In an effort to make the campus a friendly place for transgender students and people with small children, the College of Staten Island is reconstructing one bathroom in each building to be gender neutral. "It's common sense, really," said Professor Dr. Syed Rizvi. "It provides people with a safe environment to perform basic human functions." The conversions don't seem too difficult either. Eight men's rooms were changed to unisex with the simple addition of a lock on the main door. more ›

The city's subway bathrooms may be "overflowing with filth," but is it the same case for the bathrooms in the city's parks? Though there are a few websites out there with databases of free public restrooms (including Starbucks: "America's Restroom"), there are only 19 restrooms throughout the sprawling 843 acre Central Park, and not many elsewhere. The Times' Ariel Kaminer set out to see which of all the city's parks were the cleanest. more ›

Will unisex bathrooms on planes soon vanish into thin air? CNN is reporting that Japanese airline All Nippon Airways is introducing women-only lavatories on its international routes starting next week, though they have no plans to designate men-only facilities. The move came after many customers spoke up asking for the separation, but the airline says there are exceptions—such as when a restroom is required for safety reasons or "when there are very few female passengers." A poster at FlyerTalk said, "The lavatories are scarce enough already. The last thing we need is more restriction of choice." more ›

Tonight begins a new era for the Mets with the christening of Citi Field at 7:10 and there's even a winning record on the line! The Amazins', who are 3-3 so far, open up their new ballpark tonight with the ceremonial first pitch thrown by Tom Seaver to Mike Piazza. The scheduling gods were kind enough to see to it that the Mets' first home series of the year comes against San Diego, ranked last of all thirty MLB teams in ESPN's preseason Power Rankings; they weren't gracious enough however to have the starting rotation slot land on ace Johan Santana. Instead Mike Pelfrey will take the mound. more ›

With the state budget going through as dire times as it's seen over the last year, lawmakers can't expect to toss nearly $500,000 for renovations to their own restrooms and not have it raise a few eyebrows. Renovations of third-floor bathrooms in the Captiol building began last June in order to deal with asbestos removal and bring them up to the standards of the Americans With Disabliities Act. But it's reported that the $463,000 spent also included features such as marble stall partitions and arches in the ceiling. An Office of General Services spokesman said, "The ladies' room had two sets of stairs and the men's room was difficult to navigate in. The lighting was inefficient and plumbing wasted water.'' The AP says that the ADA accommodations left "men grumbling around the building after learning that the renovations reduced the number of stalls and urinals." more ›

Grand Central Terminal's Metro-North waiting area now feature restrooms for women only. Like many other busy places where women frequently line up to use bathrooms while men never seem to have that problem (theaters, stadiums), female commuters and tourists alike find themselves waiting at various restrooms in the station. A Metro-North spokeswoman told the NY Times the GCT restrooms (which have "Botticino marble walls, seamless terrazzo flooring, Stony Creek granite partitions and mirrors with scalloped edges") are up for America's best restroom at bestrestroom.com. more ›

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