(03-05) 09:53 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- First came the iPod - now comes the pPod, a custom-made, open-air urinal that San Francisco is installing at Dolores Park to help deal with the hordes of male hipster inebriants that descend on the popular Mission spot on weekends.

Essentially, says Recreation and Park Department project manager Jake Gilchrist, "we are talking about a screen and a drain" that can get the potty job done using "a much simpler design."

Rec and Park spokeswoman Sarah Ballard said Dolores Park has traditionally relied on portable toilets to handle the park's weekend visitors.

But that number has been growing, and it now totals more than 5,000 on the average Saturday or Sunday. Rec and Park found it impossible to go with the flow.

The portables "are so heavily used and vandalized that they can't reuse them," Ballard said.

Hence the pPod, a 7-foot-tall, semi-cylinder mesh screen surrounding a concrete pad and drain that empties into the sewer system.

The pPod will be open at the back for easy wheelchair access - with no doors or locks.

At some point, "privacy becomes a security issue," said Gilchrist, who oversaw the design.

The $15,000 pPod will be installed in the coming months near the park's southwest corner, at 20th and Church streets, next to the Muni Metro tracks - a magnet area for partygoers looking to relieve themselves.

"That's why we decided to put it there," Gilchrist said.

The pPod is part of an overall $14 million park restoration expected to be completed by spring 2015.

And just in case you're wondering, ladies, there will be a couple of new, standard bathrooms built as well.

Out the door: Outgoing Oakland City Administrator Deanna Santana packed up her things Tuesday - six weeks earlier than expected - after announcing her resignation.

"I had hoped for an orderly and professional transition with (designated replacement) Fred Blackwell, but in the past 24 hours that plan has been reversed," Santana said.

Sources tell us that the hasty exit was prompted, in part, by Mayor Jean Quan's anger that word of Santana's departure got out before she had a chance to tell the City Council.

Santana is walking out with half of her $278,460 annual paycheck, plus a buyback of an undisclosed amount of sick and vacation time.

Quan and Santana have had a tense relationship for some time. The two were at odds over city labor contracts and over what Santana saw as the mayor going behind her back to interview potential police chiefs.

It didn't help that Santana's job hunting - she was recently a finalist for city manager jobs in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas - was making City Hall look like an uncertain place, just as Quan heads into a tough re-election campaign and needs to project an air of stability.

Still, "this came a lot sooner than any of us expected," said City Councilman Noel Gallo.

And, as usual for Oakland, with a lot more drama as well.

Prosecutor busted: A San Francisco deputy district attorney who was once named Northern California's narcotics prosecutor of the year has been placed on administrative leave following a drunken-driving arrest near Truckee.

California Highway Patrol officers say they came across Deputy D.A. Rema Breall's 2008 Volvo station wagon blocking a lane of traffic on Interstate 80 near the Soda Springs on-ramp about 4 a.m. Feb. 15.

Breall told the officers she had run out of gas, but they say she was noticeably impaired - and had an open, half-full bottle of wine in the car.

Breall refused to cooperate with a sobriety test, according to the CHP. The officers then arrested her, administered a blood alcohol test and booked her on suspicion of DUI. She was later released on her own recognizance.

Authorities declined to disclose the results of Breall's blood alcohol test, but Assistant District Attorney Anna Ferguson of Nevada County told us, "We intend to file charges."

Breall's attorney Tony Brass says his client, who is scheduled to appear in Nevada County Superior Court on March 12, has checked herself into a rehab center since her arrest.

"This was the moment she identified that she had a very serious alcohol abuse issue, and she has immediately taken responsible steps to deal with it," Brass said.

The San Francisco D.A.'s office confirmed that Breall - who was honored by the California Narcotic Officers' Association for her prosecution work back in 2009 - had been placed on paid leave. A D.A.'s spokesman declined further comment, calling it a personnel matter.

Breall is married to well-known criminal defense attorney Joseph Breall, and her sister-in-law is San Francisco Superior Court Judge Susan Breall.