The following article appeared in the July 21 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
A city committee has agreed to partially fund a pilot program to place public urinals in the downtown core, less than one month after city councilors balked at spending public money on the idea.
The emergency services, community services and operations committee voted last night to financially support a modified proposal which will see two units installed in the core on a full-time basis during September and October. This is a change from the proposal endorsed by council last month, which would have seen the so-called pissoirs only installed on Thursday through Saturday nights to serve the late-night bar crowd.
In approving that proposal, council said costs of the pilot project must be covered by downtown stakeholders – specifically bars and late-night restaurants.
But at its meeting two weeks ago, the Night Life Task Force devised the modified proposal and decided to take another shot at municipal funding.
The modified proposal would have seen the city contribute more than $14,000 to run a pilot project from the beginning of September until the end of the year. As well, downtown stakeholders have pledged another $4,200, though most of this will be spent on a public education campaign.
Last night, Jennifer Mackie, executive director of the Downtown Guelph Business Association, conceded the city might be uncomfortable with the level of funding being sought. She suggested a two-month pilot program beginning in September to cover the return of university students “when there is a surge in the population downtown.”
Though there was no dollar figure attached to the shortened pilot project, figures provided to the committee for purchasing and maintaining the units suggest the cost to the city would be about $8,500 for a two-month trial, assuming downtown stakeholders still contribute $4,200.
Mackie could not say which downtown businesses had agreed to contribute financially to the pissoirs project, and could not remember how much of the $4,200 was coming directly from her association.
This did not sit well with at least one member of the committee.
“I think I need to know, and the public needs to know, that all the big downtown bars are paying for this because it is they who have created this problem,” Coun. Maggie Laidlaw said.
But Mackie countered while the majority of public urinating takes place late at night, there is a shortage of public washrooms in the downtown core at all hours.
Coun. Ian Findlay, who represents council on the Night Life Task Force, said there is a feeling among task force “that we should make the guilty pay.”
Findlay noted in the past two years, city police officers have issued about 300 tickets under the anti-fouling bylaw, generating about $70,000 in revenue.
“The municipality is generating a fair amount of revenue from the guilty people,” Findlay said, suggesting that money could be used “to help us find a solution.”
The issue returns to city council next Monday.