SF adopts Hamburg's 'pee back' strategy
July 27, 2015
In Hamburg's red-light and party district St Pauli, infamous for its Reeperbahn street, a community group came up with an idea which is catching on in the United States.
The walls partygoers usually use to take a leak were covered with a special liquid-repelling paint. Those who would nevertheless pee there would get the spray splashed back on their clothes and shoes.
Some may see the idea as a gimmick which wouldn't stop someone who really has to go. But the video promoting the Hamburg project initiated last March went viral and has been watched over 4.5 million times.
Among these viewers was San Francisco's Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. "MrCleanSF," as he nicknames himself on Twitter, decided to try the super hydrophobic paint out in the city's most problematic urinating zones.
Asked if the strategy actually works, Julia Staron, the project's co-supervisor in Hamburg, admitted the publicity was more important than the paint itself. "What's important is that the people know about it now. I often notice people reading the signs and saying 'Oh, yeah, I remember hearing about it.'"
The signs newly put up on the San Francisco walls don't specify the effect of the "pee-proof" paint. Those in Hamburg aptly warn: "Don't pee here. We pee back."