By Gus Saltonstall
A large public restroom facility on the Upper West Side that typically remains open for the entire year has closed for renovations.
The public bathrooms in Riverside Park South near Pier i at West 70 Street shuttered at the end of October, and will remain closed until spring 2025, a New York City Parks Department spokesperson told West Side Rag.
The rest station is one of the largest in the nearby area, with multiple stalls, located within the park near basketball courts, soccer and baseball fields, the Pier i Cafe, and the Hudson River Greenway.
“New Yorkers deserve accessible, well-maintained public restrooms, and we’re committed to providing [them at] this essential facility at Pier i Cafe in Riverside Park South,” NYC Parks Borough Commissioner Tricia Shimamura told the Rag in an email. “These renovated restrooms will advance our goal of making New York City greener and more livable.”
The current bathrooms at the location are 20 years old and in need of repair, the Parks Department added.
The renovations are part of a new license agreement between the Pier i Cafe concessionaire and the Parks Department, which mandated that the concessionaire renovate the bathrooms this winter to provide a better rest station for the community.
This summer, the Parks Department launched the Better Bathrooms Initiative, a more than $150 million investment to help protect aging bathroom facilities throughout the city’s park system.
The Pier i bathroom is slated to reopen in the spring of 2025.
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Re: “New Yorkers deserve accessible, well-maintained public restrooms.”: So, what does the Parks Dept. expect people to do during the long period this one is closed? The only alternative
down there is a fair walk north to the one next to the playground and jogging track, around 72/73 St, which also is frequently closed. How about at least keeping that one open/well-maintained every day? Otherwise, it means going to the upper level of the park to see if the one between the basketball court and children’s playground, around 75th St. is open (that one could be better maintained too).
Well done to mention the nearest alternative destinations! Maybe Parks Dept or the Cafe could add signage listing those too. Are there other options, readers?
Ridiculous to close until the spring all the bathrooms in Riverside along the River in this area.
The one at 72/73 near the track is closed lots as well.
Failure on the part of NYC Parks Borough Commissioner Tricia Shimamura to have had any interim plan.
It’s not like people don’t have to go to the bathroom all winter.
Even having a couple of port-o-potties near these closed bathroom would be very worthwhile.
Let’s think before acting.
Instead of doing nothing but complaining, how about acknowledging how good it will be to have this renovation done, let’s be happy it has been scheduled. It drives me crazy when people want good amenities, and then don’t realize they have to be maintained. Same with roads. We want good roads and sidewalks but don’t want the inconvenience of reconstruction. Come on folks, grow up and realize that it takes WORK. It’s not all magic. Rant over.
Generally agree. I was in one of these bathrooms a few weeks ago. It was not great but it was fine. Didn’t seem like a high priority item. But if they were able to get it paid for by the concessionaire, it doesn’t hurt.
I’m glad they were smart enough to do this in the winter when it draws much less traffic. I would assume they would be smart enough to put some port-a-potties there to replace this and make sure the bathroom about 1/4 mile north is open? Obviously not perfect but better than nothing. Could WSR update the article with some details on what the proposed alternatives are? Thanks!
Please rebuild the dock at The West Harlem Piers Park that was destroyed many hurricanes ago.
Why not put in portable bathrooms in the mean time. People like the renovated bathrooms frequent the park all year long.
My thoughts exactly. The same thing in Central Park. All for renovating the limited number of “comfort stations” in our Parks, but portable bathrooms are a good idea. The need doesn’t go away during renovations and the alternatives are often unknown or distant.
It’s frustrating that the cash-strapped Parks Department can’t provide more and better toilet facilities. The Pier i toilets are a rare instance of a n RPC concession being required to maintain restrooms: we just don’t have many concessions.
Most city parks with decent toilet facilities depend on a combination of private/public partnerships, grants, trust and foundations. Have you been to Governor’s Island? It has gleaming trailer-based facilities. The Hudson River Park has facilities inside the various private buildings located on the pathways.
Riverside Park gets pennies from its wealthy residential neighbors, unless they donate to the Conservancy, which doesn’t manage or build toilet facilities. It has the misfortune of being built before city parks became an underfunded mess. Legacy park toilets are decrepit and inadequate.
20 years, that’s nothing!!! Check out the ones at the Riverside park dinosaur playground. They look the same as when I played there in the 60s & 70s!!!
And the sad part about the Dinosaur Park bathrooms, which are in deplorable shape, is that they are not part of the pending renovation of that playground.
Most of the bathrooms in Central Park are also closed for renovations. But where are we to relieve ourselves if nothing is open? It’s a nightmare if one wants to visit the park, and I constantly have foreign visitors ask me where they can find a bathroom. How ridiculous is this situation? No other country denies its visitors the facilities they need when they visit. If the city wants to close the bathrooms, then provide a port-a-potty!
That restroom is small. No hooks in the stalls. Always smells bad. It looks like a makeshift trailer. I thought it was there for the cafe.
This is the only bathroom in Riverside Park South.
Thanks for looking into this. The men’s room is indeed in need of improvement. Some alternative should be made available during the renovation.
The need to repair the static amenities and hardscape is understandable. To do so at the expense of nurturing and maintaining the ecology of the park is troubling. At this effort, the Parks Department is a failure.
“Large Public Restroom” yeah right, I guess you were never in there! To get to the sink or the urinals you had to squeeze (and I do mean squeeze) past the toilets. Let’s hope the renovation is designed to offer a little more space.