Everybody is familiar with the “gas station bathroom” nightmare- the gross, in-house outhouses that desperate commuters are expected to settle for on road trips.
For New York City Yellow Cab Drivers, such horrific bathrooms are the daily reality.
Behold, the disgusting world of the bathrooms designated for Taxi Drivers at the Central Taxi Stand at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Most of the sinks have either broken faucets or broken soap dispensers. Some, like the sink pictured below, have both broken faucets and broken soap dispensers.
Many of the toilets, such as the one below, do not have toilet seats.
In fact, many of the bathroom stalls are broken as well. Damage to these bathroom stalls includes:
Bathroom Stall Doors Falling off the Hinges:
Bathroom Stalls Held Together By String (I believe that it is packing string)
Bathroom Stalls which, having lost anchor with the wall and floor, are being supported only by a milk crate:
And of course, as if this should be a surprise, most of the bathroom stalls, like the one pictured below, do not have working locks.
The City of New York is however, kind enough to supply its Taxi Drivers with working XCelerator Automated Hand Dryers (not pictured).
Incidentally, look at the below picture. Notice that there are no signs designating “Mens” and Women’s” Bathrooms. That’s because 
bathrooms are not provided for women at JFK International Airport’s Central Taxi Stand. Those who wanted to make a guess about the demographics of Taxi Drivers based on the empirical evidence gathered at the Central Taxi Stand would wrongly assume that all the Taxi Drivers in New York City are Men. They aren’t.
There is a conspicuous lack of women at The Central Taxi Stand because The City of New York does not provide facilities for its female Taxi Drivers. Given that a fare from JFK International Airport (which requires Taxi Drivers to queue at the Central Taxi Stand) can pay off almost half of a Taxi Driver’s daily lease, this deprives female taxi drivers of an opportunity afforded to their male counterparts.
As you can see from these photos, the condition of the bathrooms at the JFK International Airport Central Taxi Stand are deplorable, even by mens’ standards.
Why does the city of New York show such disregard for its Taxi Drivers?
Is it because most of New Yorks Taxi Drivers are immigrants? (Or come from immigrant families?)
Is it because most of New York’s Taxi Drivers possess less than a college education?
Maybe it’s because New York City Taxi Drivers depend on the Central Taxi Stand for their livelihood and as a consequence, do not have the luxury of opportunities to boycott a businesses that has such filthy, disgusting bathrooms.
If you could like to join me in complaining to the City of New York, here is what you can do:
Email Mayor Bloomberg by clicking here
Email Matthew W. Daus, the Commissioner of the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) by clicking here
Tags: Outrage
March 23, 2009 at 2:58 pm |
[...] The scariest bathrooms of New York City. [Monkeypundit] [...]
March 23, 2009 at 3:20 pm |
Seen worse. The bathroom at Show World on the corner of 42nd and 8th circa 1988. Six guys standing around a hole in the floor while a variety of commerce was conducted. Now that was a tough bathroom.
March 23, 2009 at 5:11 pm |
Dear NYC Media organizations & Journalists:
I had the occasion to visit the NY Public Library, located on 5th Avenue & 42nd Street this past Saturday afternoon, May 31st 2008 around 1:50PM.
Due to the humid weather conditions that existed outside, I was somewhat thirsty.
I saw several, copper-colored water fountains located against the wall but to my surprise they were not functioning.
When I arrived on the third floor reading room, I approached a NYPL staff member and asked if there were any working water fountains available for me to utilize.
To my utter surprise and dismay, I was informed that the public water fountain was located “inside the men’s bathroom”!!
Having recently viewed a very informative documentary regarding the creation and history of the NYPL, I am not insensitive to the fact that it’s inside plumbing may be “dated” and would probably cost millions to “update”!
Nonetheless, to have the public be forced to drink water from a public fountain inside a working and very busy bathroom strikes me as extremely unsanitary, ungodly and just downright nasty is beyond my empherical and intellectual capacity to comprehend and understand!
In this modern day and age, I think the NYPL Board of Director and Executive Staff of the NYPL can come up with some sanitary and respectful way to place a public drinking fountain in a location inside the library that would not subject library patrons to have to suffer the indignity to having to drink water in a location where other human beings defecate and urinate!!
As any Actuary can calculate, the number of people using public bathrooms that do not “wash their hands after doing their “business” and then turn around and use the public water fountain that is located inside said bathroom must be numerous. As a result, the potential harm to public health and safety as a result (Cholera & Disintary come to mind) is extremely high; especially to those whom may already suffer from weak immune systems, the very young and elderly!!
I respectfully urge the NYPL to correct this horrific practice and take steps to ensure and protect the health and safety of it’s patrons. Since there does not appear to exist a NYPL e-mail address I can submit this letter to, I am asking the editors, reporters and journalists of the this city’s new outlets to consider publishing this letter in the hope that some NYPL higher-up or Executive Board Member will read it and act on it post haste!! This situation is beneath the dignity and stature of this august institution of collected and stored human knowledge; not to mention a menise to public health & safety!!
Respectfully submitted,
Adriane David Paniagua, J.D.
Brooklyn, New York
1-917-208-4773
March 25, 2009 at 12:56 am |
[...] The Scariest Bathrooms in New York City Everybody is familiar with the “gas station bathroom” nightmare- the gross, in-house outhouses that [...] [...]
November 7, 2009 at 9:33 am |
I went into a Brooklyn Superior Courthouse to find a restroom. In So Cal , in Santa Ana, they have a new Courthouse with marble floor bathrooms so I thought I couldn’t go wrong with a New York courthouse. Oy vey, was I wrong. I won’t even describe to you what the stalls etc looked like. It was worse than any gas station restroom I have ever seen traveling across the country. I suggest for people to find a bar and pay for a coke and then you’ll have access to a cleaner facility.