NYC, safest city in the U.S.

still does not mean the citty is safe:

5.4% increase in murder, 1.7% increase in rape and a 1.8% increase in robbery.

well it'll never be a safe city w/ people like u walking around unable to spell city...

Citty Citty Bang Bang

Alpine, so how would you define safe? No crime whatsoever?

The article states "The Big Apple saw a decrease of 4% in violent crime from 2007, handily beating the national average...

..Mayor Michael Bloomberg touted the continuing downtrend in crime activity, declaring that New York City has had "43 fewer murders, 1,415 fewer robberies and 491 fewer cars stolen" in the first five months of 2009 compared to 2008.... "

Hmmm, overall crime down. Violent crime down. Real estate prices down. Yes alpine selects JUST a few crime stats to claim that down is really up. Of course, if those same exact cherry-picked stats are in fact down in say Phoenix or Miami or Las Vegas, he will cherry pick other stats. As long as his fantasyland is real.

For example, in LA property prices are down 52% y-o-y, and yet crime in ALL catagories is down. All of them. In SJ, all catagories are way down save one, and overall crime is way down. Despite a larger decrease in home prices (over 30%) than in NYC.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/lists/americas-safest-cities/losangeles.html?state=play

seems safer than alpo's foyer.

alpine, I'm unsure where you are coming from on this thread. Not sure what point you try to make. If you look at the city's we are in better shape than, it is staggering to consider how far we've come. Little Rock is more dangerous!

As for murder, last year we recorded such an absurdly low number of homicides in the city given the historical norms that an increase of even 20% would not really set us back at this point. We'd still be talking about crazy low numbers for a city of 8,000,000. And do you know how many stranger murders there were last year? That is murders between people unknown to each other? Out of 8,000,000 people, there were approx. 30 stranger homicides I believe. That is amazing from a law enforcement standpoint.

Many of the people on here who seem happiest predicted doom for some reason, have focused on a supposed spike of crime in the 6th Pct lately. But even there, when you look at the stats, the "40%" increase or something in robberies translates to just 12 more than last year at this time. And the crimes are likely the work of just one or two individuals.

NYC is the safest large city in the US. Give the NYPD and prosecutors credit where credit is due. Surely some of it is to their credit. And whether demographics or sociological phenomena account for the rest, what matters is that the quality of life in this city has been great from a public safety standpoint for such an extended time that a whole generation is emerging that will never have known the fear and random violence that gripped the city during the 70's and crack era of the 80s.

I <3 NYPD

Keep up the good work guys.

"alpine, I'm unsure where you are coming from on this thread. "

Jason: On 434 different threads, Alpine has said that if real estate prices decline, then that and that alone is enough to return us to the crime level of the 70s and 80s. I am not exaggerating. He has argued this in 5,678 posts (ish.) He often cites selective crime stats from other cities to prove his point. Or "prove." When these stats are pointed out to have been misused or to be flat out wrong, he pulls some other rabbit out of his ass.

Kyle - not that Alpine needs to be taken seriously, but great post. I agree with you completely. I didn't know the city in the 70's and 80's, but grew up not far in the early 90's. Even then, it was a place we considered atrocious - somewhere you lived if you had to, not somewhere you aspired to.

I think this will be a major factor in sustaining strength in the RE market during this downturn. People look at the runup in prices this past decade (and I will be the first to agree it was not sustainable) but ignore the dismal 3 decades prior (with a minor blip up in the mid-late 80's). Fact is, this is a city people are now proud to call home which was not the case 15 years ago and for the 2 decades prior.

"It's the economy, stupid"

I'll give credit to the NYPD and Prosecutors for the decrease in crime 6 years into the recession.

Safe NY= In 1970 New York State passed the nation's first law legalizing abortion without restriction up to the 24th week of pregnancy. It was pioneering legislation, but only a few states would follow.

When the United States Supreme Court overturned state restrictions on abortions with Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion became legal everywhere for everyone. Over the years, more and more states have passed more and more restrictions, and fewer and fewer clinics operate in the heartland, making abortion difficult to obtain in most places. But New York laws are still among the most liberal.

How old would those unwanted babies be today?

I give credit to progressive legislature. When we get our act in focus, as a state, we can do great thing to benifit ourselves. A repeal of the Rockafella drug legislation would go a long way to righting those wrongs. We were recently very close to just such social justice.

Falco - I read an article not too long ago that argued, very convincingly I may add, the same hypothesis. Being a numbers guy, I think there is something to it. It is an astute observation.