JUDGE RULES OPEN AIR PISSER A GOOD FIT FOR SAN FRANSICKO

The San Francisco Chinese Christian Union lost its court challenge to the pissoir in Mission Dolores Park

By Kimberly Veklerov

San Francisco Chronicle
October 7, 2016

Full-bladdered visitors to San Francisco’s Mission Dolores Park may climb the hill and pee to their heart’s content in a pissoir after a judge ruled the open-air urinal had the blessing of constitutionality.

The pissoir — a concrete drain in the ground halfway encircled by a fence, tarp and flowers — has pitted free-spirited San Franciscans against conservative religious groups ever since it opened for business this year.

Backers of the alfresco lavatory said it relieved congested lines to the men’s bathroom and was far better than people urinating in alleyways or on trees, while opponents called it smelly, unsanitary and unsightly.

The outrage grew so fierce that it streamed into the courts when the San Francisco Chinese Christian Union filed a lawsuit in April alleging the pissoir was a public nuisance and unfair to women and people with disabilities.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Harold Kahn struck down the allegations in a ruling this week, writing, “The installation and maintenance of the pissoir does not contravene any of the constitutional provisions, statutes or common law rules cited by plaintiffs nor, even if it did, would there be any basis to issue the requested injunctive relief.”

Regular park-goers mostly shrugged at the decision, though some locals maintained their drawn battle lines separating those who hate the unusual potty station from those who appreciate it.

“It’s disgusting. There are bathrooms right down there at the playground and over there,” said Tess Robertson, 22, pointing to the bottom of the hill as she sat on a curb feet from the source of her revulsion, waiting for the J-train to come.

Robertson, who teaches at after-school programs and has lived a block from Dolores Park her whole life, conceded that park gardeners had at least planted some shrubbery around the urinal structure to provide some level of privacy.

“It has pretty flowers around it, so there’s that,” she said.

Others laughed off all the attention and anger the pissoir has propagated.

“It’s just silly,” said Joshue Echevarria of Oakland while waiting for an appointment at a bench in the park. “It’s so fun peeing next to someone and enjoying the nice view.”

Echevarria, 26, came to the park the day the southern end reopened in January following nearly two years of renovations that included the addition of the pissoir and cost $20.5 million in total.

Alas, Echevarria said, he and his friends couldn’t find the urinal, which is tucked away on the southwest side of the park but — critics stress — right next to a Muni rail line, in direct line of sight between it and riders.

Doug Mackinnon, 70, who exercises in the park daily but rarely sees pissoir patrons, questioned how much use the thing is getting. He also wondered about the true motivations of the litigators.

“They’re just against it because of homophobia and they’re worried about perverts,” said Mackinnon, who lives nearby. “I thought it’d be more enclosed, but I don’t have anything against it.”