortenberry, “but at least the process is underway.”

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