I can't even begin to count the number of times in the past few months a street has been aggressively rude to me - why just last week I had a run in with a MEAN street that's left a bruise the size of a football on my left forearm.

You know, blowhards reflexively claim that crime is always up and the young always have a shorter attention span, no matter what.

@3 & @4 That sounds like a Fox special waiting to happen "When streets attack..."

So anyone who says [insert city] is doing a good job is not just insane, they're LYING to you.

Let's ban people who shoot dogs instead.

Seriously, some people just assume that the world gets worse every year, and then they trot those lines out whenever they can reinforce the idea to fit their theory.

Live in the big city - it's cheaper and safer. Only gangsters live in suburbs ...

Yes, because most people who say that want to absolve themselves of trying to make things better, kind of like this asshole.

For the fear mongering politicians (I hear it started with Nixon), there will always be some crime, so they will always be able to run against it, trends and stats be damned. Oh, and city = BAD, country = GOOD, has been going on since... Jefferson?

For the timid? careful? cautious? rational? breeder suburban types? Well, maybe they don't want to live in a place where

- their child sees somebody get shot
- where, when you ride the bus, some loud fat guy yells/raps into his phone for the whole trip
- homeless people are crapping in parks and slashing people with knives

The issue isn't just, how bad is Seattle, really? But how does it compare, per capita, to the bland, sterile burbs nearby? Or not so nearby? Where the better paid members of the Seattle Times staff probably live.

And yes, I've seen this same no-idea-what-scary-is, living in a wee city in the red state South. What people think is "rush hour traffic" or "scary neighborhood" is... hilarious. But I only say that because I grew up in the orbit of NYC in the 70's.

And amen, keshimeshi, superhappy conservatives like Stephen Moore are putzes. Don't touch that knob! Don't twiddle that dial! You have no business peeking behind the Wizard of Oz's curtain! Things are getting better and you peons have no business touching the fancy levers and buttons! And if things aren't working well in any particular area, (sigh), there is nothing to be done (revert to previous conservative crutch) life is but a vale of tears, maybe in the afterlife...