The following article appeared in the September 9 edition of the Guelph Mercury:
The novelty, more than the urgent need to urinate, had several men using Guelph’s newly installed pissoirs Saturday night.
The four-man units, bolted into the ground and surrounded by a privacy screening, drew several curious looks, ‘let’s try it out’ responses and chuckles of laughter from friends who waited a few feet away while their friends chose to use it.
Walking past City Hall around 11:30 p.m., 19-year-old Sean Browne and a group of his friends stopped to use the pissoirs on Carden Street. Another pissoir unit is installed in the parking lot next to Sun Sun Restaurant. Within the span of an hour and a half, at least 20 men stopped to use both units.
“Why not go right here, if it’s right here? Browne asked. “It’s too bad that the girls don’t have one.”
The group had just arrived in the downtown core. They had already consumed a few beers before deciding to check out the bars, Browne said, adding they stopped to use the pissoirs because the line-ups to get inside the bars were too long.
“The pissoirs are great,” he said. “You don’t have to piss on the wall.”
On Monday, the city installed the two units, after voting in late July to spend $8,400. Downtown businesses are pitching in $4,200, mainly to be spent on an extensive public education campaign. The two-month pilot project will gauge how well the two units are used.
One 23-year-old man, who asked to remain anonymous, said he used the Macdonell Street unit for the novelty.
“It was just sitting there,” he said. “I will use it more often when I have to use the washroom.”
Meanwhile, on Carden Street as Browne waited on his friends to come out of the pissoir unit, another group of males stopped to use it. One called the unit ‘ugly,’ which had Browne’s friend yell out, ‘Then why did you piss in it?’
It was followed by a couple minutes of back-and-forth between the two groups. Browne said he didn’t believe the pissoirs would create additional fights downtown.
“Anything can start a fight with guys,” he said.
Craig Molnar, a 22-year-old University of Western Ontario student, who was among the second group that tried out the Carden Street pissoirs, said he had used similar units while travelling in Europe.
Before the installation of the pissoirs, he said one of his friends got fined for public urination. Guelph police have laid about 300 tickets under the city’s anti-fouling bylaw in the past two years.
“(Now) no one is going to piss on anyone’s car or in an alleyway,” Molnar said.
Tim Smyth, manager of Van Gogh’s Ear, Vinyl and Jimmy Jazz, said he isn’t absolutely certain the public urination stalls will deter those who lack basic etiquette. However, he said it might help the 10 per cent of the people who really have to use the washroom in the late nights.
“The types of people that are going to pee in the doorways are not going to walk 200 yards to a pissoir,” Smyth said.
However, 24-year-old Andrew Hill said he disagreed. If he knows there is an option to urinating in the alley, he will use it, said the Stratford resident.
“If I (leave) any bar in the area, I would come here,” Hill said, about the pissoirs.
Hill stopped to use the units on Macdonell Street, with two of his friends, shortly after midnight Sunday. Left with very little choice in the past, Hill said, he has urinated in alleyways numerous times. His friend, 25-year-old Rory MacCuaig said he had been ticketed twice before.
“If you don’t have (the pissoirs), guys will pee in between cars,” MacCuaig said.
Meanwhile, Smyth expressed concern about fights arising from men using the pissoirs.
“As soon as you give people something to crowd around, it’s potentially one more catalyst for people to fight,” said the bar owner.
Smyth said he’s making people aware of their existence through several posters in his bars. In the entrance of Van Gogh’s Ear, there were posters plastered with the words, “Mind your own business,” followed by “It is my business . . . urinating in public leaves a disgusting mess on our streets and you could face a $240 fine.”
Given this weekend only drew out 30 per cent of the crowd expected next weekend, Smyth said, it has yet to be seen how many people will make use of the pissoirs.
“I am curious and I’m excited to see if it helps,” Smyth said.