The following article appeared in the June 24 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
At least one prominent downtown bar owner says he has no problem with helping to pay for open-air urinals.
“If other people are willing to do it I’m certainly in favour,” said Bob Dehu, owner of the Palace, Trapper’s Alley and Bobby O’Briens.
“I’m willing to try anything if it makes a difference.”
City council on Monday approved the controversial walk-through urinals, but only if the cost of the pilot project is covered by downtown businesses.
Staff had proposed covering the estimated $5,000 cost of the pilot from the operations department’s budget but, in the end, didn’t go for it.
The urinals would be installed at a main downtown intersection Thursday through Saturday nights this summer as a pilot project to curb public urination.
City staff, in conjunction with the Night Life Task Force, recommended the urinals as part of a three-pronged approach to combatting urinating in alleys and on storefronts in the core.
The project would also include a public awareness campaign and stepped-up enforcement of the city’s antifouling bylaw, which allows $240 tickets for anyone who urinates, defecates or spits in public.
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Jennifer Mackie, general manager of the Downtown Guelph Business Association and a member of the task force, said she was “disappointed” with council’s decision.
“To lay it on the stakeholders only . . . isn’t really fair because part of the challenge is there are no public washrooms available,” Mackie said.
“It’s great that it was supported in concept, but I still believe it’s a community problem and the community should pay for it.”
Coun. Ian Findlay is council’s representative on the Night Life Task Force.
Findlay, who is out of the province and was not at the council meeting, said council’s direction will be taken back to the task force, which has a scheduled meeting July 8, “to see if we have some co-operation on the part of the bar owners.”
Findlay said owners have been very supportive of efforts to curb public urination “but ponying-up (financially) sort of takes that to the next level.”
While education and increased enforcement will be key elements of the pilot project, Findlay said it is unfair to crack down with tickets without making efforts to provide facilities.
“You just can’t continually use the stick,” he said in a telephone interview from Alberta.
Findlay noted his trip has convinced him open-air urinals can work.
Last week he was in Edmonton, which experimented with the facilities and found them so successful they are now permanent fixtures.
“We’re on track with what a lot of other cities have done.”
The councillor said Monday’s direction might make it difficult to have the urinals in place quickly.
“Can we provide a response to this problem this summer? I hope so,” he said, adding he is “reasonably confident” the urinals could be in place before the start of the school year, when the core typically gets busier with the influx of students.
Findlay agreed many who are opposed to the idea of the urinals are those not typically involved with the bar scene and who do not appreciate what a problem public urination is.
“We have two very distinct downtowns with the same address,” Findlay said. “We have the nine to 5, a.m. to p.m., and we have the nine to five, p.m. to a.m.”