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Like others have said, Chicago is very clean in the areas where tourists mostly visit, but the neighborhoods can get a little grungey.
Minneapolis is definitely at the top of the list for me. The city feels like a well kept park.
Downtown and booming neighborhoods of Chicago are clean to surprisingly clean. The city deserves credit and Chicagoans seem like less litter-bug types. Parks too even in hoods maintained. But what stands out to keep neighborhoods frontage clean.... is 90% of the city has alleyways. City furnished lidded blue of black Rubbermaid-like bins abound. Keeps fronts clear.
Its standard setbacks for green-frontage also gives it a good appearance with pretty unified sidewalks looking the same. Soooooo meant cities the sidewalks are haphazard conditions and materials .... where Chicago's are like all built so uniformly.
Then you have the power-grid and poles running down the alleys and not the fronts. One can drive thru its bungalow-Belt, mostly 20s 30s bungalows with a front-lawn look in front and they still look great as nearly 1/3 of the city and then you hake the 40s thru early 60s neighborhoods with homes still looking great. Just IMO. as opposed to some other Northern cities even more grittier and debris.
Like others have said, Chicago is very clean in the areas where tourists mostly visit, but the neighborhoods can get a little grungey.
Minneapolis is definitely at the top of the list for me. The city feels like a well kept park.
I think you should spend more time in Chicago because this bolded statement is not very true. There are only a few parts of a few neighborhoods I would consider like this, and they're more industrial areas. Most of Chicago is pretty clean to very clean in an almost surprising nature. It's definitely not just downtown/tourist areas - and no it's not everywhere and no the not as clean areas are not as bad as NYC either.
Minneapolis is clean, but also Minneapolis is not a big city - and I say this as someone from Minnesota. It's a medium sized city at best - there's 420,000 people there. There's more people in downtown Chicago + a few surrounding neighborhoods than the entire city of Minneapolis. If you're going to talk about "big city" for American standards, I think the minimum cut off is around 900K to 1 million people in the city proper.
I think you should spend more time in Chicago because this bolded statement is not very true. There are only a few parts of a few neighborhoods I would consider like this, and they're more industrial areas. Most of Chicago is pretty clean to very clean in an almost surprising nature. It's definitely not just downtown/tourist areas - and no it's not everywhere and no the not as clean areas are not as bad as NYC either.
Minneapolis is clean, but also Minneapolis is not a big city - and I say this as someone from Minnesota. It's a medium sized city at best - there's 420,000 people there. There's more people in downtown Chicago + a few surrounding neighborhoods than the entire city of Minneapolis. If you're going to talk about "big city" for American standards, I think the minimum cut off is around 900K to 1 million people in the city proper.
The grunge in Chicago isn't as visible from the car as it is walking around. You really don't notice it until you get out and start walking. My neighborhood is very safe, but there are tons of beer cans, plastic wrappers, and various other pieces of trash on the streets. There's also the occasional graffiti, torn up sidewalks, torn up roads, and buildings that look like they've seen better days.
Downtown is pretty clean, as are the family friendly bungalow neighborhoods like Jefferson Park, but drive through gentrifying neighborhoods or the sketchy areas (which make up a large portion of the city) and you'll see what I'm talking about
Chicago is definitely cleaner than NYC or San Francisco, but it's still a pretty dirty place, especially compared to newer cities like Dallas.
I think you should spend more time in Chicago because this bolded statement is not very true. There are only a few parts of a few neighborhoods I would consider like this, and they're more industrial areas. Most of Chicago is pretty clean to very clean in an almost surprising nature. It's definitely not just downtown/tourist areas - and no it's not everywhere and no the not as clean areas are not as bad as NYC either.
Minneapolis is clean, but also Minneapolis is not a big city - and I say this as someone from Minnesota. It's a medium sized city at best - there's 420,000 people there. There's more people in downtown Chicago + a few surrounding neighborhoods than the entire city of Minneapolis. If you're going to talk about "big city" for American standards, I think the minimum cut off is around 900K to 1 million people in the city proper.
You can't separate Minneapolis from St. Paul---they're a package deal, and together they comprise a top 15 metro are...
The grunge in Chicago isn't as visible from the car as it is walking around. You really don't notice it until you get out and start walking. My neighborhood is very safe, but there are tons of beer cans, plastic wrappers, and various other pieces of trash on the streets. There's also the occasional graffiti, torn up sidewalks, torn up roads, and buildings that look like they've seen better days.
Downtown is pretty clean, as are the family friendly bungalow neighborhoods like Jefferson Park, but drive through gentrifying neighborhoods or the sketchy areas (which make up a large portion of the city) and you'll see what I'm talking about
Chicago is definitely cleaner than NYC or San Francisco, but it's still a pretty dirty place, especially compared to newer cities like Dallas.
I lived in Chicago for nearly a decade. Ive been to nearly every community area in the city, and walked all around the city (south side, north share, and west side). I know all about the city. Other than industrial areas and yes, a few gentrifying areas on commercial roads, it's very clean. However, if you truly spend time in Chicago, you'll spend time on the residential streets. There are commercial streets of areas like Logan Square that have buildings that aren't in amazing condition (let's say so so) , but the residential streets? Clean. Most of a neighborhood is residential streets, not commercial roads. If you truly know a place, then you do more than walk on its commercial corridors. Go to the south side...it's exactly like that in some areas like South Shore or Auburn Gresham or Chatham. You expect the residential areas to be the same, but they aren't. They are actually pretty nice even in some areas that have less than desirable commercial areas that people are afraid to go to.
So, yeah after living in Chicago for nearly a decade, I don't need an explanation. If you are going to judge a gentrifying area from its commercial streets, then I can tell you aren't truly familiar, because where most people actually live regardless of the state of the main roads is cleaner than most people realize.
Saying that it gets dirty outside of downtown is just not true. There area few industrial areas like this, and a few commercial roads that are dirty (not talking about trash..just rougher), but to know an area is to know more than just its main roads. Whether you are in Chatham, South Shore, Lakeview, Edison Park, Montclare, Belmont Cragin, etc...a pretty high percentage of any of these areas is clean, even when there's a main road nearby that's soso.
Last edited by marothisu; 08-16-2018 at 11:30 AM..
are some confusing urban decay and cleanliness? You can have buildings in bad shape and still be clean. That might be the difference between Minneapolis and Chicago. Also, Chicago and others have a much bigger urban core and population which can put them automatically at a disadvantage.
are some confusing urban decay and cleanliness? You can have buildings in bad shape and still be clean. That might be the difference between Minneapolis and Chicago. Also, Chicago and others have a much bigger urban core and population which can put them automatically at a disadvantage.
I think of the street level as cleanliness. There are areas of Chicago I mentioned above that I consider clean with some older buildings that are in mediocre condition. Sidewalks are still clean. Also with Chicago, in 2018 the urban core has very very few areas even like this. Not the best example to use as the urban core of Chicago is pretty damn clean.
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