Bathrooms are a public health issue and a basic human right. Teddy Siegel, a New Yorker armed with a TikTok account, is trying to open more bathrooms for all.
A public bathroom crisis is mounting around the U.S. as cities struggle with how to meet a basic human need. And while cities are exploring options to help solve the crisis, older adults, unhoused people, transgender people, people with disabilities and families with small children are bearing the cost.
Enter the Instagram account got2gonyc, a source for all things bathroom in New York City and the brainchild of 24-year-old opera singer Teddy Siegel.
She’s turned a part-time project documenting bathrooms around New York City into a full-time mission to increase bathroom access and equity around New York City’s five boroughs — and ultimately the world. 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.
Such mapmaking is a form of guerilla activism — exposing how the government has failed to meet a basic human need and stepping in to fill the gap.
Read the full article on Next City.
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