My elderly Midwestern mom (who yes, watches a lot of Fox News) was horrified that her grown grandson was going to visit Chicago.
Even though he was going to be in the touristy areas like the Art Institute and the Magnificent Mile. She brought this up multiple times, ignoring my questions on where she’d gotten her information. There was no “information”, just emotions.
Oh, the grandson lives on the Lower East Side, in Manhattan…
Yeah, I have the same problem with my elderly simpleton in-laws who live in the country (only about 90 minutes from Manhattan).
MIL: Well I just think it’s safer out here than where you live in the City.
Me: Didn’t your sister from the next town over just tell us a story about having to call the cops because some meth-head wandering into her kitchen last month? (True Story)
Or misspell it. (I know, that’s how he spelled it. But the City of New York knows better.)
Well, any place she gets her information will tell about incidents where folk have been shot in Millennium Park, driveby shootings and car ackings downtown, and ugly scenes on Michigan Ave. So ugly shit DOES happen - even in the touristy areas. No - I don’t feel unsafe in those areas. But I can imagine someone saying, “Never had gangs of young people shooting guns on Main Street here in Podunk!”
My personal assumption is that given the pretty huge number of folk who DON’T get shot or robbed in most areas on most days - it is pretty safe. But what do I know? I almost flunked statistics in college! 
“the lower east side … it really sucks” -ma dangerously
NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday had a story this morning about how there’s a perception that the city is less safe since the pandemic, even among New Yorkers. They note that the statistics don’t actually bear that out, but apparently the perception is there.