Um, have you been to Bushwick? It smells like dead rats and human urine, I'd hardly call it clean. Brooklyn is pretty big, you're making the same mistake as the people you're talking about. FWIW I live in SoHo and it still smells like piss in places, I don't mind though—it's just part of living in the city.

In fact, for a city of this size it's quite well maintained.