[xxxtentachyon]

Yes it’s definitely less than ideal that New York was built without alleys or some other means to store large amounts of household trash besides the sidewalk, but I disagree (at least with the severity) with the rest of this comment.

A subway car that’s vacated due to smells, while it happens, is extremely rare, and the average station is just as clean as any I saw in Rome or Paris. There are definitely exceptions to that, and the worst case is worse than what you’d see in the rest of the developed world, but it’s still an exceptional experience to see something or smell something terrible in the subway system.

[codyb]

Yea, GP seems like it really bothers them (which is okay, we all value different things) but I love living in NYC.

I’m always going to new events, parks, restaurants, museums. Transportation’s extensive, cheap, and quick for the most part. There are rivers, beaches, woods, bays. Biking is becoming a real joy with all the new bike infrastructure. Love the new outdoor dining scene, the people, incredible amounts of architecture styles.

And besides, we upgraded from piss smell, to weed smell! Much better.

I have experienced pretty much everything in GP’s post (although the way they go on you’d think it’s a near constant which I don’t think is true even in the rougher neighborhoods like Brownsville that I’ve lived in) at some point or another… they’re just not the parts of NYC that I focus on I guess.

[bavell]

I can't help but think of the phrase "Stockholm Syndrome"... I'm sure it's a fine city aside from all the excrement, waste and rot! ;)

[codyb]

Except, like I said… I just don’t really notice those things that much, and if your description is so tainted by that stuff that you remember that instead of walks in the parks; nights of omikasa sushi; basketball, football, and baseball games; evenings out with friends; Persian, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Georgian restaurants; world class museum after world class museum; days on the beach; parades that go on for hours with incredible costumes and floats; Broadway plays; movies in the parks and squares; concerts; and the wonderful varied architecture… then yea, you provably should live somewhere you enjoy more!

That’s what I think about when I’m in NYC, and sure I see the piles of trash… I just don’t really care. It’s a necessary part of having a gigantic megalopolis. Are there downsides? Certainly. Calling it Stockholm Syndrome when I and many others in my situation have both lived elsewhere and could leave tomorrow? That just seems like a laughable failure to see things through a different view point than you have.

It’s fine not to like a place, it’s the whole “I don’t like it so you must be deluded by ‘if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere’ and have Stockholm Syndrome” part that seems a bit like a mindset that’s not great at accepting other view points or ideas.

[_dain_]

>That’s what I think about when I’m in NYC, and sure I see the piles of trash… I just don’t really care. It’s a necessary part of having a gigantic megalopolis.

there are many other giant megalopolises in the world that somehow manage not to have giant piles of trash everywhere. london and tokyo for example. demand better from your government.

[baremetal]

"That’s what I think about when I’m in NYC, and sure I see the piles of trash… I just don’t really care. It’s a necessary part of having a gigantic megalopolis."

this is fine.

[codyb]

Yea, it is. We walk by it and move on with our lives and then it gets picked up by decently paid garbage men. The buildings are 30, 40, 50 stories tall… do you think trash disposal is magic?

[baremetal]

why did you down vote me? i was agreeing with you

[bavell]

I agree with you, I was only teasing :)

[codyb]

I know, I dunno why I took the comment seriously, the wink should have tipped me off :-)

[oceanghost]

You should watch this scene from "My Dinner with Andre":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWZk24MA7TE

[noobermin]

Sorry man, the subway is much much worse than the Paris metro. Can't speak for Rome but it's definitely worse than the metro in terms of cleanliness, not even close. Plus the MTA is pretty terrible service wise compared to the metro as well.