Don’t Go There: 5 Stinky Places

What a low life scum! After going through one of the worst natural disasters the country has seen with the floods of 2008 he brings that up and tells people to avoid Cedar Rapids when the city needs tourisam the help revitalize itself. The overpowering smells of the factories that cloud the city with smoke is simply not true also. Granted if you drive by one of the factories (especially ADM) often times there is a smell of factory. Maybe he would likek us to shut down these factories that puts food on his table or should we just shut these factories down (especially in a down economy) and lay off all of those hardworking people. He is a total joke and should not be taken seriously.

Mr Greenberg, Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments on the Cedar Rapids IA area, which I am from. As you may know the Cedar Rapids area was under 8 plus feet of water less than 6 months ago. A devastating amount of loss which has been compared to Hurricaine Katrina. The trash you mentioned is due to the people of this town tearing out all of their walls, floors and of course their personal possessions. It would be very nice for you to compare the clean up efforts of the New Orleans area verse the Cedar Rapids area in the time frame and you would find that these people you poke your fun at have surpassed an area that has been dealing with this for over three years, granted it is a much larger area but the people of the Cedar Rapids area have taken control of their own desitiny. So maybe in the future you could try to go to areas that have not just been thru the most devasting destruction they have ever seen in these area. Oh and of coarse thank you so much for your contribution to the “Help clean up Cedar Rapids” funds. Very thoughtful of you to profit off of our loss.

Mr. Greenberg,

It is with sadness and disgust that I write this to let you know how disappointed I am with your analysis of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Not only do you condem this city for it’s “smells,” which, by the way, are attributed to industry, which means JOBS and in the current economy we consider ourselves fortunate. You have also dissed us at a time when we are a city in pain and recovery. The flooding in June was devastating to everyone who lives and works here.

While I am sure that this kind of publicity is wonderful for your book sales, it is very hurtful to everyone here. I noticed that there was no mention of a donation to our flood relief effort. In the future you may want to reconsider using other’s misfortune for your own personal gain.

Thank you and God have Mercy!

You do really know how to kick poeple when there down don’t you. Yeah we might have a different smell from the processing plants and all but it was a square kick between the legs bringing in the flood. Are you next going to bash Cali for the forest fires and the next place that has a natural disaster. We didnt ask for the flood or the distruction that it would bring. Thanks for kicking a fellow man while there down it takes a great man to do that or great not so much of a man really.

Obviously you’ve never experienced the emotional heart break, physical stress and sheer exhaustion of loosing everything you own, even your place to sleep! You can’t even begin to understand unless you’ve stood in our place and had to look at a pile of contaminated rubble and make yourself believe that it is your HOME and life possessions. And then you have to come to grips with the fact that you are in financial limbo for months/years to come! The magnitude of the ruin takes a LONG time, a lot of energy and a lot of money to dispose of. The only good thing was no one died. Pets, farm and wild animals yes, but not people. I’m highly insulted by your insenitive slur to the people of Cedar Rapids.
I think you owe us an apology and a retraction.

How can you have a city with over 400 blocks of houses and business flooded, I mean over roof top flooded, be cleaned up in 5 months when you have the goverment involed. Some of these houses don’t know if they can keep them or it will be taken over from the city. Instead of compalining about the smell how about helping out either with your time or money. Know your facts before compalining about something that happened that nobody thought that could or would happen. The town was flooded about 9,000 feet over what they thought the crest would be.

While I agree that Cedar Rapids is no gem, knocking it for being unkempt right after the largest flood in its history is a low blow. Do you also fault post-Katrina New Orleans for being a disaster area? Is Indonesia a dump because it suffered a tsunami?

If you’re gonna knock Cedar Rapids, do it for the sake of its depressing suburban sprawl, the interstate that goes down its middle, and the sorry excuse for a downtown (even before the flood), which sadly is repeated in so many once-bustling American cities.

I think that you are an insufferable ass for talking the way you do about Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I live not far from there and know what went on there with the floods. My town also flooded at the same time and does not smell any different. Those people are busting their butts trying to rebuild after such a terrible disaster and trying to fix it for their children and here you come along and tear them down like they are a bunch of cave people that can’t take care of their city. When you talk like that, you are talking about God’s work. He has his reasons for natural disasters. It is not the city’s fault that they flooded. So when you condemn them, you are really condemning God. What is that saying about your moral ethics towards God and your fellow man? Take a hike moron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Really people….why should we care what this guy writes in his silly book? Only people who are already travel snobs would buy this book to help them “decide” where to travel, and they wouldn’t likely be coming to any of the places listed, so big deal.
While I agree that the mention of Mt. Trashmore was low, just remember WHO NAMED IT that in the first place, and why…and the next time you open your mouth or set pen to paper in critical review of your hometown, stop and think about the ramifications of your own words.

Your comments about our wonderful city are unfair. Any city will smell awful on low humidity days. Fortunately those kinds of days are not a daily event. When humidity is not low then this city doesn’t smell any worse than other city. As far as the flood comments you are being unfair again. What city could possibly handle all the trash caused by the extensive flooding we had? None! It’s going to take us years to recover from the damage, but we are doing our best. And, in spite of FEMA or our city government, many are ahead of schedule in the recovery process. We have a lot to brag about after all we have gone through. No one died as a result of the floods, people came together to get everyone out of harms way before the waters got to their homes, hundreds of volunteers to care for displaced people and animals, local colleges and malls donating space so government business could continue their work, and the list goes on and on. Instead of disrespecting our community why don’t you come on down and volunteer your skills and help in the rebuilding process. On second thought, we prefer people with positive attitudes and believe in the possibilities and opportunities ahead.

I’ve lived all over the country and Cedar Rapids isn’t as bad as you have stated. If had done any research at all you would realize that the Cedar Rapids Flood of 2008 ranks in the top 5 of any diasaster to occur in the United States.

We really appreciate you kicking us in the face while as we have all been affected by the flood in one way or the other. I’ll never buy your book and I’ll make sure all my friends and family all over the country never do so either.

Has anyone been to Venice, Italy? It stinks. All of Europe stinks. New York City stinks as does LA and most urban settings. New Orleans stinks too after that little thng called Katrina.

I am glad this guy wrote his stuck up book. Maybe it will keep those coastal jerks flying over instead of invading our lovely state. We are a strong, proud, and kind people. It is better not to have visitors with these kind of values.

No one outside of Iowa cares about the flood. They only want to knock us down. Iowans and CR folks ban together and forget this loser and his ilk.

Ignorance Just Pure Ignorance, While ill admit the smell from ADM’s Biodatron can be rather putrid. seeing as our factories are spread out amongst all 4 sides of town id like to know what clouds of smoke your were following. How dare you criticize the city for having debris piled up after the flood here we are November 18th and there are still piles, if you think you can do a better job cleaning up by all means grab a cloths pin plug your nose and come on down. There is no place id rather call home then Cedar Rapids, Iowa

I think it’s terrible you’d write such things about us – shame on you. Yes, our city has unique smells. But to say someone shouldn’t visit a city because of the scent of its ag-based industry is ridiculous. That’s like saying you shouldn’t visit Colorado because of the scent of the stockyards. To those of us who rely on the industry to fuel our economy, those are the smells of money being made.

Why you put a chicken in a can? Make a one time so angry chicken. No shake a chicken. All shaken and bacon. This is the place where the wheels will roll and the cars will drive my brothers. Halleluja our network has been saved!

You know the effort your wasted in writing such trash could have been better spent helping the people of Cedar Rapids recover from the devastating flood that the Government dropped the ball on. You could have helped tear-out or even helped someone rebuild with that energy instead of using it to trash a town trying to recover. Oh and those smells; alot of people like to think of that as something called a job which a lot of people in this country don’t have. Since you have so much free time, I would expect to see you in Cedar Rapids helping to repair our town. Oh wait, that would involve a good deed which you obviously aren’t capable of. Anyone can write a check, but the man-power speaks VOLUMES in this town!

COOOOOL!
This review, when read by people who read this kind of s***, will certainly keep the kind of people who read this s*** out of our town! No way am I waiting in line behind a bunch of whining out-of-towners for my righteous Indian, Mexican, and All-American Burgers! Write more about us!!! We absolutely smell awful—jerks be warned! Stay away from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

I love my town, and I especially love it’s unpopularity…keeps the rif-raff out, ya know.

Thank goodness we do not have more snobs from the coasts moving to CR! People in the Midwest are genuine.

1) Iowa’s Education System is at the top in terms of ACT Scores, ITBS Scores, etc

2) Cedar Rapids ranks in the top ten cities in the country (170,000+ pop.) to raise a family

I am appalled at your lack of sensitivity and compassion towards the people of CR. We didn’t ask for a 500 year flood, and we sure as hell didn’t ask for your opinion of our city. Yes CR has its own scent, but so does every large city with any kind of industry. At least we have jobs to offer here!!!

I have no clue who you are Mr. Greenberg and really don’t care to know you. However, to see you openly admit you saw a city reeling in the aftermath of a catastrophic flood and dismiss it as just another contributor to the smell of the city makes me angry. What were you doing in a disaster area if you weren’t there to help?

I (and a whole lot of other Iowas and people from all over the US) spent my summer offering help every moment I could, just trying to help people get through losing their homes, cars and a lot of times everything but the clothes on their back. Even now 5 months later, it makes me cry to drive through the flood zones. It breaks my heart to see the mindless devastation, but it also makes me so proud it chokes me up. To see that one business on the block that proudly displays a big “Open” sign or the one or two houses with lights on because somebody is working into the night on their home.

You know if you want to stir stuff up or whatever the point of your book is, do it somewhere else. The people of Iowa don’t need your kind of insensitive idiocy. We are tired and just want to get our lives back on track. Please don’t bother to darken the door of our state again if you are going to show up for a disaster with sharp sticks to poke us. Shame on you.

Since you have so much spare time to write a book to mock of flooded town that was hit with a flood beyond belief, get off your butt and come help people like my sister and her neighbors rebuild their lives…. or better yet… donate ALL your profits from your book to help eastern Iowa recover you pompous JERK!

Who would waste their hard earned money on a piece of crap like you and your book. What a bunch of &*&*! Anyone from Iowa, CR in particular, would say good riddens to trash like you. We are still recovering from the worst natural disaster to ever hit the state and you can sit on your “throne” and write nothing but bad things about our community and profit from it! Maybe if no one bought your book that would hit you where it hurts. As you sit sipping your coffee in the morning, just remember where your breakfast cereal came from! Then think about dissing CR some more, you pathetic loser!! Oh one more thing, I bet you are just loved by the people of your own community, aren’t you?? Word of mouth is such a powerful tool!!

Cedar Rapids, Iowa used to be my old stomping grounds as a child. It was, and STILL IS a great town with many things to offer people of all ages. There is a culture about Cedar Rapids, including the now completely devastated Czech Village. How dare you say that because of a natural disaster- mind you of EPIC proportions, we are now one of the worst places to visit? This is a city of great faith and they are doing their darndest to try and rebuild…what else would make such a good town?!
I am now currently living near the Cedar Falls area, and we were hit just as bad, DOUBLE time with the tornado and floods…are you going to trash us too?! You are really a piece of work. I will be letting everyone I know NOT to purchase your book and encourage this rotten piece of crap.

Mr. Greenberg:

My heart was broken when I heard about this book. How DARE you torture us wtih your cruel words while we are trying to clean up our town! I am making sure that NOBODY buys your stupid book!!! I am absolutely disgusted!!!

Our town may have some odd smells, but that’s because we having something called… J-O-B-S. Not all of us have all the free time in the world to come up with books talking crap about cities sitting by the palm trees basking in the sun!!

We all have to WORK. Even though it’s not clean, it’s still WORK & we work long agonizing hours just to feed our families & repair our town from the flood! We don’t live by oceans so never in history have we had a flood this severe!

How can you sleep at night? My heart is broken. How dare you.

PS: Quit eating our cereal dude.

As a former resident of Cedar Rapids and current friend of Peter Greenberg, I must defend his honor and explain to you why intelligent people leave Cedar Rapids at our first opportunity. Why is it that some people are so devoid of a sense of humor? Naturally, I’m referring to Cedar Rapids’ latest manifestations of inferiority. Instead of focusing on why the people with the smallest minds always have the biggest mouths, Cedar Rapids Chamber President Tim Boyle, let us ask the following question; Why is your local airport called The Eastern Iowa Airport? Are you afraid that if people knew they were actually travelling to Cedar Rapids, they wouldn’t go? That pretty much explains everything about Cedar Rapids. Okay, this letter has become much too long so I’ll just jump right to the punch line: Cedar Rapids’ supporters operate secretly so as not to excite suspicion.

you are one sad son of a b****. with the money you make from your book you better pay for the flood clean-up.

I am a Seattleite now living northeast of Cedar Rapids. I will tell you that Tacoma, Washington is the smelliest city, rightly earning its knickname, “The Aroma of Tacoma” with sulpheric smells every day of the week (roll up those windows and close the vents when driving through!).

Since I know what a stinky city smells like, I can assure you that Greenburg’s review of Cedar Rapids is inaccurate. Yes, on Wednesdays you can smell the Quaker Oats processing plant along I-380, but the wind blows the odor south of the city so most of the area is not affected.

Greenburg is also terribly unfair writing a review after the city suffered an epic 500-year flood. As a non-native new resident, I will tell you that I was amazed at the residents’ super-human efforts to tear out and repair water-damaged properties–thus the debris he saw stacked, neatly, at curbside. Just twenty weeks later, I am amazed at how swiftly citizens worked to clean up, both victims and volunteers alike. Their no-nonsense, “let’s get-er-done” ethic inspires me. I, too, volunteered in the weeks following the flood, and I am proud to be a part of this community, full of hard-working, sincere, fastidious, focused people who care about their neighbors and their city.

I am not impressed with someone like Greenburg, who flies in and disses a city during disaster recovery, casting an unfair and inaccurate portrait that does not represent a city under normal conditions.

I am proud, however, of the people of Cedar Rapids, Iowa who suffered multiple weather disasters in 2008, from historic ice storms, tornadoes and floods from February to June, but who did not complain but instead, work to rebuild and recover faster than I, as an outsider, ever expected. Cedar Rapids, you’ve earned *this* newcomer’s solemn respect.

Oh come one get over it! Cedar Rapids “Did” smell before the flood and now it’s defiantly worse! Sure, back before the flood there were a “few” days it smelled nice from oatmeal or Captain Crunch but that was the minority of days. Mostly it just smelled putrid, and if you drove by the corn syrup plant by Czech Village, well then you’re in for a real treat! 24 x 7 x 365 days a year! Now let’s talk about the “STUFF” that always falls from the skies every day before and after the flood. Just what is the orange stuff that covers the ground across the river from Quaker Oats? I never found out, even though it would turn you shows your dogs feet and everything else that came into contact with it orange. At least two times a year my dog has to go to the veterinarian for treatment of his feet from the sores that came after his feet turned orange from the stuff that fell from the skies that originally came from the smoke stacks of the many factories. So yes go visit this city! It should be fun and a very nice place to spend your hard earned vacation. If your visiting from India or some third world country!
Rick Butler Cedar Rapids

The comments that you made in your book about Cedar Rapids in your book are “Spot on!” Unbiest, and a good depiction of what awaits an unknowing person traveling to Cedar Rapids. To all of the Cedar Rapids supporters I would like to pose a question to you all. To what end or advantage is it to the writer of this book to state the facts about Cedar Rapids other than telling the truth? Should the truth not be told because it smells worse now after the flood? Should a great review be embellished to help bolster the economy of the city on the backs of the tourism dollars? It there an etiquette that is unwritten some place that states “a person is to wait at least one year, three months, two days and six hours after a natural disaster before writing a review of said place? If so please enlighten us all by posting this rule! Tacoma Washington use to have the saying of “Tacoma aroma” from the paper mills that use to be here. Did you ever hear anyone complain when that was spoke about after Mt. St. Helens blew it’s top? I think not. What Cedar Rapids needs to do it to stop having all of the “Garage Parties” every weekend and start getting evolved in regulating the many factories in the city to clean up the smell that comes from the smoke stacks. Just because it is the small of jobs and money does not make it a good thing.
Rick Butler

I can only think that when you visited us last year you must have been in a really bad mood and not open to the many wonders of this city. As someone who has lived here all my life, yes, prior to the flood on occasion there was the fragrance of Captain Crunch cereal or some other aroma that is not always pleasant, but what city doesn’t have an occasional aroma? It is NOT a daily event. I might notice it a dozen times throughout the summer, but that’s about it. Most of the time it’s the aroma of all our flowers that I smell in the summer or crisp cold clear air in the winter.

If you are going to publish something about another city, be sure to get your facts right. You mention our flood. It wasn’t just a flood. It was epic. I heard one person say it was the mid-western version of a Tsunami. You also say “at least 100 blocks in Cedar Rapids were under-water”. Talk about an understatement. Try 1,300 city blocks, 10 square miles, 5,283 homes damaged by the flood, 940 business damaged, around 80 non-profits and churches damaged . Financial damage is in the millions.

Since the floods the odors have been worse as people have rolled up their sleeves to get rid of all the flood damaged materials in their homes. This includes drywall, furnaces & water heaters, insulation, flooring of all kinds, furniture, etc. At 2:00 AM one can hear our clean up crews working to pick up the debris piled out by the curbs for pickup. Naturally things that are wet and still molding are going to be a bit fragrant. These things don’t disappear overnight. They will get better and we will recover thanks to the fact that Iowan’s are hard workers, and thanks to the many people from all over the United States who have come to do their part to assist in the clean up. Also, thanks to the many from over seas who have come to help us. I’ve met people from Russia, Scotland and other areas of Europe who have come to help us. Anyone is welcome to come and help us with the recovery. Just connect with any one of our local churches and we’ll gladly put you to work and get things smelling fresh again.

Yep, CR stinks and has for a long time. That “City of Five Smells” nickname was around a while before the floods ever hit. And even though the locals will have a tizzy, the fact is….CR ain’t exactly fun city. Never was. There are reasons why it’s not a tourist mecca, including the unholy cold season coming.

Look….you wanna place to work? Go to CR. We got everything from high tech at Rockwell to factory line jobs at Quaker. You want a sleepy little backwater to raise your kids that has decent schools? Go to CR. But heaven help you if you want good sushi, decent Mexican (trust me….anyone from the Southwest ain’t impressed, sorry) or a happenin’ club scene. Iowa ain’t the place for ANY of that. Accept it for what it is, guys, and don’t have a spaz about Greenberg’s book.

Just to let you know for all you ignorant people out there, the smells in Cedar Rapids comes from Jobs you morons. These business that produce these smells employee a lot of people, not to mention business like Quaker. Do you realize that a lot of these business were also flooded. There may not be a lot to do in Cedar Rapids, but some of the places to visit that we are proud of also flooded. Now I agree it may not be the best smelling town, but it is a town I am proud to say I live in. People banded together to help their neighbors and friends. I personally would not want any of you arogant asses to come here anyways. The people who live here have heart and soul. They have values. We raise our children and send them off to the excellent schools we have here. The only thing Mr Greenberg I believe you care about is the almighting dollar, and you knew that this city was just plastered all of the news because of this epic flood. You simply cashed in on that. I have been all over this country and there are many more places that smell way worse. So Mr Greenberg for people like me who have survived the flood, after losing a lot of important things you cannot replace I am thankful for this city I live in. Nobody cried Oh poor me, they jumped in and helped. So for those of you asses who all you care about is some good sushi or a happenin club, I wish it could have been your home full of 6 inches of mud and 6 foot of water in your living room and see what you care about then. I know what a great city I live in and it is only going to get better and trust me Mr Greenberg you will not be welcomed back.

We went to Cedar Rapids for my nephew’s wedding a couple of years ago, it was in October 2006 I think. The town smelled like wet dog and old oats. But after a couple of days there we got used to it. We assumed it was because of humidity and all the grains grown and processed there. But it is a beautiful little tiny city and we pray for their complete recovery from the floods. We had Hurricane Ike here on the Texas Gulf coast and although our home and our town did just fine, Galveston received a major flood, 12 feet deep.

I would have to agree that Cedar Rapids does smell, especially when coming into/leaving town on I-380. I live in Iowa City but work in Cedar Rapids and I have to say, the smell eminating from the plants makes me want to vomit every time. Before I even get close to the area where the plants are located, I have to make sure all the windows are up and that the AC/heat is turned off so I don’t catch even a tiny whiff of the putrid air outside. I realize people love their town and are sticking up for it; that’s great. But you have to acknowledge the fact that there are definately areas in and around the city that smell terrible.

You’re right. I have visited there a few times and it is the stinkiest place I’ve ever been. I don’t know how people live there in that stench all day.

It is too bad about the floods, but that takes nothing away from the fact that this is a place to stay away from.

Cedar Rapids that is. I haven’t been to the other cities.

I am from CR, it does stink and has been known for years as City of five smells. I have since moved away. Every time I say where I am from people say “I have driven through, it stinks there”
You can’t deny the truth, it has nothing to do with the floods.

wangggggggggg.