Top City Survey

A survey of readers by Travel and Leisure Magazine has ranked the city of New Orleans as "dirtiest" in the annual "America’s Favorite Cities" survey. It's no surprise. We always used to joke about how the French heritage of New Orleans was to blame for every piece of trash we saw on the ground. If France is the dirty city of Europe why not blame the New Orleans' French heritage for making New Orleans the dirtiest there. Even though the city has a strong German, Spanish and Italian background, that French influence gets the blame for the dirt.

On the positive side, in the very same survey, the same readers voted New Orleans as the number 1 travel destination for nightlife" and the number 1 people watching city. It also was voted as the 7th best city in the United States or in Canada. (New York and San Francisco were one and two in that ranking)

The "Top 10 Dirtiest Cities," according to the survey:
1. New Orleans
2. Philadelphia
3. Los Angeles
4. Memphis
5. New York City
6. Baltimore
7. Las Vegas
8. Miami
9. Atlanta
10. Houston

No surprises there, but the one common factor of all those cities is that they are appealing places to see. I guess being laid back enough to be "dirty" makes them also more interesting. And given this survey is by people who visit those cities there is less bias and prejudice involved in the ratings. The number one ranking New Orleans has as a people watching place is not a surprise either. Here in Portland they keep saying "Portland is weird" . They claim their population is unconventional, but only a small part is. Truth is, Portland isn't weird at all and is like most cities. But New Orleans has a population that is distinct. New Orleanians don't behave like people in other places. They are imprinted with a local behavior pattern that most outsiders love, given it is fun, funny and friendly.

And the number one nightlife rating must be because New Orleans is always open...clubs, music, food entertainment is on-going all night. And I have read that, per capita, New Orleans has the highest density of late night entertainment in the U.S. But fro some night life isn't the ideal. I do love the sleepy and peaceful nature of Portland, but I guess there is no such rating for that quality that Travel and Leisure surveyed. Too, I remember, in contrast to dirty New Orleans, a few years ago Portland was rated as the most beautiful American city. With it's gorgeous natural environment, heavy tree cover, quaint architecture and "city of neighborhood' set up I do find Portland to be that.

Ok, after ruminating on the two cites in which I have lived, what about your own city or some other favorite city of yours. Tell me what about it is what makes you like it