10.30.2006

Saint Louis is Number 1! Yay, oh, wait....

Since I've received a few emails from family and friends that are obviously worried about my safety and well-being I decided to comment on the new list that came out. "Most Dangerous Cities"

Firstly,
this list is only taking into account the City of Saint Louis ( I'm sure this is applied to all the other cities too). St. Louis only has a population of about 330K in the city. However, the outlying suburbs rack up 980K, almost a million people! So the study was based on crimes per capita, I don't really see it as quite fair that the city is taking the blame just because almost 2/3 of the population doesn't technically live in the city. Anyone who knows much about the way things are run in St. Louis City vs. St. Louis County knows how screwed up the whole city/county border war is. I'm not going to get too deep into this part.

Secondly,
I live in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods right now. At our meeting last week our Neighborhood Stabilization Officer told us that we were somewhere near 2nd - and that our murder rate has increased 300% percent since last year! Sounds fucking scary, doesn't it? Well, to elaborate, the murder rate was 2 last year and this year we've had 6. So, yeah, 300%. That puts things in perspective. I still walk my dog in my neighborhood and have yet to get shot.

And,
that is what truly makes this whole report akin to public defamation in what to me is an unfair statistic.
Then again, it isn't the best, and I did feel way safer when I lived in Oregon and Colorado.

Which brings me to my final thought: I remember awhile back a very heated discussion on Cassie's blog about NYC, and how damn dangerous it is. How it's so much safer in the Midwest. So I thought I'd extract a few interesting examples from the list for amusement. Keep in mind the list is numbered as #1 - the safest to #371 - the worst(St. Louis)

371. St. Louis
356. Kansas City, Mo.
342. Kansas City, Kan. ( I found it interesting the KCK is safer?!)
303. Denver
262. Seattle
249. Portland, Ore.
148. Sioux City, Iowa
145. New York City

Wait....is that right? Sioux City, IA is more dangerous than NYC??
hmmm....apparently this list does not have anything to do with the danger of running into a drag queen at 3 in the morning on the subway, or any other scary culture for that matter....
The other thought that came to my mind was the irony of the city just winning the game and then this report coming out, like someone didn't want the city to get to cocky about being good at something, anything, other than killin, rapin and stealin.

7 comments:

locomocos said...

Nice!
How odd that KCK was safer than KCMO!!! But there are certainly problems with KCMO if you take account that the Paseo and Troost are on the other side of the river. Plus KCMO doesn't even have an accredited high school for kids to graduate from....
i guess i'm not TOO suprised....

but as for the rest, i find it hilarious that Sioux City is worse than NYC. Guess i should ask Denny what's up with those crazy Iowans!!!

Anonymous said...

All I can say is Awsome! That was an excellent commentary that I think you should share with not only the local papers and radio stations but also NPR and national newspapers. I agree and think it is completely crazy how they get their statistics. Your last comments are pretty damn funny too!
S

Anonymous said...

` Hey!! Drag queens are not scary! Most of them are SOOO CUTE and I want to hug them!! (And I do, sometimes!)
` *Sniff!* It's a tragedy how misunderstood they are!

` Kinda odd to live in a crime-ridden area, though, but I should speak for myself! I have no idea how dangerous Everett is, though it has to do with what part of what street you live in - the neighborhoods change visibly almost every block!
` Personally, I live in an apartment building where there are a lot of meth heads, crack whores, and guns. Yay for me!!!

Blackpetunia said...

Quine, your neighborhood sounds like mine. If you couldn't detect the sarcasm regarding drag queens, well, that's just proof you don't know me very well.

This and That said...

This story was on every news channel today! So your city is 1st and we (Denver) are 68th. Like you stated stats are relative. We live in a neighorhood that I feel incredibly safe in but if you look at # of crimes reported, it is very high because they compare population to crime #'s. My dad lives near you and loves it. Can't wait to visit. I lived in NYC for years and felt a lot safer there than when I lived in Boulder.

Anonymous said...

` Ahhh haaa! I get it now, Amber! You had me going, there!

Denny said...

i keep things in perspective this way: There isnt a city in this counrty that i am afraid to be in at any hour of the day except for one and its really only a couple of places. One being parts of the Bronx, Queens, and anywhere past 157th st. where police dont even patrol anymore. I dont know about surveys and list and gallup has never called me but i only can go by what ive seen first hand.