The Potties Can Stay in Potsdam

The potties can stay in Potsdam, putting an end to a 16 year battle over a famous toilet garden in upstate New York.

The Potsdam Village Board of Trustees ordered Frederick “Hank” Robar's famous toilet gardens to be removed in July 2020. The board voted unanimously to have Robar take down his toilets by September 1st for being in violation of the junk storage law. Robar took the case to federal court and won, barring village officials from touching his toilets.

February 1st, the board changed their mind. “After considering the order of United States district court, we hereby rescind the resolution directing Mr. Robar to remove the toilets,” Potsdam Mayor Reinhold Tischler announced Monday.

The village has been fighting with Robar for the past 16 years to have the toilet garden removed. It all started when Robar was denied a zoning change in 2004. The toilets were his form of a protest and has led to 7 vacant properties being turned into toilet gardens. "I did it because I was teed off with how the village treated me," Robar tells NBC Dateline. "Now I do it because I enjoy it. It's like art."

The toilets are filled with plastic flowers Robar picks up at the dollar store. "There's some people that just don't like them. They think it's disgusting. But I get more thumbs up than thumbs down. People stop 4 to 5 times a day taking pictures."