[ctrl-j]

> I've been to Philly and Barcelona, and live in Oakland, CA. Never felt like I was about to be robbed.

Maybe you don't know what the feeling is like? I mean, how long have you lived in Oakland? If you grew up in the city with the 3rd highest crime rate in the US, maybe your barometer isn't calibrated the best?

[mklim]

On the other hand, I lived in Detroit for years. I think most people conflate "visibly poor" with "actively dangerous" and feel scared when they shouldn't. So many people would come in from the suburbs and visibly panic because they saw a crumbling building or a homeless person and figured they were about to get mugged, even though they were by the DIA in broad daylight surrounded by a crowd of people. My university's campus had less reported crimes than U of M's while I was there, and I still had a middle aged suburban woman try to get my professor to end a 6-9pm class at 7pm because she was scared to walk the 100 well-lit feet from the lecture hall to the parking structure after dark.

[rmason]

I am a native Detroiter though I don't live there now. It has always puzzled me that people view Chicago as a safe and fun place to visit. Yet South Chicago is in many ways more dangerous than most Detroit neighborhoods. But they don't hold that against the city because most visitors never enter South Chicago. Yet people are afraid to visit downtown Detroit because of the crime in neighborhoods like precinct nine.

[knowaveragejoe]

I think you are placing undue weight on the statistics. Just because it's the 3rd highest in the US does not mean every waking second is spent looking over your shoulder lest you be robbed.