Newest San Francisco Attraction: Open-Air Urinals
City gives new meaning to term “Gold Rush”
Despite the success of Mayor Rudi Giuliani’s quality-of-life laws, the smart set on New York’s City Council is considering options to ease enforcement of these offenses in the name of “diversity”.
I would like to offer New Yorkers a glimpse of their future by showing them what is now happening in San Francisco. The Bay Area metropolis hasn’t had New York’s experience of sensible leadership (albeit for only a brief time); therefore, it is about a decade ahead, in terms of enjoying the consequences of implementing diversity policies instead of those focusing on public health.
I foresee that New Yorkers will soon be treated to fabulous, new facilities . . . like open-air urinals:
The first open-air public urinal in San Francisco has been unveiled in the city’s Delores Park.
The concrete circular urinal was opened in the latest move to combat the destructive scourge of public urination in the city.
And although it is in the open air, it does afford users some privacy as a screen protects the front of the urinal and it is surrounded by plants.
…They were the park’s first upgrades in 60 years and the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department say they are unaware of any other cities with a public urinal.
I suspect most leadership of most cities would prefer that citizens not behave like animals in public and instead use both stalls and modesty when relieving themselves.
What are the likely public health consequences? I teach biosafety to a team who handles urine samples. While urine normally contains low levels of bacteria, some medical conditions may result in blood in the stream that can potentially contain disease-causing viruses, so samples are handled with protective gloves. If a sample spills, the area is treated with a disinfectant.
But there also are other potential urine hazards that those enjoying the latest trend in progressive thinking can look forward to experiencing:
Decades of (hopefully) dog urine have sped corrosion at the base of Bay Area light poles and four posts have fallen over in a pee-soaked heap, KTVU is reporting (via Boing Boing). No injuries have been reported due to the terrible tinkle tumbles.
City officials have replaced 160 poles on several streets due to corrosion on the aging poles. One collapsed pole Monday damaged a car.
The massive eroding power of urine, and probably thinner metal — which doesn’t have the alliterative power of pee-pee poles plunging — are to blame.
Holy infrastructure, Batman!
Fortunately, the crisis has led to some innovative solutions that are now available. For example, “pee-proof” paint.
San Francisco city officials are implementing a new “pee-proof” paint around the city to combat the persistent problem of public urination.
Public Works crews have painted 10 walls in the city with a special UV-coated, urine-repellent paint, according to CNN affiliate KPIX.
Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru was inspired by a project in Hamburg, Germany, where walls in a night club district were coated with the liquid-repellent paint.
If an offender tries to urinate on a wall coated with the super hydrophobic paint, the urine, instead of running down the wall, will spray back at the person relieving himself, potentially hitting his clothes or shoes.
Public urination has been a chronic issue in San Francisco for a long time. In 2002, the city passed legislation banning public urination and imposing a $50 to $100 fine for offenders, but the ban has had little to no impact on the problem.
San Francisco certainly has given new meaning to the term, Gold Rush.
Given the new disease outbreaks Americans are now facing, I hope that government officials begin worrying more about real public health issues, soon. It is only a matter of time before “diversity” choices create conditions leading to contagion that equalizes everyone.
I sure hope New York City enjoys this glimpse into its future.
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Comments
A couple of things come to mind – is this mostly a guy thing, or are the ladies…well, maybe not ‘ladies’…wont to urinating in outdoor public places? I’m wondering how the women pee on light poles.
And second, have you noticed how liberal run cities are slowly degenerating into third world hellholes, right before our eyes?
The degeneration is not slow. Nor, by the way, is it reversible.
That’s because liberals exalt barbarians over the civilized.
Snicker, snicker … I know they have Market covered so I guess what I really want to know is how they are going to handle Lombard?
Unintended friendly fire on the cultural loonie left?
From the left wing Atlantic:
The dispute in Duesseldorf is actually part of a long-running debate in Germany over whether men should be encouraged to sit down when urinating. The controversy pits stehpinklers (men who stand up to pee) against sitzpinklers (men who sit down), and it has taken some bizarre twists over the years. In 2004, for example, The Telegraph reported that sitzpinkler had become a synonym for “wimp,” and that a company had invented a gadget that attached to toilets and scolded stehpinklers when they lifted the seat.
As has been the case with similar campaigns in countries ranging from Sweden to Taiwan, proponents of seated male urination in Germany typically cite its hygienic and health benefits.
Hah hah, take that sitzpinklers of NYC and SF!
I think Pissoirs are pretty common in Europe.
This was all predicted by the great social fiction writer, I.P. Freely.
Germany has almost no public restrooms. You have to pay. When you understand the context, then you realize this is a revenue enhancing measure, not a pubic health and safety measure.
Also, if you are drunk enough to piss in an alley, then you probably don’t care much if some splashes.
And if you do care, after this happens to you the first time you will learn to pee at an angle to the wall…
Analysis: waste of time and money.
The San Diego beaches are dotted with public facilities that are easy to clean, simple in design, hard to break, and suitable for use by a person with a decent sense of privacy. Why is it necessary for San Francisco to force those in need to pee in public? Are women supposed to use this facility, or are they simply denied any comfort at all?
San Francisco is notorious for accommodating exhibitionists, and this appears to be yet another feature adapted to their perverted idea of fun.
In many cities in Roman times buildings had urinals on the street side and a pot to collect the urine. They used the amonia to full cloth and whiten togas. Urine was collected and used.
The bacteria S. typhi is passed into the urine of infected individuals.
“Typhoid can also persist in the urinary tract, giving urinary spread of disease from the carrier. One serious outbreak of typhoid in Croydon, London, in 1937 was traced to a carrier who had been employed during work on water pipes supplying the affected area, and had urinated on nearby ground and contaminated the water supply. There were 310 cases, with 43 deaths.”
(Mims’ Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease; http://tinyurl.com/z53v7rq)
Now there’s a fun disease we haven’t seen much of for a while!
Stick around a while.
Perversions R Us…