4 ms·

Can you source that fact? I'm seeing both violent and property crime as statistically way down over the few decades.

hexis 1y ago
I would love to live wherever you live so that I could even imagine that this was not obvious to anyone who goes out into public spaces.
- albedoa 1y ago
  To be clear, your response to the extremely reasonable request for a source of the wild claim that you made is "it's obvious"? Am I reading you correctly?
  - hexis 1y ago
    No, you are not reading me correctly.
- iambateman 1y ago
  Come on down! Columbia SC is experiencing a bit of a renaissance…there’s growth all over the city and a lot of optimism. Life isn’t perfect, and we have serious problems like any other city, but I took my kids bike riding through downtown yesterday evening and felt safe.
  - hexis 1y ago
    I am glad you are enjoying it, but Columbia, SC has an extremely high murder rate, even for the US which in general has terribly high murder rates.
    - iambateman 1y ago
      Unfortunately, we do. For various historical and demographic reasons, my exposure to this risk is extremely low. But yes, it is a massive problem.
  - gishglish 1y ago
    Is it doing better than 5-6 years ago? I lived there for a few years, and while the river walks were very pleasant, I don’t have much to say about it particularly otherwise. The job market was pretty bad, basically limiting you to State gov or one of the handful of insurance companies around and state government work is rough (easily the most fulfilling job I’ve had, but the salary was just way too low. Seems hard to justify with GA and NC markets nearby unless you’re staying solely for CoL or existing ties.
    - iambateman 1y ago
      Better, yes. The market has grown a ton, and was ranked #1 in the country recently. Our tax base is weak, which makes it hard to compete with GVL and CHS, plus we have worse weather. But the Bull Street district is in a totally different place from when you were here, which creates a feeling of “coming liveliness.” Also Scout Motors is dropping a multi billion dollar plant in Columbia which will help job market Definitely not Greenville, but we are getting there.
- lazyasciiart 1y ago
  Seattle! Violent crime is way down from the 90s. People don’t think this is obvious because violent crime rate is not actually an immediately visible problem, since the majority of violent crime takes place in or around homes (followed by hidden places like alleyways and parking garages, chosen for not being seen). The actual visible stuff (homeless people, trash, smell of public urination, people on drugs in public, people being mentally ill in public, shoplifting) is up. And both violent crime and rich people are more evenly distributed around the city so the “violent crime near a rich person” is up. And so people react to those.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    The late 80s early 90s was the all time crime peak for a lot of places. That's like saying the economy is up from the 1930s. Personally I think two things are true, crime ain't that bad and you're basically framing the problem to let you lie through your teeth a politican.
    - lazyasciiart 1y ago
      What insulting shit.
- marssaxman 1y ago
  Isn't it wonderful that we have people doing actual research on the topic, so we we can know what is actually going on instead of relying on random people's subjective impressions of what seems "obvious" from their necessarily limited viewpoints?
eptcyka 1y ago
My anecdotal experience visiting LA and SF in 2022 was wild - homeless and mentally ill people yelling, being a public nuissance, defecating on the streets, multi-story tents on the same block as the Hollywood stars. It bewildered me that the same state that houses Apple and Google can’t afford to help these people. Whilst I am empathetic and understand that these people need help, I wouldn’t let an 8 year old roam these streets, whereas I was allowed to roam my town when I was 8. Maybe it has been even worse before, and I don’t agree that making the cities walkable before these people are no longer on the streets is somehow usess, I do think that it is a more pressing issue.
- iambateman 1y ago
  I think this is a dominating perspective for a lot of people. A few neighborhoods in LA and SF get infinitely more news coverage than the thousands of quiet urban places where nothing spectacular is going wrong, which creates an illusion of widespread despair. I’m not saying crime or homelessness don’t exist, but urban LA is just not representative. It is shocking that the richest state in the history of the world can’t figure out how to help the people with nowhere to go.
  - Karrot_Kream 1y ago
    Skid Row has been in LA since the 30s. The problem is largely that there's a lot of vested interest in painting Californian Urban Areas as bad and so negative coverage focuses on the Tenderloin, Union Square, and Skid Row.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
  Those people are there because of the help. Every time a municipality expands support for the homeless and addicted they get more homeless addicts. Surrounding areas will in fact put people on buses and ship them out to towns where there is more support.
  - zozbot234 1y ago
    This is why Housing First is such a brilliant idea. Give them help, but require them to be stably housed (i.e. on a viable path out of long-term homelessness) before they can access the help.

I would love to live wherever you live so that I could even imagine that this was not obvious to anyone who goes out into public spaces.

albedoa 1y ago
To be clear, your response to the extremely reasonable request for a source of the wild claim that you made is "it's obvious"? Am I reading you correctly?
- hexis 1y ago
  No, you are not reading me correctly.
iambateman 1y ago
Come on down! Columbia SC is experiencing a bit of a renaissance…there’s growth all over the city and a lot of optimism. Life isn’t perfect, and we have serious problems like any other city, but I took my kids bike riding through downtown yesterday evening and felt safe.
- hexis 1y ago
  I am glad you are enjoying it, but Columbia, SC has an extremely high murder rate, even for the US which in general has terribly high murder rates.
  - iambateman 1y ago
    Unfortunately, we do. For various historical and demographic reasons, my exposure to this risk is extremely low. But yes, it is a massive problem.
- gishglish 1y ago
  Is it doing better than 5-6 years ago? I lived there for a few years, and while the river walks were very pleasant, I don’t have much to say about it particularly otherwise. The job market was pretty bad, basically limiting you to State gov or one of the handful of insurance companies around and state government work is rough (easily the most fulfilling job I’ve had, but the salary was just way too low. Seems hard to justify with GA and NC markets nearby unless you’re staying solely for CoL or existing ties.
  - iambateman 1y ago
    Better, yes. The market has grown a ton, and was ranked #1 in the country recently. Our tax base is weak, which makes it hard to compete with GVL and CHS, plus we have worse weather. But the Bull Street district is in a totally different place from when you were here, which creates a feeling of “coming liveliness.” Also Scout Motors is dropping a multi billion dollar plant in Columbia which will help job market Definitely not Greenville, but we are getting there.
lazyasciiart 1y ago
Seattle! Violent crime is way down from the 90s. People don’t think this is obvious because violent crime rate is not actually an immediately visible problem, since the majority of violent crime takes place in or around homes (followed by hidden places like alleyways and parking garages, chosen for not being seen). The actual visible stuff (homeless people, trash, smell of public urination, people on drugs in public, people being mentally ill in public, shoplifting) is up. And both violent crime and rich people are more evenly distributed around the city so the “violent crime near a rich person” is up. And so people react to those.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  The late 80s early 90s was the all time crime peak for a lot of places. That's like saying the economy is up from the 1930s. Personally I think two things are true, crime ain't that bad and you're basically framing the problem to let you lie through your teeth a politican.
  - lazyasciiart 1y ago
    What insulting shit.
marssaxman 1y ago
Isn't it wonderful that we have people doing actual research on the topic, so we we can know what is actually going on instead of relying on random people's subjective impressions of what seems "obvious" from their necessarily limited viewpoints?

eptcyka 1y ago

My anecdotal experience visiting LA and SF in 2022 was wild - homeless and mentally ill people yelling, being a public nuissance, defecating on the streets, multi-story tents on the same block as the Hollywood stars. It bewildered me that the same state that houses Apple and Google can’t afford to help these people. Whilst I am empathetic and understand that these people need help, I wouldn’t let an 8 year old roam these streets, whereas I was allowed to roam my town when I was 8. Maybe it has been even worse before, and I don’t agree that making the cities walkable before these people are no longer on the streets is somehow usess, I do think that it is a more pressing issue.

iambateman 1y ago
I think this is a dominating perspective for a lot of people. A few neighborhoods in LA and SF get infinitely more news coverage than the thousands of quiet urban places where nothing spectacular is going wrong, which creates an illusion of widespread despair. I’m not saying crime or homelessness don’t exist, but urban LA is just not representative. It is shocking that the richest state in the history of the world can’t figure out how to help the people with nowhere to go.
- Karrot_Kream 1y ago
  Skid Row has been in LA since the 30s. The problem is largely that there's a lot of vested interest in painting Californian Urban Areas as bad and so negative coverage focuses on the Tenderloin, Union Square, and Skid Row.
SoftTalker 1y ago
Those people are there because of the help. Every time a municipality expands support for the homeless and addicted they get more homeless addicts. Surrounding areas will in fact put people on buses and ship them out to towns where there is more support.
- zozbot234 1y ago
  This is why Housing First is such a brilliant idea. Give them help, but require them to be stably housed (i.e. on a viable path out of long-term homelessness) before they can access the help.