I just had a friend who came back from NYC and said it smelt bad. (Gates: restaurant, pollution)

[D. Scott]

Its referred to as "city stink". Trash amplified by the heat. The subway is even worse. At least its Summer nice sunshine still beats freezing. Glass half full.

[Glacier Azure]

There are large cities that don't have the same kind of sanitation issues that New York has. It's not necessarily a "city thing".

[Smiley718]

It stinks worse is some areas than others. Someone once relayed a story to me, that she was driving back into NYC from out-of-state visit and on approach, she was overcome by an awful stench in the air. After it didn't go away, it was then she realized it was the city.

[NooYowkur81]

Lol no nyc is a very old city. And yes it smells bad especially in the summer.

[Kefir King]

The air is quite smoggy, a combination of pollution, high humidity, high temperatures, and bright sunlight. Also yesterday was the solstice, the longest day of the year (more Sun.)

[bg7]

Originally Posted by bobisinthehouse

It was today. they said it smelled real bad. Why would this be? I thought NYC was modern.

Why did you think it was modern?
It was founded centuries ago, and huge land development occurred in the 1800s and early 1900s. NYC was already massive by 1899.
There are modern buildings in it for sure, but its an older established city. (Though the city council recently let through a change to the landmarking law which will basically allow it all to be demolished piecemeal and replaced with something modern).


I understand what you mean about the smell issues. Its more like Rome than it is London or Berlin. Some of the stink issues which you won't find in other equivalent cities - eg London, come from very inconsistent treatment of garbage and gutters by the city. Its basically a free for all. In London where you'd have city center streets smooth as a billiard table with standard sized gutters, correct camber and drainage, in NYC you'll have streets with no camber, pooling restaurant grease, potholes full of detritus, plenty of blocked sewers, leaking garbage put in front on the sidewalk. Its a bit of a mess. But in many other first world cities the taxes go only to providing services (radical idea huh!). NYC has a lot of things it needs to spend its cash on, that provide no services to its citizens (like entitlements, pensions shortfalls, healthcare for former city workers etc), and perfect gutters, sewers and garbage removal come well down the list of priorities. But it works well enough - the greatest city in the world probably should be a bit of a mess don't you think?

[vision33r]

You have about 4-5 million people in Manhattan at any given day and think of all the waste they create and look at how much space there is. Where do you think the waste is going? They don't magically get picked up and tossed out to mainland. There are also millions of large rats and other pests living underground and come out at night to feed.

[Javawood]

I'll try to stop farting when I walk down Delancey St every morning.

[BugsyPal]

Many streets of NYC reek of human and dog ****, and or the latter's excrement.


Once **** gets into concrete it is very difficult to get that smell out. Hosing down does some good but it is limited and not every building owner does that as often and or liberally as in the past. You can blame NYC's ever increasing water rates for that.


Also dogs and humans tend to also pee up against things; buildings, concrete tree bed protectors, etc.. places that aren't usually if ever routinely cleaned.


Anyway once the warmer weather hits with humidity and lack of a good breeze yes, you get a strong whiff.

[zappatistazz]

My 16-year old son just went to NYC for a few days on a school trip from Ottawa. When I asked him about his experience there, the first thing he told me was that it was "smelly, like old pee."