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Boston is noticeably cleaner than any of its east coast peers. Likely due to a combination of its smaller size and relative affluence. As others have mentioned, the low crime also correlates with the cleanliness.
Phillys budget is just low. And the culture is more tolerant of blight and trash.
Reminds me when I went to Philly and me and the misses were walking and accidently dropped some trash on the ground. As I was picking it up to put in a trash can, 2 ladies see me and start laughing. They turned to me and said, "Baby look around, ain't no point putting that in the trash" and smoothed walked off. LOL
Phillys budget is just low. And the culture is more tolerant of blight and trash.
Yes, Philly's lower per capita municipal services budget makes a difference, although I'd argue that the attitude is more "jaded" than "tolerant." A distinct difference.
Philly does make up for it somewhat by having more BIDs and community groups than most cities, however, so litter conditions vary significantly by neighborhood.
Yes, Philly's lower per capita municipal services budget makes a difference, although I'd argue that the attitude is more "jaded" than "tolerant." A distinct difference.
Philly does make up for it somewhat by having more BIDs and community groups than most cities, however, so litter conditions vary significantly by neighborhood.
Genuine Question is there a separate Philly City/Philly county budget that can explain the discrepancy?
Boston is noticeably cleaner than any of its east coast peers. Likely due to a combination of its smaller size and relative affluence. As others have mentioned, the low crime also correlates with the cleanliness.
Couldn’t you say all that about San Francisco? Which is not clean.
Yeah Boston in 2005 was pretty dirty. I'm a Dorchester based family and it was baaaaddd.
IIRC, I could be exaggerating... but my experiences of Dorchester and even parts of Southie, were very run down Triple Deckers, 'White trash', lots of gangs, and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods abutting them.
Chinatown was rough and scummy, parts of Somerville were wicked townie, Roxbury was still dangerous and filthy, Quincy was rougher than rough, Randolph was declining + increase in crimes, Brockton was becoming the worst, etc
Last edited by masssachoicetts; 09-26-2022 at 08:53 AM..
Was recently back in Boston. As a West Coast resident, couldn't believe how clean it was. Walked all over downtown and the Back Bay, didn't see a single tent. No poop on the street, even the subway was clean. Was shocking compared to what I've seen in SF, Seattle, Austin, DC, and other cities. I got on the T and no one was sleeping, eating on the train, and there was no pee runnnig down the aisles or anything. Is it the weather? Respect for public space?
It's an extremely clean city, certainly compared to most legacy or East Coast cities.
I think Menino, circa the early 2000s, is largely to thank. He put together a "street grime" force dedicated to cleaning, and inspecting the city, while also purchasing and sending out 2x the street sweepers than the city has previously had. He also put together programs like Boston Shines, that got thousands of folks in Boston neighborhoods involved in clean-up efforts.
Even before then, though, downtown Boston was always pretty darn clean.
Ehh... Depends on what part of DC. Tent cities are becoming more prominent between Dupont Circle and Florida Ave NW. Downtown DC I would agree is pretty clean, so is the area around Nats Park.
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