Seattle Bubble Forum Archive

Tell that to the wounded guy this morning on the street screaming for a medic!

I live on Capitol Hill and between the halfway house sketchys and the drunkards leaving the bars, I get woken up at least 4 times per week. I haven't had to deal with a shooting (yet?), mostly just yelling or the occasional fight. You get used to it though- it's like living next to train tracks or a hospital. It doesn't bother me at all- in fact sometimes these people are pretty amusing to watch.

IMHO the cops do a great job in this neighborhood and maintain a strong presence without appearing heavy-handed. I have a lot of respect for those guys- especially considering the... 'unique' situations that they have to deal with in belltown/downtown/cap hill.

I thought I'd check my feeling of safety in Seattle relative to other biggish cities in the US. Thought since I went to the trouble, I'd share the data:



Of the 55 cities greater than 300K in population in 2006:

Seattle ranks:

17th safest in overall violent crime,
9th safest for murder
6th safest for rape
24th safest for robbery
22nd safest for assault.

So you are pretty unlikely to get raped or murdered, but assault and robbery are about average, compared to other decent sized cities.

I'm guessing these numbers will get worse, both locally and nationally, if the gap between the have and have nots continues to widen and/or we fall into a deep recession.

For the moment though, there is no place I can think of in Seattle I wouldn't take me family. I can't say that about too many other cities.

I thought building those luxury apartments would deter crime in Belltown. You know how terrified criminals are of rich folks.

I guess not: