Above Photo: 5 year old Eli peeking out of a Portland Loo in Cambridge, MA

 In July of 2010, The United Nations declared access to adequate sanitation a fundamental human right. Yet, over half a decade later, the capital of a nation that strives to promote and protect human rights worldwide is still denying its residents this basic right. PFFC conducted a study  and concluded that DC merely has three public restrooms that are open 24/7. They are approximately 2-3 miles away from the heavily populated areas around downtown. What’s more, using a business’s restroom is becoming increasingly impossible as a growing number of stores and restaurants are putting locks on their bathrooms. This leaves those needing to go with the difficult choice between a long, excruciating walk or incurring the cost of buying something just to use the bathroom.

While this unacceptable status quo disproportionately affects DC’s most vulnerable, often resulting in heavy handed fines or even incarceration, it also creates a grave inconvenience for young children and seniors, bikers and runners, and foreign tourists, many of whom hail from places that view public restrooms as an unalienable necessity. As a result, PFFC is advocating for the acquisition and installation of secure and sanitary public restrooms in needed areas of downtown DC that are open 24/7 to everyone.

Your support is absolutely crucial for the success of this campaign. We hope that you will join us in supporting the provision and protection of a basic human right, an endeavor that will make the entire city and its people stronger, safer, and healthier. Please take some time to learn more about the initiative and those it will benefit at http://pffcdc.org/what-we-do/public-restrooms/ and join us!

Petition Organizers: The People for Fairness Coalition (PFC) Downtown Washington DC Public Restroom Initiative, launched in November of 2014, has as its goal to install and maintain public restrooms in downtown Washington DC that are clean, safe, available 24/7. In order to achieve our goal we are: (1) Through education and outreach, building awareness among Washington DC residents of the importance of having public restrooms in downtown Washington DC that are clean, safe, and available 24/7, (2) Obtaining signatures to this petition asking the DC Council to support this initiative and provide the funding necessary to install one or more public restrooms that meet the above criteria; (3) Building support among individuals and organizations that, together with PFC, will lobby to achieve this goal.