Considering every parking structute staircase already smells like piss, I can't wait to see what odors will await us in some public porta john.

I say we name them the "Matt Davis Pissers."

And if you disagree with me, you're a hateful, disrespectful racist.

RE: "Considering every parking structute staircase already smells like piss, I can't wait to see what odors will await us in some public porta john. "

my best is that more public restrooms and more low income housing would go a long ways to ending the problem of people peeing in the stairwells... if you gotta go you gotta go, no matter what one may think about it being decent or not.
thanks
Patrick

Pissoirs are GREAT. In big cities everywhere in the world but the US, you don't have to panic when your bladder fills. In places without official public restrooms, like Mexico City, say, shops make a little extra cash charging 20 or 30 cents to let you use their bathroom. But most other countries don't have hundreds of people living on the street, either. The pissoirs would need to be complemented with courtesy toilets for women, maybe a small payout to businesses that "don't have a restroom" to post a sign and allow women into their facilities (for the sake of equity, as the men won't be paying for the pissoirs). As for the morons who complain, 'ooh, they'll smell!', yeah, they will - better than your doorway, the alley, your dumpsters...What any opposition to this comes down to is Americans' fear of the body. Portland is truly a beacon of hope in getting over this if they go ahead and get some of these.

Grant,
I have used them in Amsterdam, and honestly, although I used it, it would not have been my first choice. For my travel partner it was not an option at all. We had to walk a few more blocks for her to find facilities.
An actual sidewalk restroom would be, in my eyes, a much better solution. http://perso.orange.fr/anthony.atkielski/SanisetteLarge.jpg . It allows both sexes to take care of all of their business. The immediate drawback that everyone will mention is that it "allows drug use"... A) Drugs are going to be used whether we have public restrooms or not. B) At least at that point it is being trafficked to one location.
Another decent idea is to have public, low cost restrooms available in bus and train stations as well as other public buildings ala Germany's "Mc Clean". http://www.mcclean.ch/html/index.html both are excellent choices. Mc Clean even offering low cost showers for travelers or any others that may wish to partake.
My final thought I guess is that although I understand the "quick and dirty" approach to things, I just hope we can add a bit of dignity to it as well.
Thanks
Patrick

Personally, I care less about drug use than Greshamite Greek Cuisina-loving frat boys pissing on the door handles for a laugh.

Grant: Several neighborhoods I recently wandered through in Paris had automated toilets exactly like the ones you linked to in your post. They were in terrible shape, smelled like a combination of death and rotting cheese and, in several cases, the buttons to open the automatic doors didn't work. One outside the Moulin Rouge forced people to duck inside whenever the toilet felt like opening the door. On the other hand, the ones up in Seattle worked great the last time I used one. If City Hall's willing to shell out the $ to maintain them, robo-potties are the way to go.