Aug 7, 2013 2 min read

How did our parents and grandparents do it? How did they raise children without iPhones to keep tabs on the kids, or without GPS devices to tell them how to get a youngster to a baseball game or summer camp? How did they figure out what to cook without access to millions of recipes on the Internet. At a more basic level, how did they ever manage to change our soiled diapers without special tables set aside for that very purpose?

Well, never fear, Pittsburgh City Council has at least addressed that last issue. No longer will some poor mother or father go into a city-owned building and wonder where they can possibly plop down little Jenny or Jason to swap out a stinky Huggie for a fresh one. Council, in its infinite wisdom, decided that a lack of changing tables was a pressing issue warranting its immediate attention. Members voted unanimously the other day to require that restrooms – both men’s and women’s – in every city-owned facility regularly used by the public be outfitted with changing tables.

There was no immediate word on how much this will cost.

Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak, sponsor of the measure, explained it thusly: “Modern families require modern amenities. Parenting responsibilities are more equally shared than ever before, and it’s time that our public buildings catch up to that trend.”

The city has plenty of pressing issues, and barely a day goes by that one local citizen doesn’t shoot another one, but by gawd, parents won’t have to resort to changing diapers on the back seat of a minivan. Not on this council’s watch.