you know i'll need to go...

Times Square debuts holiday toilets
By Ibby Caputo
Special to amNewYork
November 21, 2006

New Yorkers on the go finally have a place to, well, go – at least in the vicinity of Times Square.The city famous for its lack of public restrooms got an early – albeit temporary – holiday present Monday, in the form of 20 toilets that are being billed as "the plushest flush" in town.

Located at 1540 Broadway, next to the Virgin Megastore, they feature baby changing stations and stroller parking, as well as less-conventional restroom amenities such as disco balls and a chance to take a photo with an oversized teddy bear.Attendants have been hired to clean the stalls after every use.

Actress Doris Roberts, who played the mom on the television sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," opened the facility by cutting a toilet-paper ribbon in front of stall No. 17. As cameras rolled, she described taking her son to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade when he was 8.After hours of watching the balloons, he did "a little tinkle dance," she said, but the only "public restroom" she could find for him was a tree in Central Park – something that, she admitted, is now illegal. "It's a necessity that we don't think about regularly," Roberts said, before adding a plea to city officials for year-round public restrooms.

The Times Square restrooms are sponsored by the toilet tissue Charmin. Dewayne Guy, spokesman for the manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, declined to say how much it's costing the company to operate them. But, he admitted, "after advertising spending, it's the largest expenditure of the year.

"The facility will be open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week except for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, when it will close at 6 p.m. It will be closed entirely on Christmas, and permanently as of the new year.