Why fear of crime more than crime itself is holding back America’s downtowns

“While crime has risen since the pandemic in most US cities, it’s not spiking in downtowns.”

“Violent crime has long been concentrated in low-income Black and Latino neighborhoods that have also been marked by segregation, discrimination, and disinvestment. But crimes in those areas, Love said, tend to get less media attention than those that occur downtown.”  

“And therein lies the problem. People don’t want to go downtown because they’re worried. But the best way to make people feel safe again downtown … is to have more people there. The best way to square that circle, Grabar suggests, is that downtowns should try and attract residents instead. That means converting offices to residences and building new housing.” 

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23663437/crime-violence-murder-homicide-cities-downtown

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