Great topic
Great topic
More than any other city I've been to, there are so many areas of NYC that just smell like URINE and TRASH. Even in nice parts. Some of the puddles in NYC should be classified as toxic waste. Its gotten better, but it can still be bad.
In B-MORE, there are people who, when stopped at a red light, will open the door of their car, and empty their trash (BK wrappers and whatnot) onto the ground WITH NO SHAME WHATSOEVER. Its unbelievable. Maybe that happens in a lot of cities but since I live in B-MORE, I notice it. I've seen people walk up to their parked car, open the door, empty the trash onto the ground, get in and drive away. How you have such disdain for where you live is beyond me. But, there are areas within the city that are very very nice, so overall its not too dirty. And only some pockets smell a little.
Fells Point can have rancid alcohol odor on SAT or SUN morning.
Cleanest cities I've seen are mostly foreign: calgary, paris (esp. for its size), prague, budapest, salzburg. Prague and Budapest used to have a lot of soot and pollution, but as far as garbage and stink, I didn't notice much. wasn't there for long though. Though, I did see a bum piss right in a publc square one day in Budapest.
In the US, annapolis is nice. Portland ME and portland OR are nice.
That said, I tend to like the dirtier cities I've been to more than the clean ones. Portland, OR has about as little character as possible for a city that size. What a lame place. "but we have such cool brew pubs, and great coffee shops." Oh yeah? Ram it! And just because you wear sandals and have a beard doesn't mean you're not a yuppie.
Don't much care for annapolis either. way too sterile.
I found seattle a little dingy in spots. What got me was a lot of like 20 year old bums with dyed hair. Those are people you just want to kick in the ass and say "get a job."
