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 The city's Public Works agency is testing a pee-repellant paint on
walls in areas that have been saturated with urine. Anyone urinating
on the specially treated walls will get the spray splashed back onto
them.
San Francisco's director of public works, Mohammed Nuru - whose
Twitter handle is @MrCleanSF - got the idea when he read on social
media about the use of the paint in Hamburg, Germany's nightclub
district to stop beer drinkers from relieving themselves in the
street.
The paint, called Ultra-Ever Dry, is sold by Ultratech International
Inc and is billed as a superhydrophobic coating that will repel most
liquids.
"The urine will bounce back on the guys pants and shoes. The idea is
they will think twice next time about urinating in public," said
Rachel Gordon, a Public Works Department spokeswoman. She said the
super-hard coating made the "bounce back" effect much stronger than
when peeing on a regular wall.
In a pilot program, San Francisco last week painted nine walls in
areas around bars and other areas with big homeless populations.
"Hold it! ... seek relief in an appropriate place," say signs posted
near the paint. The signs are in English, Chinese and Spanish.
The paint went up just last week, but the city is already getting
requests for more.
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"We've gotten many, many calls from people who wanted it done in
their alley or on their buildings," Gordon said. "Some people are
saying it's just a gimmick, but other people hope it will combat
some of the smelly areas of San Francisco that have been saturated
with urine."
The cost of painting the walls is much lower than sending out
workers to steam clean areas, she said. The city gets hundreds of
requests a year to clean up urine.
The city has also added public toilets to reduce the urine problem,
Gordon said.
(Reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
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