Canadian City Unveils $60k Open-Air Urinal

The city of Victoria, British Columbia has unveiled a new $60k public restroom that allows you to relive the joy of relieving yourself behind a parked car after a pub crawl. The new open air urinal is located across the street from one of the city’s most famous theater venues and is so loved by Bruce Carter, CEO of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, that he says it’s “an attraction in itself.”

Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait, 60 000$ for that? Talk about money down the drain!

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[SwingLife]

I agree with you 100%.

For that money you'd think...

[cruff]

That they could have gotten a better pictogram indicating the function for which the facility is intended to be used. :-)

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[blair1q]

wouldn't that be :-)~~~ ?

A brave new world.

[Capt.DrumkenBum]

It is truly an exciting time to be alive.

Too bad Canada has 11 month winters

[ThinkDrink]

For 60,000 you think they could have made it indoor.. Considering Canada is -40 three quarters of the time, and yes, I do live in Canada. Though 30 drinks later I'm pretty sure no one cares about the temperature.. But 30 drinks later I don't think people care where they go either.

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[Locke2005]

Indoor facilities encourage the homeless to sleep there, especially if they are heated and lockable (ever seen The Pursuit of Happyness?). The whole point was to provide barely enough privacy to encourage the inebriated to take a whiz there instead of in a doorway, not to provide a comfortable refuge in which to engage in clandestine behavior (like the restroom in San Francisco made famous by George Michael).

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[psyque]

Live in Canada? Maybe. Live in Victoria? Not likely. It only gets below -10C a few days a year in the worst winters.

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[Rinnon]

For 60,000 you think they could have made it indoor.. Considering Canada is -40 three quarters of the time, and yes, I do live in Canada. Though 30 drinks later I'm pretty sure no one cares about the temperature.. But 30 drinks later I don't think people care where they go either.

You may live in Canada, but you certainly don't live in Victoria, where it NEVER gets to -40, period.

Cue the jokes in 3... 2... 1...

[Locke2005]

Sounds like a piss-poor excuse for a civic attraction.

And no, there is no truth to the rumor that Bear Grylls was seen hanging out around the installation...

Not all of us are boys

[spaceyhackerlady]

OK, so what are us girls supposed to do? That bush doesn't look big enough to squat behind.

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[Nutria]

OK, so what are us girls supposed to do?

Obviously the city *fathers* of Victoria want you to stay home cooking, cleaning and raising the kids.

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[ne0n]

1. there's not enough of a problem with girls relieving themselves in elevators, lobbies and doorways to warrant an artificial larger-size bush.
2. Ladies get 10x the toilets per restroom at the mall and that covers 99% of the time you're out of the house anyways.

If I sound bitter or cynical it's because I'm married.

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[hduff]

http://www.go-girl.com/ [go-girl.com]

Women can pee standing up.

Really.

Common in Paris

[boustrophedon]

Such facilities are (were?) common in Paris and elsewhere: Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] and Google Images [google.com]

Une vespasienne est un urinoir public pour hommes ...

A vespasienne is a public urinal for men ...

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[TuringCheck]

But no true Frenchmen use them so nose clamps are a must when not raining.

No mention of a sink?

[opentunings]

The article never mentions a sink. Does this mean that Victoria BC has given up on convincing men to wash after their pit stops?

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[hduff]

Maybe they assume Canadians are smart enough to not pee on their hands?

Hey, I've used that

[Maglos]

Its creepy as hell during the day; I could see pedestrians. It's not that bad of an idea though; low maintenance, very clean when I used it and I felt safer then in other washrooms I've been in. Lots of guys would just piss on buildings and garbage cans otherwise. In Victoria they can just let the rain clean it.