After starting an interactive map to show public bathroom locations around the city, Teddy Siegel now advocates for local bills that expand public restroom access.
It’s no secret that the number of public bathrooms in U.S. cities is woefully inadequate (this editor lamented over the lack of restrooms and public facilities laid bare during the Covid-19 pandemic).
Now, a New York City TikToker named Teddy Siegel is mapping public bathrooms to help others find places to go. As Maylin Tu explains in Next City, “Her porcelain empire includes a crowd-sourced bathroom map that’s become Google’s largest and most-used map, over 350,000 Instagram followers and advocacy for multiple bathroom bills to make finding a bathroom easier for everyone.”
In addition to mapping accessible bathroom locations, Siegel rates restrooms for various qualities. But the quirky nature of the project highlights a serious crisis and a failure on the part of cities to fulfill a basic human need. “People from delivery drivers to unhoused people to tourists have used her bathroom map to find a safe place to go.”
Siegel advocates for local bills that promote more public restrooms, including one passed in October 2022 that requires the city to explore potential locations for new bathrooms in every zip code.
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