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Crime in East Coast NYC/Boston/DC and West-coast-cities (SF/Seattle/Portland) is very different. The remarkable thing about SF and Seattle, is that crime is hi
by screye 4y ago
Crime in East Coast NYC/Boston/DC and West-coast-cities (SF/Seattle/Portland) is very different.
The remarkable thing about SF and Seattle, is that crime is highest in high desirability/high-foot-fall areas. Many folks I know all go to downtown SF/Oakland/Seattle for work, drinks, dinner, concerts and public events.
At the same time, it seems impossible to park your car on the street in any of these neighborhoods. I thought it was an exaggeration, but "every" person I know, who has parked their car for a week in one of these neighborhoods, has had their cars broken in. It's shocking.
On the other hand, the high-footfall / popular parts of east coast cities are fairly safe. (Pickpockets are an exception). For better or for worse, a person would never accidentally find themselves in a bad neighborhood in NYC, Boston or DC. (Bad neighborhoods aren't always correlated with race or poverty. Sometimes it's just a self fulfilling prophecy) This means that violent crime on the east-coast has very little spill-over outside the communities ravaged by it. IE. The average stranger is safe.
In that sense, west coast's 'open drug market in the most important parts of the city' policy is a uniquely west coast problem. It really doesn't affect other cities in the US or elsewhere in the same way. The unique incompetence of west coast politics is squarely to blame for the dilapidation of their cities. This is not endemic to cities at large, and cities around the world should actively distance themselves from the sort of accusations that get flung at 'all cities', when it is meant to be targeting west-coast cities in particular.
- mrangle 4y agoThere is a lot of violent crime spillover in popular areas of East coast cities. Experiencing it is just a matter of time spent. It is also easy to accidentally be in a bad neighborhood in many. Which just depends on how close to the margins of good neighborhoods that you are willing to explore. A lot of desirable amenities tend to be near these edges, when they want to serve younger people. It is true that there aren't open air drug markets in the desirable parts of East Coast cities. There are, however, street robberies and murders.
- Nimitz14 4y agoThis comment is written as if the one it replied to said something wrong. It didn't and this comment does nothing to add to the debate, instead it just obfuscates. Downvoted.
- amanaplanacanal 4y agoThe solution to open air drug markets is legalization and regulation. Make opioids and stimulants available at a low price in dispensaries and the gangsters will leave, and people won’t have to steal to support their habits. I mean it’s good that we have stopped throwing addicts in jail, but we’ve just exposed another layer of the problem.
- dmitrygr 4y ago> it’s good that we have stopped throwing addicts in jail Is it though? The streets are a lot safer with the addicts safely contained elsewhere, not stabbing random people.
- hobo_in_library 4y agoWe really should be regulating theft in general. What if SF started a Thieves Guild, and only registered, properly trained members were allowed to steal from people? (and only after showing their Thieve's Guild registration card first, of course)
- smsm42 4y ago> What if SF started a Thieves Guild I think the politically correct term is "politicians". Or, for more distinguished members, "Congressmen".
- hotpotamus 4y agoIf you're going to have crime, it might as well be organized crime, right? I do miss Terry Pratchett.
- trafficante 4y agoI used to think this way. I’d happily get into legalization/decriminalization arguments, secure in my knowledge of statistics from other countries and the trump card of “muh Portugal” ready to be tossed out at a moment’s notice. Then came this brave new world of “atomized social leftism” - this highly destructive political chimera that somehow successfully subverted leftist class consciousness into a twisted parody of individualist libertarianism, while still maintaining the absolute moral certitude and zealous fervor of a revolutionary. This is not the same left-wing ideology responsible for building Euro-style social democracy (of which I long admired). This is a homegrown American political monster wearing the skin of a revolutionary leftist but designed to serve the interests of international elites. Compare modern Antifa with the Seattle anti-WTO riots in the 90s for an illustrative example. I live in a West Coast American city that has decriminalized hard drugs nearly to the point of de facto legalization, while “soft” drugs like marijuana are fully legal and psilocybin is on the way. The results have been disastrous. Property crime has skyrocketed, gang violence over hard drug profits has shot the murder rate up by xxxx%, human beings wander the downtown in broad daylight moaning with visible skin sloughing off their bodies like we’re in a zombie movie. And the despairing response to this from most of my “lefty” acquaintances has been “well this is all because we haven’t fully legalized hard drugs” - as if that was a coherent argument for why we shouldn’t just abandon the decriminalization experiment and return to the former status quo that didn’t have these problems. Even marijuana, an extremely mild drug (as far as such things go) that has been legalized, resulted in the literal cartels rolling into the southern half of my state and taking over production. I find myself increasingly thinking that “American democracy” is a failed system and we just haven’t realized it yet. Wile E Coyote confidently running in mid-air over the abyss with a cloud of dust under his feet labeled “It’s the Wokes/Racists”.