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Paris Rolls Out Sidewalk Urinals to Tame "Wild Peeing"
- hackermailman 8y agohttp://uritrottoir.com http://uritrottoir.com that marketing of the guy taking a selfie while using one. We have free robotoilets here but drug addicts cover the floors in used needles and other piles of trash that clog the autoclean ergo alleys reeking of urine all summer persist.
- awakeasleep 8y agoPlaces with the needle problems (like SF) should bite the bullet and provide sharps containers that are maintained by public employees. It's simply insane to ignore the problem posed by the kilotons of used needles laying around everywhere, and they're a public health menace, so the government should take responsibility for the issue.
- dawnerd 8y agoPortland did that and some locals threw a fit. It’s a great idea though, there are legitimate reasons someone would need to dispose of a needle anyways.
- _jal 8y agoWe (San Francisco) do have them. Some people don't like them, and there are ongoing fights about that. Generally speaking, "the government" here is trying to "take responsibility" like you ask. It is a certain segment of the population that you should be taking issue with. I'm not singling you out, but a personal pet-peeve of mine is this "us vs. government" thing. You, the reader, are a part of your government. Pretending like government should be like a restaurant and service you is a category error that causes lots of unnecessary problems while not solving real ones. Take responsibility, indeed.)
- rayiner 8y agoPretty much this: > "They have been installed on a sexist proposition: men cannot control themselves (from the bladder point of view) and so all of society has to adapt," Gwendoline Coipeault of the feminist group Femmes Solidaires tells the news service. "The public space must be transformed to cause them minimum discomfort." They need to bring back flogging for public urination and littering.
- xvedejas 8y agoIt's really a minimum adaptation of society, for the benefit of everyone: fewer urine patches in their city. If it works, and everyone benefits, why should people care that one feminist thinks it's sexist?
- schrodinger 8y agoSometimes you’ve got to be pragmatic about what actually works.
- 0x8BADF00D 8y agoExactly. We need to ban plastic straws, now! Not deal with the feces and used heroin needles on the street.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- phyzome 8y agoYes, because beating people will make them suddenly not need to pee. >_> (Will you also advocate removal of trash cans, and beat people for littering?) ...how about free public toilets, which will solve the actual problem?
- hfdgiutdryg 8y ago...how about free public toilets, which will solve the actual problem? I get the impression that you misunderstood the parent. Installing toilets would solve the problem without being sexist. The plan of installing urinals does seem rather sexist, doesn't it? I mean, it appears to be saying, "oh well, boys can't hold it" or "women don't (or can't) drink". Aren't those sexist statements? It sure sounds to me like it's reinforcing a weird culture of men not doing any planning and feeling entitled to piss wherever it's convenient for them.
- cpursley 8y agoThis would not be a problem if Europe had free toilets like the United States. I really don't understand why I should have to pay to pee.
- cpursley 8y agoStart up idea: Free app controlled urinals that play curated digital advertisements in front of you while you pee.
- yoz-y 8y agoIn China I have already seen toilets where each individual urinal/stall had its own small tablet showing ads. Might be viable.
- iagooar 8y agoWould you, as a company, like people to associate your brand with dark, smelly & dirty places?
- donkeyd 8y agoThat was pretty much my teacher's reaction when I pitched 'free toilet paper for students by printing ads on them', in business school.
- nielsbot 8y agoDepends on what you're selling...
- nsxwolf 8y agoPeople buy ad space above urinals all the time.
- yellowapple 8y agoMight be perfect if you sell cleaning supplies.
- cirgue 8y ago
- torstenvl 8y agoThis is both hilarious and very useful. Parisian culture leans toward leisurely café sipping, which means there aren't a lot of Starbucks-type places where one can stop quickly to pee and grab a drink or snack. Current options are to pay for access to a little cabin-style bathroom (even those aren't always easy to find), or line up for a place that permits bathroom use without essentially renting a table for an hour (the line for a bathroom at McDonald's on the Champs Élysée can stretch out the door)... or pee in an alley or subway. I'll be interested to see how this is received by Parisians.
- lainga 8y agoIs it for the same reason there are no trash cans in Japan? You're expected to keep that stuff at home, as home business?
- sithadmin 8y agoA majority of the conbini in Japan have a trash can out front, along with recycling bins. They're not exactly hard to find.
- h4b4n3r0 8y agoSuper inconvenient BTW, and only works because it’s Japan. If it was anywhere else, there’d just be heaps of trash everywhere.
- saryant 8y agoTrash cans were removed in Tokyo because of the sarin gas attacks in the 90s.
- Nasrudith 8y agoI thought that was related to the nerve gas attacks on the subway and deciding they would rather have litter sweeped up than standing cans which may hide bombs.
- phnk 8y ago> Parisian culture leans toward leisurely café sipping, which means there aren't a lot of Starbucks-type places where one can stop quickly to pee and grab a drink or snack. Wait, what? There are restrooms in every single café in my (northern Parisian) neighbourhood. If you are sipping café there, or buying it to go, then you are a customer and are allowed access to the restroom. I have no idea what 'renting a table for an hour' means in relation to going to a café, but your view of how life in Paris works seems very seriously off. It might just be me, though -- I am unable to understand how other grown adults in this thread (not parent comment, other posts) can think that they are entitled to bladder release for free outside of their homes.
- tomc1985 8y agoNetherlands has public urinals in some places (Dam Square in Amsterdam, for example), the sky didn't fall or anything. They are a little unsightly but younger drunken me certainly appreciated their presence. I wish there was some equivalent to these things suitable for women though, it isn't fair that we have all the fun :)
- donkeyd 8y agoThey're all over Amsterdam. There's an app for people who are boating that shows every urinal next to the canals. It's very convenient! Edit: There's even ones that come up out of the ground at night!
- kiddico 8y agoBefore reading the article my first thought was that there was not adequate public restrooms, but its mentioned they've already added 400. It would be interesting to know if the incident rate dropped after adding them, and if so then maybe they need to add more. I'm not sure how much area the 400 had to cover, but it might not have been enough.
- rtkwe 8y ago400 for a large city like Paris isn't that much and discoverability is an issue. They're fairly densely packed in some areas [0] I'm guessing near restaurant/bar heavy areas but fairly sparse out side of that. [0] https://www.paris.fr/services-et-infos-pratiques/environnement-et-espaces-verts/proprete/les-sanisettes-2396 https://www.paris.fr/services-et-infos-pratiques/environneme...
- titanix2 8y agoThis is a return of the 19 century « vespasiennes » (public pissoirs) that were removed partly because they were detourned by men for other purposes. By that time homosexuality was frowned upon. The new version take less space but also offer less privacy; it’s a weird choice in my opinion.
- frenchman_in_ny 8y agoYep - was going to say just about the same thing - they've simply rolled out an old idea that had been developed in the 1830s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pissoir
- blang 8y agoNot just 19th century: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-5-million-automated-public-toilets-sold-for-12000/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattles-5-million... less privacy as a design choice seems to be very deliberate
- patrickg_zill 8y agoWhat changed? (Twitter tells me that it is because of immigration from the 3rd world.)
- qop 8y agoThat is correct. European business culture also contributes in some small part, so given enough growth it would have eventually been a problem anyways, but it was exacerbated by importing tens of thousands of primitive terrorists.
- dang 8y agoWe've banned this account for breaking the site guidelines and ignoring our requests to stop. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- LarryL 8y agoI'm french, I live near Paris and very often walk in Paris for various reasons (shopping, etc) The BIG problem is that the automated public (and free, which was not the case before) toilets are NOT numerous enough (400 only according to the article, what a joke!), you have to _search_ for them, even in the very popular -and touristic- areas where I usually roam. But the other, and far worse, problem is that they are SLOOOOOOOOOW!!!! Obviously only one person can use the toilet at a time, then when they exit, the toilet auto-cleans itself, which takes FOREVER, and I mean a good couple of minutes, maybe more. Imagine a line of ten people in front of you (it happens)... You'll have a 30 minutes wait, if not more! I won't insist on the fact that after the auto-cleaning the toilets are still (understandably) wet on the floor and the toilet seat, which is not the most pleasant thing. But I agree that it's not an easy thing to do. I will also pass quickly on the fact that sometimes you find used needles (left by drug addicts) in the hand washing bowl... In some of the most touristic places (remember that France is the most visited country in the world, and Paris draws an incredible number of visitors, especially during the holidays), you can see ONE or TWO toilets, and that's it, for thousands of people! That's a total joke. As for those new urinals, who would want to use those? I don't want to pee in front of everybody, thank you! There are plenty of possible more secluded spots. The idea of adding more toilets is one thing, and more efficient (and less cumbersome) models compared to the current ones would be a VERY welcome idea, but this solution is in my opinion not well studied. Plus it does not help women (~50% of the public) who also need to use toilets... And it would also be good if toilets were available in the subway! That's where I've seen the most people take "wild pees" (usually again a wall in the stations), it's the WORST place, it's disgusting.
- jwilk 8y agoText-only version: https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=638512558 https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=638512558 Archived copy (with photo): https://archive.is/Ycjrc https://archive.is/Ycjrc