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General News & ARA Advocacy Archive

The American Restroom Association (ARA) has monitored this issue of clean, safe, private restrooms for over 20 years in the USA along with other change-making organizations from around the world.

Chicago Tribune

  • 2005 – “Ask Amy” syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson Chicago Tribune  9/25/’05
    “….Since then, he’s coped with obstacles such as requiring his wife’s help for simple tasks like using a restroom. Because family restrooms aren’t available, his wife guides his wheelchair into the women’s restroom. “It’s a little uncomfortable but I can’t help it,” she explained. “I have to do things he needs done.”

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

Runner’s World

The Sun UK

NPR

Assoc. Science-Technology Centers

  • 2003 Accessible Practices Exchange

Florida Sun-Sentinel

  • 2005 – M.S. Bingham 10/16/05

AM New York

Detroit Free Press, Detroit Michigan

  • 2006 – Detroit Free Press ‘World Series notebook – Potty parity at Busch’ 10/27/06

Citizen Times Asheville, North Carolina

  • 2003 – Public restrooms, Housing Top List of Downtown Concerns, Citizen Times – Asheville, NC Feb. 18, 2003

Detroit News

  • 2002 – Visitors frustrated by lack of facilities, Detroit News Mar 26 ’02

Pittsburgh Tribune

  • 2002 – Public restrooms in sad shape, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Aug 26 ’02

PSAI

  • 2002 – A city worker in the northern Chinese city of Datong parks a public toilet mounted on a bicycle outside the city’s train station Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2002.  The characters on the side read, “A clean Datong environment, a toilet for the masses.” Providing more public toilets has become a key urban planning issue in China, which is trying to make its cities cleaner and more pleasant.
    Source: PSAI

Office of the United States Press Secretary

  • 2003 – President George Bush   … we want there to be a visitor’s center that’s worth going into. We want the toilets to flush…. … so that the people, when it comes to using their own park, are able to do so in a comfortable way. Source:  Office of the Press Secretary Aug 15, 03, Strengthening and Caring for America’s National Parks  (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/08/print/20030815-3.html)

WIBW-TV Topeka, Kansas

  • 2008 – TOPEKA,KS … in addition to the concrete, skaters complain about the lack of a restroom nearby. Park regulars say it is not uncommon for kids to urinate in public and it causes an unpleasant smell.
    WIBW-TV ‘Skaters Complain New Skate Park Isn’t Adequate’  6/20/08

The Times-Standard Arcata, California

  • 2006 – ARCATA CA — … the Chairman of the County Association of Governments, arguing that public restrooms are “an essential part of a civilized city” Source: Meserve: ‘A progressive voice’ The Times-Standard 10/21/2006

Delmarva Daily Times

  • 2005 – Now Salisbury’s Downtown is reputed to be a place where people are forced to urinate in public if they must relieve themselves…  These are for the most part people with jobs and money who are using public transportation to get to and from work and/or shopping. Desperate people do desperate things. Source: Delmarva Daily Times Sep 26, 2005 

NASHVILLE, Ind. [public restrooms] for our visitors,”  “If they are not comfortable, and if we do not have the things they need, they will not want to come back.”
Source:  Associated Press Mar 1’05

…Seattle business owners have said the lack of public restrooms was the top issue facing downtown…
Source:  Seattle Post-Intelligencer 

Wash DC …”They have a musky, urine smell all the time,” said Angel Spates, a federal worker from Manassas who rides the Orange Line. “You can smell it as soon as you get on. It’s awful.” Gregory Robinson, 31, who cleans Green Line cars from 8 p.m. until 4:30 a.m. each weeknight, acknowledged that urine in the trains is a problem
“Metro’s Not-So-Sweet Smell of Success”  Washington Post August 3, 2002; Page B01

FAIRFAX, VA …You’ve probably run across this, but if Metro allowed access to bathrooms, maybe people would stop using their elevators for urinals.  We took our bikes on Metro Saturday (using the elevators) and as usual, it smelled like pee…
Source: email dtd  Aug 18 ’03 from Scott O

Increasing homeless presence draws attention  )
By Eric Kurhi Staff Writer, Contra Costa Times
San Francisco CA

Often school children are not allowed sufficient restroom breaks, it impacts their physical health and reduces their classroom concentration. Many school teachers view toilet use as a privilege rather than a human need. Read more about this issue as a human rights violation at the following link:
Laurie Couture [Child Health Advocate]

….There was a time when it used to cost a dime to use public bathrooms. But this retail establishment knew how to keep their shoppers happy: “FREE TOILETS” is spelled out in classic Art Deco typography… …Excuse yourself for a visit here today….
Source: ‘Lunchtime tourist’ Linda Koutsky Downtown Journal, Minneapolis, MN 10/11/06

VT WOODSTOCK — The lack of public facilities has been a longstanding problem in this tourist destination… …The facilities were open only during the fall tourist season, however, … …there was a hue and cry when it closed for the season.”…
Rutland Herald ‘Woodstock weighs keeping public restrooms open’ 12/14/06

Jim Beam Bathroom Break Policy Clermont, Kentucky

Source

  • Year – Story