Back in the 1890s, New York City was one of the worst when it came to trash. Then one guy had the balls to change it.

Waring was only in office for three years, but after he left, nobody could use the old excuses that Tammany had used to dodge the issue of waste management. They had always said it was too crowded, with too many diverse kinds of people, and never mind that London and Paris and Philadelphia and Boston cleaned their streets. New York was different and it just couldn’t be done. Waring proved them wrong. Rates of preventable disease went down. Mortality rates went down. It also had a ripple effect across all different areas of the city.

Bombay isn’t very different. People say it’s different, it can’t be done, it’s in people’s nature to litter. But it’s been done before somewhere else. And a committed mayor can do it here.

As a city, Bombay’s become unliveable. If the commute doesn’t kill you, the crowds will. If they don’t the pollution will. If that doesn’t, the diseases will. And if all those don’t, the stress will. Let’s at least get rid of the filth, dirt and reduce the diseases.

Whatever happened to enjoying the day and reaching home to enjoy the rest of the evening?

Read the original article that Kottke found here – When New Yorkers lived knee deep in trash.