It’s easy to say that those things never happen from the suburbs or uptowns where they never happen. But downtown or in grungier parts of the city, you just know they happen and are actually common.

Again, maybe we can do better than attribute a difference of opinion or experience to the other person being ignorant. As I've said three times now, I'm not writing from the suburbs or 'uptown' (not what you think it is in many cities!); I've been in the areas you name daily for many years. (Have you?)

IME it's the reverse: if you aren't from those areas, it's easier to believe the negative hype. The people most terrified of cities don't live in them - the less contact they have, the more they believe these things. A very recent survey showed how Republicans, who are rare among urban residents, have by far the most concerns about cities. It was the NYC suburbs that voted Republican because of concern about crime - in the city where they don't live (and where people voted Democratic). It's easier to believe these crazy stories if you aren't there, about the 'other'.

Now I'm in cities that are, in places absurdly safe. Downtowns filled with people who are going about their days, not a care in the world. Yet I hear suburbanties say they are afraid to come downtown. It's laughable. And then I turn on cable TV or HN and read how dangerous it is, how crazy homeless people are - places I am and people I talk to daily.

It's like standing in the sunshine and hearing people insist that it's raining here. It's that absurd. I don't doubt others have different personal experiences, and I'm glad to read about them - the speculative, uninformed BS, not so much.