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It's also just an incredibly filthy place to live. The streets all smell like piss and walking at night means seeing tons of rats. The subways are absolutely

It's also just an incredibly filthy place to live. The streets all smell like piss and walking at night means seeing tons of rats. The subways are absolutely disgusting and there's always a car that reeks of shit (you can tell because that car will have far fewer people than the surrounding cars). I don't know if New Yorkers have never visited any other cities, or if they're just so blind from all the NYC-exceptionalism (Ayy if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere!!!) but that city is disgusting.

xxxtentachyon 5y ago
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 5y ago
  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 5y ago
    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 5y ago
      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.
      - bavell 5y ago
        I agree with you, I was only teasing :)
        codyb 5y ago
        I know, I dunno why I took the comment seriously, the wink should have tipped me off :-)
      - baremetal 5y ago
        "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.
- noobermin 5y ago
  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.
deleted 5y ago
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afavour 5y ago
I live in NYC, I’ve lived in a bunch of cities globally and I’d say you’re exaggerating to the extreme here. “The streets all smell like piss” genuinely sounds like a take from someone that visited midtown while on a three day conference and then left. There are some disgusting streets, no doubt. There’s too much trash on the street on trash days. On rare occasions a subway car has homeless people in it and it smells. None of this is great by any means. But the idea that all New Yorkers are walking around smelling piss 24/7 and saying “huh, guess it must be like this everywhere” doesn’t pass any kind of sanity test. Reminds me of the Principal Skinner meme: “am I wrong? No, it is the eight million inhabitants of NYC who are all wrong”
- RhysU 5y ago
  Both sides are exaggerating. Some streets do smell like piss at some times. The building superintendents periodically hose off the front sidewalks to wash away the dog urine, especially during the hottest parts of the summer. Especially on nice streets.
  - afavour 5y ago
    Oh, I’d never deny that there are streets that smell like piss from time to time, it’s the OP’s assertion that “all” streets do. It’s just silly, as is the extrapolation that New Yorkers must be clueless about the disgusting filth surrounding them.
    - _dain_ 5y ago
      >I’d never deny that there are streets that smell like piss from time to time in my city we somehow contrive not to have any streets at all smell like piss, ever. in the civilized world we stopped using streets as outdoor latrines over a century ago.
      - afavour 5y ago
        I’m not trying to suggest that NYC is a utopia. Far from it, I’m very well aware of its shortcomings. But they can be pointed out without resorting to hyperbole.
ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
I remember someone I knew stating that "The official smell of New York City is urine." Better than the old pollution from the 1970s. When I first came to the US, in the late '60s, or early '70s (I think I visited before moving to the US), we came on a ship, which docked in New York. My mother brought me out onto the deck, one night, to smell New York. We couldn't see the lights yet, but I remember that nasty, metallic stench.

xxxtentachyon 5y ago

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 5y ago
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 5y ago
  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 5y ago
    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.
    - bavell 5y ago
      I agree with you, I was only teasing :)
      - codyb 5y ago
        I know, I dunno why I took the comment seriously, the wink should have tipped me off :-)
    - baremetal 5y ago
      "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.
noobermin 5y ago
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.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

afavour 5y ago

I live in NYC, I’ve lived in a bunch of cities globally and I’d say you’re exaggerating to the extreme here. “The streets all smell like piss” genuinely sounds like a take from someone that visited midtown while on a three day conference and then left. There are some disgusting streets, no doubt. There’s too much trash on the street on trash days. On rare occasions a subway car has homeless people in it and it smells. None of this is great by any means. But the idea that all New Yorkers are walking around smelling piss 24/7 and saying “huh, guess it must be like this everywhere” doesn’t pass any kind of sanity test. Reminds me of the Principal Skinner meme: “am I wrong? No, it is the eight million inhabitants of NYC who are all wrong”

RhysU 5y ago
Both sides are exaggerating. Some streets do smell like piss at some times. The building superintendents periodically hose off the front sidewalks to wash away the dog urine, especially during the hottest parts of the summer. Especially on nice streets.
- afavour 5y ago
  Oh, I’d never deny that there are streets that smell like piss from time to time, it’s the OP’s assertion that “all” streets do. It’s just silly, as is the extrapolation that New Yorkers must be clueless about the disgusting filth surrounding them.
  - _dain_ 5y ago
    >I’d never deny that there are streets that smell like piss from time to time in my city we somehow contrive not to have any streets at all smell like piss, ever. in the civilized world we stopped using streets as outdoor latrines over a century ago.
    - afavour 5y ago
      I’m not trying to suggest that NYC is a utopia. Far from it, I’m very well aware of its shortcomings. But they can be pointed out without resorting to hyperbole.

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

I remember someone I knew stating that "The official smell of New York City is urine." Better than the old pollution from the 1970s. When I first came to the US, in the late '60s, or early '70s (I think I visited before moving to the US), we came on a ship, which docked in New York. My mother brought me out onto the deck, one night, to smell New York. We couldn't see the lights yet, but I remember that nasty, metallic stench.