The merchants in the Village of Owego are about to open a public restroom, in the \u201cNew\u201d building on Front Street. (Fifty years from now we\u2019ll still be calling it the \u201cNew\u201d building, just like we call the Court Street Bridge the \u201cNew\u201d bridge, though it\u2019s been in place for more than a decade.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, back to the public rest room, it\u2019s a vast improvement in a society that ignores the lack of public Terlits in this country. There aren\u2019t any! At least when you need one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Public restrooms are as scarce as proverbial hen\u2019s teeth. Our government has turned its\u2019 back on the problem. Okay, they\u2019ve thrown us a few bones, there are restrooms along interstates highways, and sometimes we are allowed to use the facilities in municipal buildings, provided we go there on Monday through Friday, between nine and five, it isn\u2019t a public holiday and we can make it through the security checkpoint with a nail clipper (or some other deadly weapon) in our pocket. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, for the most part, our elected officials have ignored the \u201cTerlit\u201d crisis. Actually, they haven\u2019t just ignored it; they\u2019ve exacerbated it. They\u2019ve made nature\u2019s call a crime. If there aren\u2019t public \u201cfacilities\u201d around and you get caught behind a bush, you will be ticketed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve just gone through a state and federal election, yet not a single candidate mentioned the Terlit crisis. Politicians have strapped us in our cars, taken cell phones out of our hands, defaced all the products we buy with warning labels and are forcing our favorite restaurants to prepare food in politically correct cooking oil, but they stick their heads in the sand when we ask them, \u201cCan I use the Terlit please?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Candidates promise all kinds of new programs, but not one word about what we\u2019re supposed to do when we\u2019ve had three cups of coffee and are walking around in a downtown area looking for a restroom. All levels of government have failed us: village, town, county, state and federal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGo find a gas station,\u201d they say. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s time to fight back, to tell the politicians to shut up about new programs, to get down to basics. BUILD US PUBLIC TERLITS! Don\u2019t make us go from store to store, begging to use an \u201cemployee only\u201d restroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not optimistic that anything will be done, not even in the next presidential election cycle. It\u2019s just not a problem that politicians are willing to take on. Who wants to be known as the \u201cTerlit\u201d president? We\u2019ll just have to depend on the kindness of strangers until some smart entrepreneur comes along and figures out that there is money to be made, and a lot of it, by simply opening a chain of public Johns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n