The following article appeared in the June 12 edition the Guelph Mercury:
Temporary portable urinals could be coming to Guelph this summer to deal with the problem of public fouling of the downtown after the bars close on weekends.
The issue of having open urinals, which goes to a city council committee Monday, “does represent a bit of a paradigm shift,” says Coun. Ian Findlay, a member of the city’s Downtown Nightlife Task Force. “This is clearly something that is a little unusual.”
It’s so unusual that city staff are prepared to build a urinal themselves if council gives the go-ahead, said Findlay, who’s not aware of any other Canadian city that uses open urinals. “They are widely available in Europe, but we have not been able to find a North American manufacturer,” he said in an interview this week.
The Downtown Nightlife Task Force previously considered the idea of turning the former city parking office on Macdonell Street, which was vacated when the new city hall opened this year, into a public washroom. However, the idea has been abandoned, Findlay said, because this storefront space is “too long and narrow, and the police had some safety concerns.”
With open air urinals, “the user is not in a confined space, so it is less likely to be a haven for illegal activity,” he said.
Open air urinals, sometimes called pissoirs, provide a modicum of privacy for the user along with the convenience of easy street access.
The target market for pissoirs is males between the ages of 19 and 35, who get most of the tickets for public fouling in downtown Guelph, Findlay said.
However, it’s not a “completely ideal solution,” he noted, because pissoirs can’t be used by people with accessibility issues and aren’t meant for females.
“Not to say that females could not try to use it, but it not designed for that,” he said.
In Europe, pissoirs are quite common. Some are equipped with cone-shaped devices to allow females to use them, but “I’m not sure we’re ready for that quite yet,” Findlay said.
Pissoirs in Guelph would likely be placed near the intersection of Wyndham and Macdonell streets, which is “ground zero” for the bar scene, he said.
‘Not to say that females could not try to use it, but it’s not designed for that’
The portable units would probably be moved by trailer into place just for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
“The status quo just isn’t working,” said Findlay, who hears complaints from storeowners about fouling of the streets outside their shops by people after the bars close.
The Downtown Nightlife Task Force, which includes people representing city hall, bar owners, the Downtown Guelph Business Association, the University of Guelph and city residents, was set up to try to solve the problems of the city’s entertainment district. It has recommended accessible public washrooms for all new public buildings in the downtown, which would be available for families and tourists as well as nightlife patrons.
However, the immediate problem needs to be addressed, said Findlay.
He said police support the idea of temporary portable urinals, as does the Downtown Nightlife Task Force and the Downtown Guelph Business Association. City staff are also in support, he said.
The last public washrooms in the downtown were in the Memorial Gardens arena. The new city hall doesn’t have public washrooms that can be used outside business hours.
The only easily accessible washrooms in the downtown now are in Old Quebec Street, but they are only open when it’s open.
Findlay’s Ward 2 blog shows examples of pissoirs used in Europe. However, with the city’s operations department planning to make its own urinal, he said, “I don’t think it is going to be as interesting-looking as the ones on my blog.”