American Notes NEW YORK CITY

New York City has been called a cesspool before, but a lawsuit filed last week literally accused the city of turning into a sewer. The Legal Action Center for the Homeless charged that authorities have created a health risk -- and caused untold suffering and humiliation to the city's 90,000 homeless -- by failing to provide enough clean and safe public toilets. The center found that most of the park and subway rest rooms it surveyed were either closed or in disrepair.

The center says it would settle the suit if the city opened more washrooms, but officials claim they don't have the money. Says center attorney Patrick Horvath: "It is simply shameful for a city to be so inept in providing the simplest and most important of public conveniences to those who walk the streets."