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Comment by ryanckulp | Hacker News Reader

i lived in the brand-new Trinity tower on 8th / Mission. leaving my apartment each morning for work i saw... 5-12 broken car windows along 8th outside the hotel. despicable.

one could argue a robbed car at 2am is not a safety issue (if nobody is in the car), but i somewhat agree with the broken window theory.

the first day i bought a new bicycle and parked/locked it outside the big mall on Market, in front of 2 security guards, my seat was stolen within 30 minutes.

etc etc. presence of crime == less safe.

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Property crime != violent crime. San Francisco has a problem with both, but the issues with theft and vandalism are far worse than things that'll directly threaten your personal safety.

Well, property crime tends to make people feel unsafe, even if they’re not personally in danger.

Crime is, fundamentally, crime. Particularly for these cut and dried historical elements like "theft". It's breaking both law and ancient custom.

SF needs to address this crime situation. So does, for that matter, Seattle. Short, medium, and long term solutions need to be developed, promoted, and delivered.

I agree that one can mis-evaluate the level of personal threat by assigning the wrong meaning to evidence of property crimes. This doesn't mean we should assign no meaning, though. Many of the factors at play which can cause escalations of property crime can also lead to violent crime.

It may not be rational to see a broken car window and conclude that you are about to be mugged, but if you want to be as safe as possible you probably would prefer to live somewhere where cars are not often broken into.

This doesn't mean we should assign no meaning, though.

Which, as it turns out, is not what I suggested, alluded to, or claimed. Just because we get earthquakes out here doesn't mean I'm going to worry about hurricanes (nor does it mean that neither earthquakes nor hurricanes are significant).

Having somewhat recently relocated to the burbs, I've had more problems with property crime out here than I did in San Francisco. More homeless people, worse traffic, worse pedestrian infrastructure, much worse (and more expensive) public transit too.

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