Paris, city of romance — and public relief spots
In the city of lights, love and romance, it is now possible to take in a sweeping, flower-filled scene of the River Seine and the historic Notre Dame cathedral — all while emptying one’s bladder in a totally legal, even environmentally friendly way.
Parisian leaders are trying to tackle a problem that is evident to anyone who’s ever tried to catch a glimpse of a historic site in a historic city and instead caught a foulsmelling whiff of stale urine.
Meet the uritrottoir, a portmanteau of the French words for “urinal” and “sidewalk”. It is a bright red, freestanding dry urinal that’s meant to give people — well, some people — a place to go other than a cobblestone street or scenic bridge.
The uritrottoirs are filled with straw, allegedly odourless, and use the nitrogen and other compounds in urine to produce an organic compost.
But disgusted people who live in the city’s northern neighbourhoods have pointed out one big negative to the trial run of the device: The uritrottoirs’ design doesn’t prevent the rest of Paris — including some people cruising along on tourists barges — from seeing someone relieving himself. On the other hand, flowers grow out of the top.
Paris Mayor Ariel Weil has called it “une invention de genie”, “an invention of genius” that can solve a problem that persists in cities like Paris, at least until it rains.
“If we don’t do anything, then men are just going to pee in the streets,” Weil told Reuters.
But residents of the upscale and historic neighbourhoods that are dotted with the red urine bins say there has to be a better, less unseemly way.
“There’s no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such a historic spot,” Paola Pellizzari, who owns a nearby art dealership, told Reuters.