Agreed.

Besides, they had some smart writers on that program.

This is no different than Lisa holding up that New York brochure that was priced 9 cents and had a picture of the twin towers on the cover. I look at it as a joke as well as the way for their writers to telegraph the plot. First, the 9 cents was used because they needed a number and "The City of New York vs Homer Simpson" was the first episode of the season. Second, both towers figured into the plot as Barney parked Homer's car between them, and Homer needed to be there to pay the ticket. Then Homer needed to use the bathroom after drinking an insane amount of juice. The only problem is that the only public bathrooms are at the top of both towers (110 stories each). Homer goes to one bathroom only to find that it is out of order and had to go to the other tower. It turned out that a parking officer was there while Homer was using the bathroom.