4 ms·
Ahh, there it is, the US can never have nice and clean things because of its massive inequality. Judging by European countries it would seem like there are ways
by iknowstuff 7y ago
Ahh, there it is, the US can never have nice and clean things because of its massive inequality. Judging by European countries it would seem like there are ways to fix that.
- baroffoos 7y agoReminds me of a comment I saw on HN a while ago about an American shocked that other countries have public toilets that aren't covered in shit, blood and needles. It seems like so many Americans are not even aware that the problems they face are not global and they just take it as a fact of life.
- WanderPanda 7y agoThis is absolutely against my experience. When I visited the US last year I was surprised by how clean and well maintained public toilets were. I am not used to this, as in Germany public toilets (if they even exist) are totally disgusting.
- tomjakubowski 7y agoThe pay public toilets I used in German train stations (Freiburg, Munich Hauptbahnhof) were clean and fine.
- majewsky 7y agoI think "paid" is the significant word here. That said, the toilets on German trains (not in train stations) are generally ok as well, even though they're not paywalled.
- icebraining 7y agoWell, they're paywalled by the train ticket, no?
- _nalply 7y agoProbably not, because in Germany you can walk on the railway platforms even if you don't have a train ticket, so the toilets should be free access, too, and probably this is why many railway stations have pay toilets only.
- NikkiA 7y agoYes, but the post you're responding to, was responding to this: > German trains (not in train stations)
- majewsky 7y agoThat's correct, but I have a public transit subscription, so toilets in regional trains are sort of "on the house" for me.
- dagw 7y agoThis is absolutely against my experience. Seconded. Recently returned from New York (mostly Manhattan) and everything was surprisingly clean. Sure, not Tokyo clean, but much cleaner than I had been led to believe it would be.
- atoav 7y agoPaying more taxes to decrease inequality around you has its return of investment by creating a happier society with nicer places. I’d rather pay more and live in a society that watches out for each other (and also me, should I fall), than living in the economic equivalent of a battle royal between individuals.
- stuaxo 7y agoMe too, if the top 0.01% paid more we probably wouldn't need to, though I would have no problem doing so.
- nsomaru 7y agoSouth African here. We're grappling with a similar problem; we have one of the highest Geni coefficients in the world (https://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-30-is-south-africa-the-most-unequal-society-in-the-world https://mg.co.za/article/2015-09-30-is-south-africa-the-most...) I'd be interested to hear what these fixes are. Oft armchair philosophising ignores realities on the ground and redressing historical injustice. Europe went through years of war and bloody revolution before the current stability was achieved and we in South Africa would certainly like to avoid those aspects of the European model.
- badpun 7y agoEuropean countries absolutely have their share of smelly homeless people.
- jpatokal 7y agoCan you name a European city that has anything approaching the homeless problem of SF, Seattle or NYC?
- badpun 7y agoHonestly, I've been to SF and NYC (Manhattan only) and have barely seen any homeless people. It didn't look better or worse than a typical European city. Probably I just didn't go to the bad districts?
- ollie87 7y agoProbably London.
- lambdadmitry 7y agoI've never, ever heard anyone not wanting to go on public transport here because of homeless people shooting heroine in there. Unlike Californians among which this seems pretty popular
- fraun 7y ago