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'Do Not P--- in This Area' Sign Warns Public Urinators They're on Camera

By Gustavo Solis | October 9, 2015 11:12am | Updated on October 11, 2015 8:56pm
 This sign was posted in front of 160 E. 117th St. about a month ago. People have been using the area as a toilet for years, neighbors said.
This sign was posted in front of 160 E. 117th St. about a month ago. People have been using the area as a toilet for years, neighbors said.
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DNAinfo/Gustavo Solis

If you're going to pee on East 117th Street, make sure to smile for the camera.

A new sign posted at well-known public urination spot on the street warns, "Please do not p--- in this area. You’re on camera.”

The sign was posted about a month ago, after the problem got so bad that neighbors would see people relieve themselves in the area in front of 160 E.117th St. multiple times a day.

“I see them from my kitchen,” said Pedro Ramos, 53, who lives across the street. “We scream at them but they don’t care.”

Ramos has also seen people go "number two," and young couples making out in the area, he said.

People have been using that part of the street as a bathroom since Ramos moved into the neighborhood 10 years ago, but he said it's gotten worse in the last couple of months.  

He suspects part of the uptick has something to do with NYPD's crackdown on quality-of-life issues, like K2 smoking, at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue.

“I don’t know how that tree hasn’t died yet,” he said.

Calls for information from the NYPD were not immediately returned.