A number of Parisians have blown up at the deployment of a number of urinals – or urinoirs – on its streets, which sit in close proximity to the Notre Dame cathedral and a viewing spot of the Seine.
In what can only be compared to having a bunch of port-a-loos stacked up on the steps of the Opera House, residents and business owners alike are outraged at the contemporary toilet intertwining with the architectural beauty of the middle ages.
The entire debacle has seen locals create and sign a petition calling for the immediate removal of the toilets, so that way they can go back to doing it behind a tree instead.
“There’s no need to put something so immodest and ugly in such an historic spot,” says the owner of a Venetian art store, Paola Pellizzari, in a Yahoo interview.
“It’s beside the most beautiful townhouse on the island, the Hotel de Lauzun, where Baudelaire lived,” she said, referring to the 19th-century French poet.
Interestingly, French feminist group Femmes Solidaires have blamed the entire male gender on the installation of the toilets, claiming that their weak bladders are the cause of the eyesores.
“They have been installed on a sexist proposition: men cannot control themselves and so all of society has to adapt,” says Spokeswoman Gwendoline Coipeault.
“The public space must be transformed to cause them minimum discomfort. It’s absurd, no one needs to urinate in the street.”
The Uritrottoir is described by its design team as an eco solution to public urination. Likened to a box with a floral display on top, the toilets contain straw which combines with waste to create compost for nearby plants and gardens.
Local Mayor Ariel Weil says there are more to come, but a relocation may be required if public discourse continues.
“If we don’t do anything, then men are just going to pee in the streets,” he says.
“If it is really bothering people, we will find another location.”
