[Sca-cooks] Re: City streets

[Decker, Terry D.]

City problems tend to grow geometrically in relation to city size.

Roman engineers designed cities for about 25,000 people, because their
technology could provide services for about that many.  This didn't stop
people from crowding in over the 25K limit, but it did cause problems in
services, housing and hygiene.  Capitols (Rome, London, Washington,
Paris,etc.) and commercial centers (New York, Rome, London, Paris, etc.) are
particular prone to the problem.

Most of the Flemish cities tend to be smaller and the Italian City States
weren't very large and were built on the old Roman infrastructure.
Competing political cliques and surpluses to throw at civic problems
probably didn't hurt either.

About 1965, I got to see a street sweeper in action in Toledo.  I had
watched a donkey with a load of firewood being led toward the central market
treating the street the way equines do.  About ten minutes later this little
guy in a white jacket rolled one of the two wheeled oil drum carts with the
broom and long-handled dust pan sticking out of it up the cobblestones.  He
stops to inspect the donkey's present.  Gives it a kick with his boot.
Sweeps it up and moves on.  I was reminded of the little guy on the Rocky
and Bullwinkle cartoon show who comes through sweeping up after the
elephants.

It might be interesting to take a look at how municipal services developed
to meet municipal problems.

Bear



> >Some people eked out a living as street sweepers, clearing a path
> >across a street, so their betters could walk without soiling their
> >shoes.
>
> Yup. Heard that too.
>
> I also understand that many of the larger medieval cities had similar
> problems- London, Paris, etc. Not so much in the Italian City-states
> though, and the Flemish prided themselves on tidy cities. I
> suspect it has
> something to do with governing styles.
>
> 'Lainie, hearing the garbage truck down the street...