New York bathroom attendants rationing toilet paper

The city of New York is so hard up for cash that it's rationing toilet paper in women's public restrooms to the point where bathroom attendants are doling out a few measly squares per patron, along the world-famous Coney Island boardwalk. Parks Department employees were leaving toilet-paper dispensers empty last week and instead forcing astonished female beachgoers to form "ration lines" in the bathrooms.

Regina Ballone, 25, of Brooklyn visited a boardwalk bathroom at West 16th Street Wednesday and was "grossed out" at the thought of someone else handling her toilet paper. "Never in my life have I experienced anything like this," she said. "I walked toward a stall, and a bathroom attendant stopped me by shouting, 'Hey, mami! There's no toilet paper here,' and she whipped out a big roll for me to grab some."

Beachgoers also have been forced to line up for their paltry allotment of the city's cheap, single-ply toilet paper at the boardwalk's other women's restroom at Stillwell Avenue. Benedikte Friis and Ann Damgaard, both 22, from Denmark, said they enjoyed visiting Coney Island last week, except when it came to the bathrooms.

"It's very weird that someone decides how much paper you get because they don't know what situation you're in," said Friis, 22, laughing in disbelief. "You might need more!" Toilet-paper rationing isn't an issue in the men's rooms, but only because they apparently don't have any to ration.