Building on the success of the city's first street urinal, city staff are recommending installing two more places to go for people who gotta go.

"We've had great success with our one permanent urinal we've put downtown," Mayor Dean Fortin said.

And ladies, city staff are recommending that at least one of the two new pissoirs be modified for use by women. Locations for the new urinals have yet to be chosen.

The city installed the first urinal to help combat problems with men urinating in shop doorways and other public places downtown after bars close.

"We recognize that 95 per cent of the problems are with males. And sometimes taking care of 95 per cent of the problem is worthwhile," Fortin said. "But we also recognize that they aren't accessible to women, so we're going to pilot putting a gate on one of the urinals."

The city designed and installed its first public street urinal last September at Government Street and Pandora Avenue.

Almost from first flush, it's been a success, city staff say.

Costing about $75,000, the Pandora urinal is enclosed by a curve of green steel poles and is open at the top. Cleaning costs are about $40 a day. The poles provide some privacy, but it's possible to see if someone is inside. There is no gate.

While city staff have concerns about tinkering with the design, they say it may be able to modify the receptacle inside and add a gate on the outside to allow use by women, who say they won't use it unless they are provided more privacy. "We do have to reflect the comments of so many women, which was either you put a gate on it or I'm not going to use it," Fortin said.

Some residents of the Vogue condominiums at Government and Pandora would like to see the existing urinal removed. They say it's added to late-night noise problems.

Meanwhile, Victoria's efforts to calm late-night problems are starting to pay off, according to a report from the mayor's late night task force.

The task force, established in May 2009, recommended initiatives such as additional weekend police patrols, late-night buses and taxi stands to help counter problems with rowdiness.

All three initiatives began in December and staff are recommending that they continue.

Police are reporting a 10 per cent drop downtown for select types of calls and a reduction in fight and mischief calls of 24 and 20 per cent respectively.

Fortin said there's still work to be done. "Certainly, we want to see more success around the taxi stands and we're working with the taxi drivers to make that happen. We're hearing from women that they appreciate having security at the taxi stands."

He said he's pleased B.C. Transit will once again implement late-night bus service this fall.

So far, the city has spent about $170,000 on late-night initiatives and estimates for the annual cost of additional officers and late night taxi stands range from $313,000 to $554,000.

Scott Hoadley, chairman of the Downtown Victoria Business Association, said his organization supports continuing the initiatives.

"We've seen some great headway there with the taxi stands, with the transportation and with the police presence, and I think it's getting better," Hoadley said. "Generally from what I'm hearing, things are improving."

The evaluation report also recommends that the city create a part-time position to co-ordinate implementing of the late-night strategy.

bcleverley@tc.canwest.com