Trending...
- DC Norris North America Sponsors Cal Poly Pomona's Symposium on Plant-Based Food & Nutrition
- Vimaan Named in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ Reports, 2024 for Autonomous Data Collection and Inspection
- Prince of Eurasia: Monotheism and Devils — the ultrarare Eurasian theological documentary of executive producer Prince Oak Oakleyski
FAIRFAX, Va. - CuisineWire -- In an increasingly divided country there is one thing everyone has in common – the need for a bathroom. Yet when people need to "go," clean publicly accessible bathrooms can be hard to find. In Virginia, there is only 1 public restroom for every 14,000 people according to the Public Toilet Index.
In the City of Fairfax, VA, a suburb of DC, solving the bathroom crisis became a major rallying cry for Mayor Catherine Read during her November 2022 campaign. "When we don't provide bathroom facilities to visitors, we are forcing them to leave our public spaces," says Read, a mother who recalled many occasions when she'd have to cut park time short due to bathroom needs. "The lack of public bathrooms also puts businesses in a position where they have to hang 'Restrooms for Customers Only' signs. It's not a warm welcoming greeting and not a good look for any downtown," Read added.
Read tapped into an issue that extended far beyond Fairfax.
The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding cures for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), conducted a national survey which found that over half of the respondents or their family members had difficulty accessing a public restroom within the past week. To address this significant issue, the Foundation launched The Open Restroom Movement, aiming to increase restroom availability for all people with urgent needs.
More on Cuisine Wire
"Restroom access should be a basic human right, but far too many people in the U.S. can't easily find an open public restroom. Our survey results confirm an urgent need to rethink and increase how public restrooms are made available and publicized to our communities," said Michael Osso, President and CEO of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. "We have identified some concrete and straightforward approaches to the situation, and the Foundation looks forward to working with the private and public sectors to create immediate solutions to this public health crisis."
But there is a reason the bathroom crisis hasn't been solved – it's hard! "The high capital cost of installing new bathrooms and the ongoing operational headaches of monitoring and maintaining bathroom infrastructure, has historically made it difficult for cities to quickly install critical bathroom infrastructure," remarked Stacey Somerfied, the Director of Parks and Recreation who was charged with finding a bathroom solution by newly elected Read and the Fairfax City Council.
The City soon found Throne Labs, a DC-based start-up building networks of smart bathrooms that provide a lovable bathroom experience, but that can be deployed anywhere in a matter of hours. Thrones require no connection to water or sewer and leverages technologies such as solar power and internet connected sensors to make bathroom provision fast and flexible while providing a nice bathroom people want to use. Leaning into this locally-developed innovation, the City more launched Thrones at their Old Town Square, Van Dyck Park and along Fairfax Blvd. By adding Thrones, the City of Fairfax tripled the average bathroom availability in Virginia with one public restroom for every 4,800 residents.
More on Cuisine Wire
The Thrones are custom wrapped in art created by Fairfax artists and the City worked with Throne Labs, the Lamb Center and FACETS to ensure equitable bathroom access – providing bilingual instructions and Throne tap cards to enable entry without a phone. Free menstrual products are also available in all Thrones in partnership with Egal that makes getting a pad as easy as grabbing some toilet paper with their innovative Pads on a Roll product. "We're thrilled to be partnering with the City of Fairfax and Throne to create a blueprint for communities to offer equitable access to bathrooms and menstrual products," said Penelope Finnie, Egal CEO.
Since launching Thrones in May 2023, the Thrones have seen an average of 68 uses per day. A City survey found that 67% of Throne users described their experience as "Amazing!" (with another 22% believing it to "be a good bathroom solution"). Seventy-two percent (72%) said they would visit parks more frequently if there were more bathrooms available. The City encourages individuals to submit feedback on Throne bathrooms and share how they are impacting their use of parks and public spaces.
Fairfax is holding a community event on Saturday, September 23rd from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Van Dyck Park where they will celebrate the impact the addition of three Throne bathrooms has had on local bathroom access and collect additional community feedback on the solution. There will be ice cream, cookie decorating, and fun for the whole family. Attendees can meet the artists that designed the three Fairfax Thrones as well as representatives from Throne Labs and Egal.
For photos and other background information download the Throne Press Kit here.
In the City of Fairfax, VA, a suburb of DC, solving the bathroom crisis became a major rallying cry for Mayor Catherine Read during her November 2022 campaign. "When we don't provide bathroom facilities to visitors, we are forcing them to leave our public spaces," says Read, a mother who recalled many occasions when she'd have to cut park time short due to bathroom needs. "The lack of public bathrooms also puts businesses in a position where they have to hang 'Restrooms for Customers Only' signs. It's not a warm welcoming greeting and not a good look for any downtown," Read added.
Read tapped into an issue that extended far beyond Fairfax.
The Crohn's & Colitis Foundation, the leading nonprofit organization dedicated to finding cures for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), conducted a national survey which found that over half of the respondents or their family members had difficulty accessing a public restroom within the past week. To address this significant issue, the Foundation launched The Open Restroom Movement, aiming to increase restroom availability for all people with urgent needs.
More on Cuisine Wire
- Vantiva Receives 2024 RDK "Distinguished Leader Award"
- BK Adventure Announces the 2024 Haunted Bioluminescence Tour
- AVTECH Announces New Room Alert Bundles for Heat Safety and Enhanced Indoor Air Quality Monitoring
- VerifyNow Launches Groundbreaking FICA Compliance Platform for South African Businesses
- Introducing MyTennisTrip.com: Your Ultimate Tennis Travel Companion
"Restroom access should be a basic human right, but far too many people in the U.S. can't easily find an open public restroom. Our survey results confirm an urgent need to rethink and increase how public restrooms are made available and publicized to our communities," said Michael Osso, President and CEO of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. "We have identified some concrete and straightforward approaches to the situation, and the Foundation looks forward to working with the private and public sectors to create immediate solutions to this public health crisis."
But there is a reason the bathroom crisis hasn't been solved – it's hard! "The high capital cost of installing new bathrooms and the ongoing operational headaches of monitoring and maintaining bathroom infrastructure, has historically made it difficult for cities to quickly install critical bathroom infrastructure," remarked Stacey Somerfied, the Director of Parks and Recreation who was charged with finding a bathroom solution by newly elected Read and the Fairfax City Council.
The City soon found Throne Labs, a DC-based start-up building networks of smart bathrooms that provide a lovable bathroom experience, but that can be deployed anywhere in a matter of hours. Thrones require no connection to water or sewer and leverages technologies such as solar power and internet connected sensors to make bathroom provision fast and flexible while providing a nice bathroom people want to use. Leaning into this locally-developed innovation, the City more launched Thrones at their Old Town Square, Van Dyck Park and along Fairfax Blvd. By adding Thrones, the City of Fairfax tripled the average bathroom availability in Virginia with one public restroom for every 4,800 residents.
More on Cuisine Wire
- Award-Winning Writer Thrills Mystery Lovers with The Button Collector on September 17
- Tobu Railway Group's Tobu Kogyo Division Has Renovated the Kotoku Cattle Farm in Nikko National Park and Reopened it as of July 1, 2024
- Mytee Products' Big Move: More Space Equals Exciting New Products
- Alice's Lullaby Set for an October 8, 2024, Launch
- FDA About to Require Warnings on Many Foods - Thank a Dog Who Testified
The Thrones are custom wrapped in art created by Fairfax artists and the City worked with Throne Labs, the Lamb Center and FACETS to ensure equitable bathroom access – providing bilingual instructions and Throne tap cards to enable entry without a phone. Free menstrual products are also available in all Thrones in partnership with Egal that makes getting a pad as easy as grabbing some toilet paper with their innovative Pads on a Roll product. "We're thrilled to be partnering with the City of Fairfax and Throne to create a blueprint for communities to offer equitable access to bathrooms and menstrual products," said Penelope Finnie, Egal CEO.
Since launching Thrones in May 2023, the Thrones have seen an average of 68 uses per day. A City survey found that 67% of Throne users described their experience as "Amazing!" (with another 22% believing it to "be a good bathroom solution"). Seventy-two percent (72%) said they would visit parks more frequently if there were more bathrooms available. The City encourages individuals to submit feedback on Throne bathrooms and share how they are impacting their use of parks and public spaces.
Fairfax is holding a community event on Saturday, September 23rd from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Van Dyck Park where they will celebrate the impact the addition of three Throne bathrooms has had on local bathroom access and collect additional community feedback on the solution. There will be ice cream, cookie decorating, and fun for the whole family. Attendees can meet the artists that designed the three Fairfax Thrones as well as representatives from Throne Labs and Egal.
For photos and other background information download the Throne Press Kit here.
Source: Throne Labs
0 Comments
Latest on Cuisine Wire
- Diversified Industrial Acquisition Agreement, Plus Major Contract Award for Large Fleet Trucking Provider: MingZhu Logistics: Stock Symbol: YGMZ
- Messageware Z-Day Guard v1.5 Expands MDR Security to Azure, Exchange, and Windows Servers
- Plant-Based Initiative Launches the First Evidence-Based Dietary Guideline
- The Ripple Effect Arts, has launched its latest product, Organic Wild Yam Cream, capitalizing on the company's recent viral success on TikTok
- Prince of Eurasia: Monotheism and Devils — the ultrarare Eurasian theological documentary of executive producer Prince Oak Oakleyski
- Oxley House Unveils New Culinary Team and Fall Menu
- Vimaan Named in the Gartner® Hype Cycle™ Reports, 2024 for Autonomous Data Collection and Inspection
- Vantiva Unveils ONYX, its latest Smart Media Device with Advanced AI Capabilities at IBC 2024
- DC Norris North America Sponsors Cal Poly Pomona's Symposium on Plant-Based Food & Nutrition
- Aortem, Backed by Venturseed, Transforms Mobile and Gaming Development with an Open Source Platform and Expanding Developer Tools
- NRx Pharmaceuticals NRXP: Prominently Featured in Psychiatrist.com; Article Titled "How NRx Could Upend the Fight Against Depression and Suicide"
- Hollywood In Pixels, Inc. Announces the 7th Silver Pixel Awards
- Policy vs Politics Rebrands to Everything Policy: A New Era of Facts-first Policy Content
- GitKraken Launches DevEx Advance Partner Program to Help Atlassian Solution Partners Elevate Their Clients' Developer & DevOps Team Productivity
- Phinge's Plan to Save Free Speech and Give Everyone the Right to Personal Privacy and Ownership and Monetization of Their Online Data and Content
- The Royalty Network and CEO Frank Liwall Appoint Daniel Abowd as New President & General Counsel
- L2 Aviation Announces Strategic Growth Investment from Argentum
- African-American Marketing Association Launches Business of Marketing Bootcamp™ for Small Businesses
- WOHLER Announces its NEW iAM1-MIX8 Next Generation MIX Series Solution @ IBC 2024
- List of Best Orlando Meeting Venues That Allow Bring Your Own Catering Published