Pink Flamingos: A Baltimore Smellscape by the Numbers

Reporter Chris Landis, writing in the Baltimore City Paper, tallies up every smell-related complaint and inquiry to the city’s 311 information number. He says that

over the past two years there have been almost 4,000 complaints about mysterious and not-so-mysterious odors stinking up our fair city.

There’s a nice graph accompanying his piece although by my count it shows 5,472 complaints, not “almost 4,000.” Either way, folks are calling in an average of 5 to 7 times a day about odors. Pretty stinky.

Sewage smells are by far the most numerous, followed by “unknown/other”, water, trash, cat, dog, feces, oil, and “something died.” Hmmmm . . . I think Connie and Raymond Marble have a lot of explaining to do.