196 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

Lux suggests stricter enforcement - public urination can net a $200 ticket - and also changing bylaws to allow bars an hour to get patrons out after last call, rather than the half-hour currently allowed.

"I've had people knocking on the door at 2:31 a.m., asking to use the bathroom, and I have to tell them they can't, or face a charge or fine for being open too late."

Makes sense, IMO.

I met Liam for the first time about two weeks ago. He is one sharp guy.

[Ms. B. Havin]

There's probably a "pop up urinal" thread on here somewhere else, but I can't find, so sorry if this is in the wrong place (via Civic Info BC[/url:622c7]:

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Victoria Council Endorses New Public Washroom Program
By City of Victoria

VICTORIA — At a July 12 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council approved in principle, funds for a new Public Washroom Program for downtown Victoria. The program will bring improvements to Centennial Square's public washrooms, the installation of public urinals, the continuation of the Anti-Public Urination Awareness Campaign and new signage for existing downtown washroom facilities.

"The City's Public Washroom Program is designed to reduce public urination by providing late night public urinals for bar patrons, improve the public washrooms in Centennial Square, and direct visitors and shoppers to existing downtown public washrooms," says Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe. "These improvements are an important part of making downtown clean and safe," she added.

Two permanent retractable public urinals, called Urilifts, are destined for the downtown area in early 2008. Manufactured by Urilift International in the Netherlands, the Urilift retractable urinals will be permanent fixtures, concealed underground by day, accessible above ground only during designated late night periods. The Urilift is an attractive, durable stainless steel cylindrical structure, designed to blend into the urban landscape. These private, retractable urinals automatically self-clean at the end of each shift and green cleaning products are to be used. Their permanent downtown locations are yet to be determined. For more information, please visit [url="http://www.urilift.com"]http://www.urilift.com.

In the interim, the City will reinstate two portable public urinals that proved successful during a three month pilot project earlier this year. One is destined for Bastion Square; the other will rotate among areas highly frequented by bar patrons. In the short-term, portable urinals are less expensive. Two retractable urinals are significantly more cost effective in the long-term, averaging $44,000 over 10 years, versus $70,500 for two portable urinals.

[url=http://www.victoria.ca/contentmanager/press/070712a_pr.pdf:622c7]* View the full text of this press release.[/url:622c7]

[Rob Randall]

This afternoon, from 4 to 5 p.m. Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe, Ken Kelly of the DVBA and I will be guests on the Rebecca Scott program on C-FAX 1070 AM. C-FAX's morning show host has been critical of the public urinal project in the past--spreading misinformation while offering no solutions. This is the chance for our voice to be heard. I invite you to call or e-mail your comments during the show. C-FAX's number is 386-1161 or *1070 on your cell. E-mail is talk@cfax1070.com You can listen to the show online by going to http://stream.netro.ca/cfax

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ That's great! I don't know if I can listen in, but it's good to know that the media is sponsoring this discussion!

[Caramia]

Hi, I am John, I am a late-night public urinator. I've been urinating in public for 4 years now....

[Holden West]

^Look at the Google ads on this page: Victoria Waterfront. When you're done with a night of boozing on the street, every property becomes waterfront.

[gumgum]

Check out a couple of the very many public restrooms I used when I was in London recently.
They are both fully automated, self-cleaning.
This one is interesting how it integrates a bus shelter. I think it cost me 20 pence.


This one gave me 20 minutes for 50 pence.

After that it would open its door - ready or not.


Although I didn't have a to many issues finding conveniences in London, there is a real drive to build more and make them free. In fact other cities in England are adopting programs which enlist businesses, such as pubs and restaurants to invite the public to use their facilities without feeling any obligation to use their services. By putting up a small government issued sign, these businesses are responsible to allow people to use their facilities without any catch. In return these businesses receive a lump sum of money each month - in the hundreds.
This program apparently saves the government more money than it would to build and maintain more public facilities. Seems like a win-win initiative to me. Mind you, it wouldn't help after business hours.

[Ms. B. Havin]

Those are pretty smart looking loos! And speaking of "smart" and the UK, here's an article from Technology Review:

Thursday, November 29, 2007
Have a mobile phone? London's 'SatLav' promises to find you a toilet

By Associated Press

• 

LONDON (AP) -- A new service promises Londoners they'll never have to spend much time looking for the loo.

Westminster City Council, which covers London's bustling Oxford Street, the West End, and the Houses of Parliament, on Thursday launched ''SatLav'' -- a toilet-finding service for mobile phone users.

Harried theatergoers, distressed shoppers and hard-pressed bar patrons in London's West End can now text the word ''toilet'' -- and receive a text back giving the address of the nearest public facility.

The system, which covers 40 public toilets, triangulates a user's position by measuring the strength of the phone signal. The texts cost 25 pence (US$0.52, euro0.35), while most of Westminster's toilets are free.

The council expressed hope that the service would help fight the scourge of street urination, which it said was responsible for dumping an estimated 10,000 gallons (45,000 liters) of urine in Westminster's alleyways each year.

Similar offerings exist elsewhere, such as the mobile toilet search service offered by Vindigo Inc. in many U.S. cities, but SatLav is being touted as the first text-based toilet-finder in Britain.

''It's the first fully managed service that we're aware of,'' British Toilet Association director Richard Chisnell said, praising the council for its work in the field of public convenience.

''Thank heavens for Westminster's public toilets,'' he said.
------
On the Net:
Westminster City Council: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/


http://www.technolog...19780/?nlid=698

[gumgum]

Interesting blurb on the pop-up urinal. Check out the cheesy promo video.

[Holden West]

I thought we had a late-night drunkenness thread? Anyway:

BBC: Aboard the 'Booze Bus'

The Booze Bus - or Vomit Comet, as it has also been dubbed - was Mr Hayes's creation three years ago. The three paramedics take the alcohol ambulance out at times of heavy drinking, such as the World Cup, Gay Pride and the festive season. On a busy night it treats more than 20 people.

"The idea was to make everyone's life easier and make handling Christmas drinking more manageable," says Mr Hayes, 37.

"Normal ambulances are freed up to do work that matters and can save lives. It also means there's a hospital bed free."

It can take up to five patients to hospital in one trip - if no-one is seriously injured - rather than sending multiple ambulances.
...
"Doctors are run off their feet and in the vast majority of cases it is just alcohol. It is binge drinking. We don't see people who've had just two drinks. People have had 20 shots of vodka.

"They're generally 18 to 25, but it's all sorts - including lawyers and people in their 60s."

An hour later the stench inside the ambulance is thick and overpowering after three patients have been picked up.

The smell of stomach bile, excrement and stale urine fills the enclosed space as the vehicle speeds through the West End streets.

[VicHockeyFan]

Coming soon ... pop-up urinals
City hopes to change behaviour of bar patrons

Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist
Published: Monday, December 24, 2007

Victoria, known for its hanging baskets, is about to make its mark in North America as the first to install pop-up public urinals targeted at drunken bar patrons.

The city is turning to a Dutch company to deliver two pop-up urinals -- each with three stalls -- some time in the new year. By day the devices installed underground and connected to the sewer system appear much like a manhole cover. But at night they are lifted, each offering male patrons three urination stalls.

Mike Hill, Victoria's downtown co-ordinator, said the commitment to installing the devices "is great. We are doing something innovative that no one else is doing. It shows the level of concern the city has for the [public urination] problem."

The tender for the devices -- which will be installed in Bastion Square and at the northeast corner of Douglas and View Street -- closed recently with only one company, Urilift International, making a $151,000 bid.

Glen Oberg, Victoria manager of supply management services, called the tender call "fairly unique."

After the pop-up toilets arrive it will take several weeks to get the certification necessary to use them in North America, but "we have no reason to believe they won't work here," said Hill.

Hill is confident the devices will reduce the number of instances of public urination after the city studied the problem using portable versions of the Urilift.

Portable versions of the urinals were well-received by the public and the city's public works yard documented a reduction in the number of calls for cleaning up streets and alcoves. The cost of placing portable toilets out for three nights a week is estimated to cost $67,000 a year.

Hill said he wasn't concerned about a backlash from women wanting similar conveniences. "We are trying to curb a problem primarily caused by males in the late-evening hours."

A report to city council said pub patrons, not homeless people, accounted for most of the instances of public urination. Staff made the determination after monitoring the use of the urinals.

"We are confident in the relationship between the bar crowd and public urination," Hill said, adding they continue to monitor the use of the portable toilets.

Since the report, bar and cabaret owners have agreed to put up posters in their premises reminding customers not to pee in the streets.

Other North American cities, including Seattle and Vancouver, have installed large, expensive self-cleaning public toilets but later found them to be subject to vandalism.

[Phil McAvity]

This thread proves to me how truly Seinfeldian our society has become.

[aastra]

Here's a guy talking about it:

http://urbanplacesan...ic-urinals.html

[G-Man]

Anyone that quotes from Discover Vancouver...

[Rob Randall]

Carolyn Heiman of the TC reported last week that the pop up urinals were doomed:

[Bastion Square Revitalization Association President Jaime] Tiampo said city staff were looking for locations in the square for the urinals, but businesses didn’t want them in front of their doors and the city didn’t want them open in the middle of the square where they would less likely be used.

Mike Hill, the city’s downtown co-ordinator, said purchase and liability problems may quash the idea entirely.

Last year city council voted to purchase the European-made urinals that rise out of the sidewalk at night when late-night bar-goers are inclined to urinate in public. By day the urinals are recessed flush with the pavement surface, leaving pedestrian traffic unimpeded.

The only manufacturer of the urinals is in Europe and there are liability and other purchase issues around getting the product there, said Hill.

“It’s turned out to be more complex than we planned.”

However, I am told that nothing has changed, the plan to install two pop-up urinals Downtown is moving ahead as promised and that the article was misleading. Planning staff will report to Council on the final issues in a couple of weeks.

[Nparker]

Good to hear. Not getting them would really have PISSED me off.

[gumgum]

Should be spending the money on 24 hour automated toilets instead.

[VicHockeyFan]

Pretty funny....


http://www.canada.co...de-e0db72d3db9e

[Caramia]

OMG that was funny.

Want to turn off the tap? Start with that $200 fine. But then make the urinator get on his hands and knees and scrub the affected area. With a toothbrush. In a thong. At noon. Post it on YouTube.



Then take the $200 and buy beer for the staff of the peed-upon business. Bus them to the offender's house and let them loose in his living room.
If that doesn't change the culture, there's always the shotgun and rock salt.

:D:D:D:D:D

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ Brilliant!