Nope. We live in a racially integrated neighborhood in a medium-sized Midwestern city that, while it’s definitely seen better days, is benefiting from a slow-but-steady urban renaissance. The largest housing projects in the county are one neighborhood over, and it doesn’t bother me. My neighbors get a little worked up about kids smoking blunts in the park, but, having been a punk-ass teenager myself at one point in the past, I guess I just have a higher tolerance for that kind of thing.
Our previous neighborhood was a gentrifying arts/entertainment district about a mile away. Somebody gets mugged every couple of weeks, and there’s a murder about every year or so, but still - we only left because property values were juuust out of our price range.
In the past, I’ve lived in neighborhoods that were something like 90% Section 8, the straight-up ghetto. I made sure to smile, wave, and bum cigarettes to the local butter slangers and hookers, and I never had a problem.
Life’s too short to walk around giving everybody the stink eye or live barricaded in a fortress. While I’m glad CCW is legal in my state, but IMHO, that crowd (especially the suburban contingent) seems to be more than a little heavy on the mama’s boys and losers.
I live in a state that is consistently voted the, or the second most when VT wins, safest state in the country. The dangers here come from car accidents, accidental injuries, and foul weather. I am much more likely to have a tree limb fall on my car during a windy day and injure me than be a victim of a violent crime. My safety is not a day to day concern.
I voted yes, as vigilance is part of my everyday life. I’m a petite woman. I’m generally not afraid or worrying, but any time I’m out in public or in an isolated area the personal safety algorithm is always running. My chances in a confrontation are pretty much nil, so I have to spot and avoid trouble before it arrives - and it can arrive damn fast.
That said, I live and work in relatively safe areas, I’ve never been attacked and only rarely felt threatened. I generally go where I feel like and do what I feel like doing, and then just stay as alert as the situation calls for. The vast majority of the time I’m more focused on avoiding harassment (aggressive panhandlers and the like) than worrying about serious crime.
A group that I’m part of meets annually, in the US. The members come from a large assortment of countries. One year a woman who is a school teacher in Kenya shared her experience when some sort of armed conflict began on thee street in front of the school. I don’t remember the details at all, but I remember knowing at that moment that I could never complain about where I live again.
There was a fatal shooting on our block when a man came home and found someone in his home robbing it. (The robber shot the homeowner). I felt a little less safe than usual that night with police helicopters circling very low over the neighborhood for what seemed to be quite a long time without knowing why. It still pales in comparison with rebels lobbing grenades a scant few feet from you, and shooting up your town.
I didn’t answer the poll because there’s no middle ground. I feel perfectly safe normally but exercise prudent caution sometimes - I think that’s what most people, particularly women when alone, do.
I’m cautious. This whole region is economically depressed and has been for decades. We have a lot of crackheads and tweakers. Shootings, home invasions, and armed robberies are far from uncommon. One can minimize one’s risks, though, just by not associating with said crackheads and tweakers. Most of the crime involves them victimizing each other or their dealers victimizing each other. We, which is to say not just me, do pay attention to strange faces in the neighborhood because there actually is a pretty good chance that a scabby looking stranger wandering down the street eyeballing houses is looking for a place to rob.
Sometimes my room is frightening because of the spiders and carpenter ants. Even when I don’t have anything remotely edible in the room, they still come in through a crack. I’ve been strongly considering a mosquito net to fortify it, though. I’d sleep a lot better at night. I just don’t really want to drill a hole in the ceiling. Wah wah, etc. Other than that, no.
I said “no, I do what I want,” but when I’m walking home from the bus stop after dark I’m usually VERY aware of my surroundings. I’m more likely to be hit by a car than kidnapped by a psycho, but the latter stimulates the imagination more.
That being said, apparently there is a level three sex offender living in my neck of the woods. He’s level three because he violated his parole, but I don’t know what his original offense was. I’m not worried, but the risk is there, I guess.
I live literally on the wrong side of the tracks, but it’s the bad part of a small town. There’s a high rate of property crime here but not much violent crime.
This is so amusing to me. I can understand why some people might feel intimidated by certain T stations late at night, but in general? Pretty safe. Are these people generally the sort that never leave the suburbs or something?
I live in Dorchester and though there are parts I wouldn’t venture to, the neighborhood I live in I have never once felt unsafe.
I have to remind myself to take the keys out of my car when I go to town. I don’t even bother at home. Every now and then I’ll lock the house doors. Mostly to keep the wind from blowing it open.
Let me put it this way - they filmed a reality show here about female police officers and had to resort to showing traffic stops. Lots and lots of traffic stops.
I put yes because I am currently in Afghanistan and about to enter a hot spot. As for my neighborhood in Washington, DC, no, but don’t tell my family members; their irrational fear keeps them away.
This. I feel fairly comfortable having plants out on my back patio, not too worried that they’ll walk off, but being within shouting distance of two prisons AND the mexican border keeps my eyes open.
Yes and no. My DC neighbor is far from crime free. Muggings are a weekly thing, and there are we’ve had a few pretty bad home invasions lately. But I basically do what I want, with some small precautions. I walk home as late as I please, but I do try to keep my iPhone and stuff inconspicuous.
I wouldn’t call my neighborhood dangerous, but it helps to be aware of your surroundings here. I could walk a block or so and be in the ghetto, but I don’t live there - I live in the adjacent affluent neighborhood that surrounds my college. People can tell that you’re a student and know that we students probably walk around with our laptops and iPhones, so, students do get mugged. Or occasionally have their apartments robbed. We’ve got bars on our windows.