The San Francisco Public Works Department is rolling out a new, rather unique pilot program this month to discourage public urination on city walls. Based on a successful campaign in Hamburg, Germany, SF's program has painted nine walls in the city's "most challenging neighborhoods" (read: outside of bars and Bart stops—especially 16th and Mission, and anywhere with a large homeless population) with a repellent paint that makes pee spray back on the pants and shoes of the person relieving himself. Sometimes you pee on the wall, sometimes the wall pees on you.
Here's what we can glean about the program so far:
1. Public urination is actually a big problem here (if you hadn't smelled it). This year alone, there have been 375 requests for street steam cleaning, the more heavy-duty version of street sweeping used only when there are smells—or, you know, feces—that brooms can't get rid of.
2. Both SF and Hamburg have (sick?) senses of humor: In Germany, walls are ominously painted with signs that read something along the lines of "You pee here, we pee back." But here, signs simply ask folks to find somewhere else to go, leaving urinators exposed and unprepared for retaliation.
3. Turns out, there are more appropriate places to relieve yourself—like the public bathrooms that are part of the PWD Pit Stop program, complete with running water and staff to keep things safe and clean.
4. That being said, ladies, they can't stop you from squatting (yet).
Questions, comments, suggestions of where to test next? Email dpw@sfdpw.org.