Even Mountain View has these issues. Not to as near of a degree as say SF, Oakland, or Berkeley, but almost all of the above I've witnessed in Mountain View.

So, I wouldn't say OP is describing a specific part. It's rather pervasive all over.

Why should we pay a heavy price in wasted time and pollution to commute to/from a suburb just so we can avoid the filth and decrepitude?

I mean I am but I am not? A lot of the people in the safe "burbs" are commuting somewhere. But even then I feel like I could count far fewer safe burbs than what I described above.

Anyway, just because there are some safe burbs does not mean what I describe is wrong. Our roads suck, we have a backwards property tax, its expensive to live in a decent school district and I generally feel pretty unsafe here.