People living in, working in, and visiting European and Asian capitals take it for granted that, when they need to go, they will find a clean, safe, available public restroom nearby.
This, unfortunately, is not the case in Washington, DC, our nation’s Capital. If you are in downtown DC and urgently have to go, you will have a hard time finding a public restroom nearby. Even if there is one, the hours are limited and there are no signs to tell you where it is located.
Some private restaurants and food chains, might let you in. However, increasingly they are limiting access to patrons. And, if you are walking in Washington DC late at night and urgently have to go, you may be in big trouble.
Chances are you will have to walk a half-mile to three miles to find a clean, safe, restroom that is open; that is, if you know where the few restrooms in DC open 24/7 are located.
The People for Fairness Coalition (PFC) — established in April 2008 with the objective of finding housing for everyone in Washington DC through advocacy, outreach and peer mentoring — has taken up the challenge of ensuring that DC, like European & Asian capitals, has clean, safe public restroom that are available when needed.
To this end, July 2014 we established the PFFC Downtown DC Public Restroom Initiative.
Our goal is to convince the DC government to install clean, safe public restrooms available to everyone in needed areas of DC.