Tewder, I strongly disagree. I passed by a malodorous tent city on my way to the subway every day at this time last year in Paris, I saw huge amounts of garbage in many parts of Hong Kong when I was there recently (not to mention the generally appalling architecture), but in both places I also saw some immaculate, well kept grounds. There is not a window on any piece of public transit in New York that is not completely scratchitied or whatever it's called, yet many parts of the city are lovely. Looking at many of the photos of early day Toronto, it was no less true in our past.
Grime is a given in big urban areas. Cities are cities. I'd suggest if you don't like it, the solution is to go somewhere where it will bother you less. Not sure where that is, though.
