the staff of the Ridgewood blog
NEW YORK, NY – A funeral, an out-of-order bathroom, and a desperate moment on the street corner led to a ticket for one New Yorker. This isn’t an isolated incident. Under Mayor Eric Adams, the NYPD has drastically increased tickets for public urination, leaving many to wonder if the crackdown is a solution or a waste of resources. It seems New Yorkers just have no place to go .
A Drastic Increase in Tickets
New data from the Mayor’s Management Report reveals a startling trend: public urination tickets have skyrocketed by almost five times under the Adams administration compared to just a few years ago. This surge is part of a broader strategy to address “quality of life” issues and a perceived sense of disorder in the city.
In the last fiscal year alone (July 2024–June 2025), over 10,000 summonses were issued for public urination. This is a dramatic jump from the 746 tickets issued during the pandemic in 2020-2021. The increase includes both civil and criminal summonses, with civil tickets making up the majority at 86%.
Is This Approach Effective?
Critics, including former city officials, argue that ticketing is not the answer. Elizabeth Glazer, the former director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, points out the “utter failure of summonses to change behavior over decades.”
The high rate of dismissals for criminal summonses further complicates the issue. According to a report by the Data Collaborative for Justice, over 65% of criminal summonses issued by the NYPD in 2024 were thrown out due to errors in police paperwork.
Michael Rempel, a director at the Data Collaborative for Justice, calls the practice “pointless” when so many cases are dismissed. He suggests that if the city wants to continue aggressive enforcement, it needs to provide better training for officers.
The Real Problem: A Lack of Public Restrooms
While the NYPD focuses on ticketing, a major contributing factor remains unaddressed: the severe lack of public restrooms in New York City. A 2024 report found there are only about 1,000 city-run public restrooms across all five boroughs.
A new bill passed by the City Council aims to more than double that number, but the plan is set to take a decade to implement. Meanwhile, the public continues to face a dilemma with few options when nature calls.
What Can Be Done?
Experts suggest that more effective solutions to public urination include:
- Public service campaigns to raise awareness.
- Installing more public urinals and restrooms.
- Rethinking enforcement strategies that disproportionately affect low-income neighborhoods and often result in dismissals.
For now, many New Yorkers like Mr. Singleton, who had to pay a $50 fine to resolve his case, are left with the consequences of a policy that prioritizes punishment over practical solutions.
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