It is on, indeed

First Strike, Cupcake

Let me just say that I wholly concede the point. New Yorkers are willing to sort through their own feces. The conclusion Cupcake draws seems a bit iffy, though. Apparently this evolutionary backpedalling is supposed to indicate a city you would want to live in, as opposed to one in which sanity and good breeding takes a backseat to snagging that ideal walkup on the Upper East Side.

On a related note, New York has some of the most toxic human waste in the country, which, after years of dumping it in the ocean, it started trucking into poor communities across the country like Sierra Blanca, Texas. (Many states, like Arizona, rejected the sewage because of high amounts of contaminants like lead, arsenic and mercury.)
Here's an excerpt from an environmental expose on the poor little city that deals with NYC's poop:

"In 1992, after dumping began, the people of Sierra Blanca began to complain of the odor. 'The chemical odors coming off the application area are not just a nuisance and a trespass, they're a health hazard - hydrogen sulfide and ammonia vapors mixed with a fecal smell are indescribable - except to say that it smells like death,' says local resident Bill Addington, after one of just a number of complaints.

But odor wasn't the only problem. 'We noticed strange rashes and blisters in the mouth, more flu, more colds, more allergies, and asthma since they came. We've seen a lot more sickness - especially with the kids," says Addington."

Ah to live in Boston, where our shit don't stink.