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The 5 Dirtiest Cities in America

Voters pick US's grimiest places to vacation

By Sarah Whitmire,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 19, 2011 2:04 PM CDT

(Newser) – Turns out the Big Easy might just as easily be the Big Sloppy: New Orleans has topped the list of the 20 dirtiest cities in America, as determined in a recent poll by Travel + Leisure Magazine. Trash, graffiti, quality of tap water, and pollution were all taken into consideration. Without further ado:

  1. New Orleans: Voters weren't cutting Nawlins any slack for cleanup after Mardi Gras—or catastrophic weather events in the past decade...

  1. Philadelphia: A very close second to NOLA, the City of Brotherly Love is also frumpy: It was also voted one of the 'least stylish' cities.
  2. Los Angeles: Chalk it up to infamously bad pollution.
  3. Memphis: Its sticky, delicious barbeque might contribute to its high rank on the dirty list, but ranking last for environmental friendliness can't help, either.
  4. New York City: The City That Never Sleeps elected Anthony Weiner, and only made No. 5?
Check out other dirty cities that made the cut.

Uncollected garbage overflow the sidewalk and onto 3rd Avenue in mid-Manhattan, New York.
Uncollected garbage overflow the sidewalk and onto 3rd Avenue in mid-Manhattan, New York.   (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 8 comments
HarryBeaver
Dec 18, 2011 3:24 PM CST
So says some travel writing intern writing from his mother's basement.
laurwin
Jun 21, 2011 5:37 PM CDT
As a life-long resident of Memphis, I will say that I am legitimately surprised that it got #4, beating NYC. Memphis is beautiful with numerous parks, gardens, museums, etc. that maintain their grounds. Plus, Memphis has foliage, which many cities don't. True, a few areas get trashy, but not to the levels worthy of describing it as a "shithole" or "funktastick." It's not bad. At all. 
Riffran
Jun 20, 2011 5:43 AM CDT
And yet ANOTHER reason to not visit those shitholes.
 

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