Exactly. First off, this happened 10 years ago when I still lived exactly there. It was a marketing campaign by the local “business improvement district”, i.e. the companies that basically owned half of the quarter. The main complaint of the residents was that every time the BID organized huge festivals, they didn’t provide enough public toilets. This “solution” did nothing because drunk party-goers from out of town don’t “learn” anything from this. Also, most places wouldn’t let you go to the loo on their premises if you didn’t buy anything.

But the good news is that in 2020, 2022 and last year they actually just opened new public toilets in these areas. I imagine this very confusing solution actually helped.