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Uggh, maybe it just is? Maybe the poll is wrong? In addition to my own feelings (and apparently 20+% voting in this poll), the conventional wisdom I've always heard is that Chicago is a clean, spruced up, attractive city. One of Mayor Daley's initiatives was "City Beautiful"... every planter needed flowers and every sidewalk must be clean. That ethos continues today. It may not be the *cleanest* city, but it certainly isn't a dirty city.
Chicago is clean. It's that simple. The fact that some homeless people have children does not at all apply to this conversation, but while we're at it, I'll add that Chicago's homeless population is very limited. Generally, the homeless are guided to the 90 underpass areas, at least as it applies to the northern/downtown parts of the city.
It's hard to ignore how sterile some of the southern cities are, in part because in cities like Dallas, there's very limited foot traffic in it's nucleus. Hard to dirty a street when there aren't people to dirty them.
So, as far as northern/established western cities go, Chicago and Minneapolis make sense to me. Boston is pretty darn clean, though it's neighborhoods can be a bit more rugged and less kept. Same goes for DC. And to the Philadelphia folks gettin pissy about the Chicago folks. As it applies to this thread, you have absolutely zero zilch nada ground to stand on. Philadelphia has a lot going for it, and cleanliness is not one of them. Would anyone in Philadelphia even argue that? When I'm in Phila, I like the idea of getting a tasty meal, a few drinks, popping out on a dirty rugged side street, checking out some live music. Isn't that like, just part of the deal in Philadelphia?
EDIT/Sidenote: San Fran, be better. Two votes is two votes too many.
Phoenix and San Diego are pretty clean IMO. But the fact that SF made your list is laughable. Downtown on Market smells like **** and there's trash everywhere.
New York and Chicago are night and day as far as having clean streets. Chicago has alleys where dumpsters are, in NYC, the trash goes right on the street. People in Chicago go out of their way to put trash in the recycle cans, in NYC that is many times not the case, and it goes wherever. Graffiti in Chicago is covered for the most part, I saw so much in NYC, especially in Brooklyn.
I would have to say that Chicago and Minneapolis were the cleanest i have been to, with DC and Boston honorable mentions, NYC, San Francisco and New Orleans the dirtiest.
That person is a troll and trolls specifically me across multiple sub forums.
I can’t mention the word Chicago without 6 block paragraphs of why Philly sucks and Chicago is so great. Just look at the last reply he made in the Philly/DC reputation thread. It near ruins the site for me but I digress.
Chicago isn’t clean. We woke up pretty early every morning and there was trash in puddles, a lot of blocks smelled like pee. It was like any other city I have been too. Just because Chicago has a bunch of 80s office buildings that built planters outside, doesn’t mean it’s ‘cleaner’. The very first person I interacted with in a Chicago on my recent trip was a bum going through the trash INSIDE the airport. Literally on the blue line platform. He asked me for a dollar and than ate some French fries out of the trash. That’s something I had never seen in Philly or NY. I also found it odd how many hobos had children specifically a long Michigan Ave. People will have their pets on the sidewalks with them in Philly, but I have never really witnessed women with children openly begging.
Personally, I find the equivalent areas of DC and Boston to be cleaner. I know all the Homer’s will call foul, but look who keeps repeating that Chicago is “so clean”
Interesting, I have had different experiences during my visits to Chicago. I think DC and Boston are very clean too. Minneapolis is very clean (but we are flirting with the big city status there). Our neighbor Montreal is also extremely clean for a big city.
I also think people like to rag on Philadelphia and how 'dirty' is it, when NYC is by far so much dirtier and downright disgusting at times. Even in some of the best Manhattan neighborhoods I see garbage and nasty stuff everywhere, I did not recall seeing the same amount in Philadelphia's best neighborhoods. The ghetto parts of Philadelphia are very dirty, but that is not unique to Philadelphia. I think NYC and other big cities (cough San Fran) get passes on trash and homeless people, while Philadelphia always gets knocked.
Seattle parks are dangerous due to the multitude of needles you can find all over the place. Suffice it to say, it’s not a clean city and relishes in its grittiness.
That person is a troll and trolls specifically me across multiple sub forums.
I can’t mention the word Chicago without 6 block paragraphs of why Philly sucks and Chicago is so great. Just look at the last reply he made in the Philly/DC reputation thread. It near ruins the site for me but I digress.
Chicago isn’t clean. We woke up pretty early every morning and there was trash in puddles, a lot of blocks smelled like pee. It was like any other city I have been too. Just because Chicago has a bunch of 80s office buildings that built planters outside, doesn’t mean it’s ‘cleaner’. The very first person I interacted with in a Chicago on my recent trip was a bum going through the trash INSIDE the airport. Literally on the blue line platform. He asked me for a dollar and than ate some French fries out of the trash. That’s something I had never seen in Philly or NY. I also found it odd how many hobos had children specifically a long Michigan Ave. People will have their pets on the sidewalks with them in Philly, but I have never really witnessed women with children openly begging.
Personally, I find the equivalent areas of DC and Boston to be cleaner. I know all the Homer’s will call foul, but look who keeps repeating that Chicago is “so clean”
Minneapolis would get my vote.
Chicago isn't bad at all, especially when you consider it's size. Even the south side can look as clean as the good parts of some cities.
Dallas is okay too.
Of those not mentioned, Milwaukee gets a nod. Kinda fits in culturally with Chicago and Minneapolis, or somewhere close anyway. It is cleaner than what Rust Belt naysayers might assume.
I've never been to San Diego, but it seems to have a clean reputation.
I live right outside Minneapolis, Denver is much cleaner and nice.
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