Do you think your fears, or lack thereof, are based on reality, or are you more or less concerned than you ought to be?

When I lived in Westwood (west Los Angeles for those unfamiliar with California geography), I used to walk home from campus at three in the morning by myself all the time. It was a college town, but it still probably wasn't very safe.

Then I started working in the homicide section at the public defender's office, and I've never liked walking alone at night since. Or even at dusk.

Is your neighborhood a safe place to walk at night? Do you carry pepper spray or other protection? Do you even give it a thought?

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Answers

I just moved to a new neighborhood in whitebread sprawl suburbia. I doubt I could throw a brick very hard and have it land inside the city limits, but the police department has a fleet of at least 30 brand new Broncos or Explorers or something for patrol cars. Our tax dollars at work (and then some - moving here now causes me to have a special city fee on my cellphone bill, what the hell?).

Having just moved from a pretty neat multi-ethnic neighborhood in Dallas proper, it's weird. There were always people out and about in my old neighborhood. Lots of the neighborhood women would go out walking together after dinner, we had joggers and lots of people walking their dogs often as late as 11 or midnight. And it wasn't always so great after dark - some nights, especially Saturday nights, you'd hear 9's and .38's exchanging fire not too far away.

This neighborhood seems absolutely barren. I have never seen anyone but the postman walk past the house. The neighbors we've met seem okay - the next door neighbors helped us move, and they're really cool despite the fact that they raise chihuahuas, the lady behind us with Max the fence-jumping Lab puppy (why should he be all alone in his yard when there's so many dogs in this yard??) is very cool, but we've never met anyone else and we've never seen anyone out.

It's quiet, no gunfire, the most noise we ever hear is from the Redneck Commune across the street. They set their car on fire the day we moved in, it took the fire department 2 minutes to get here, yay suburbia. Sometimes one of them parks his semi on the street and leaves it running, and the popping of the air brakes gets a bit old. We weren't here Hallowe'en night, but only two houses on the street decorated.

We keep waiting to find out what it is they all know that we don't. My roommate and I have both commented on something strange - in the old house, we almost never locked the doors. The front door stayed locked all the time because the wind would blow it open, but the back door was a sliding glass door and a pain to unlock, so we never did. We lock the doors obsessively here, even the back doors even though it would take a complete moron to come back here with Superpuppy out in the yard. Maybe because it is so quiet?

Maybe one night I'll take one of the big dogs out for a walk and see what I can see. Maybe I'll start a trend.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I've never worried about walking after dark or felt unsafe in any neighborhood I've lived in. It's probably stupid since desptite my size I'm no fighter.

Right now I live in New York where I feel completely comfortable rollerblading at midnight. I'm not the only ones as there is a pretty constant flow of foot traffic at all hours.

The only time I was bothered was as a little kid in Algeria when a fellow chased me home with a butcher knife. Never was able to figure out why he did that aside from general dislike of Americans. Still, he couldn't have been too serious about catching me since he was an adult and I was only seven.

Byrne.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

That's something that's taking some getting used to; we moved from the East Bay (Albany, Orinda, and Dublin, California) to Saint Paul five years ago. I was used to the idea of an entire town being either a 'good' or 'bad' area; Albany was safe, El Cerrito wasn't; Orinda was very safe, Richmond very wasn't.

Here in St. Paul, however, the safe areas are much smaller, and change within the city: 4 blocks south of us are half-million dollar houses where people could dance in the streets at 2 a.m. with no problems; 4 blocks north there are dead cars and sofas parked in the yard.

So, as long as we don't go north, it's a reasonably safe neighborhood; at the National Night Out last August, our block coordinator got police reports for the area; one shooting and some peeping toms was about it. She said she tried to get notices about sex offenders trying to move into the neighborhood but they refused; one of our neighbors, a little old lady who provides in-home daycare for toddlers, went back into her house and came out with several pages, and pointed out that all daycare providers get notification of the level-2 offenders but you probably knew that...

I don't carry pepper spray or weapons, but my wife, kids & I have been taking karate classes since the day we moved here.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Indianapolis, far south: Safe. I've gone for walks in total darkness in the summer when it has been too hot to walk before sundown.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

The last time I took a walk in our neighborhood in Indianapolis, Mom, I was followed by ya-hoos in their pickup truck, who hooted at me and tried to scare me. I hate hicks; they'll f**k with you just 'cause you look different, or just 'cause they're bored and unimaginative. Give me Oakland any day.

I was afraid to walk alone in my neighborhood (North Oakland) when I first moved here, but I'm ok now. The junkies and pimps and whores are usually doing their own thing, and they've never bothered me (knock on wood). I think I've lost my "victim" walk that I had when I first moved here from Indiana. I'm glad I'm female, though, as I think white guys get messed with more than women. There seems to be an honor code surrounding women in our neighborhood, and although it's sexist, I'll take it gladly. Anyone who lives in our neighborhood probably doesn't have enough money to be worth mugging, anyway, and since we're not near a shopping district, we seem to have little of that kind of street crime. And, like I said, the pimps and dealers leave the residents alone.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Off the subject, but I just wanted to say that I think this mother/daughter presence on the forum is really cool. I'm not sure why, but I like it!

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

i have lived in old city, philadelphia, for 9 years. these days it is becoming very metropolitan, and many people are out and about as late as 2am or later.

girls have special worries. as a guy (though not a big guy) i do not worry , but i do use common sense. i might let golf spoil a good walk, but not fear. if i lived in the wonderful suburbs, i would feel so trapped not being able to take a walk from my house to get Wild at Heart, altoids, knob creek, a big dose of minimal art, religion, bunny sush......................if i took a walk in the burbs i would fear being run over by a car, since there seems to be few if any sidewalks, (much worse than being run over by a bike im sure).

there was a time early one saturday morning 6 years ago when there were fewer people out and about, i went to the box for the paper, and a big,....big man of color whispers behind me "get one for me...." well i let the door slam and i said buy one yourself.................he looks at me as i am walking away and says "what?" i repeat myself, just a little perterbed about this guy, and then i realize my mistake...........and he starts coming at me. as i said, i'm not a big guy, and this was a bigbig guy. there is no one around. no one except his girlfriend who starts to laugh and pulls at the big guy and says "Tiiiiiiiirooooone...........what are you doin......" and he starts raising his fists at me, waving them like he's the engine propeller on some ski boat....."you mother f_____" you.....___...." "Tiiiiiroooone......" she's still laughing and im just standing there, missing a heartbeat. i regain my courge and walk away, the propeller still spinning, "tiiiirooooone" still ringing in my ear.

i have lived in philadelphia for 15 years, good neighborhoods and definitely not good neighborhoods. that is as bad as it has ever gotten for me.. thank god knock on wood. maybe its just that my life story is boring. there have been some murders in my neighborhood though. but i do not think they were neighborhood things, more like people things, and people can be found anywhere. i think liberty requires overcoming fear. but you do have to be smart about it. i should have given the guy my paper and walked to the next newspaper box.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I live in a very safe, quiet suburban neighborhood about an hour north of New York City. It's a family neighborhood and almost everyone has at least one dog. Me and my immediate neighbor make up for all those who don't with my three and her five. Every person I've met is extremely nice.

And I will not walk around after dark.

Why?

Cause it's too damn dark. There are NO streetlights. Just one at the end of the street and no others. I don't like to go out into my own yard in the dark with the dogs. I want lights put up all around the house.

In the summer lots of people would walk around in the evening. Kids in strollers, kids on bikes, old people strolling. It was quite nice. But when it gets dark everyone retreats into their house.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I grew up in Safeville, U.S.A. I roamed the woods all day without my mother wanting to check on me; I used to walk my dog in my nightgown because at 10 or 11 or 12 when I wanted to go for a walk I wouldn't want to get dressed. When I had a car in that town, I used to go up to my lake for afterdark (cloying word alert) "skyclad" swims. Made my mother *crazy* and I suppose it wasn't too bright, but I was more afraid of patrollers towing my car (1/2 through state forest to lake) than of bodily harassment.

Then I went to college where there wasn't even a town besides the population of the students, and I continued to walk wherever I needed to go, alone. I know very well I cast my safety to the wind at that point, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice my way of life to others' potential stupidity and crime. And my way of life included freedom of movement.

Now I live in Denver, where I won't walk across the park to Safeway for a late-night munchie. But I don't have a dog, I don't have friends within walking distance, and it's too damn brightly lit for nightwalks to hold much appeal. I'd like to live in a small town again, so I could delude myself into believing it was safe. And have a dog to walk, and a black sky in which I could see all the stars and not just Sirius.

{Bracing myself against a tide of home- and dogsickness.}

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

When I first moved here, I lived in a very nice apartment community near my office. Fortunately, it was gated and protected by armed guards at all hours, as it was in the worst part of town. I survived six months of driving from my apartment compound to my equally-secure work compound and never stopping the car in between. No, I didn't feel safe there.

Then I moved a fair distance away, into the suburbs. Everything was fine and safe until this weekend, when a man was carjacked in our parking lot. Now I'm not so sure about this place. I don't yet fear for my life in this apartment, though.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I live in a pretty low crime part of SF - I think there's been one murder in this 'hood in the last 10 or 15 years. I don't walk around much at night, but when I have to be out there on the street at night for some reason, I don't feel like I'm in mortal danger or anything like that (but I'm usually with my husband - I don't go out al one much). We had to take the bus around midnight recently from Van Ness and California, and even over there near Polk Gulch, no one bothered us - well, one guy panhandled us, but didn't get nasty about it when we didn't give him any money.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I wrote my graduate thesis on how rapists choose their victims. I used to do homicide research for the NYPD. Walking alone at night is a really, really bad idea. Especially in the suburbs, where you're less likely to encounter passers-by.

I felt more safe walking alone in NYC, with its doormen every fifteen feet, than I do here, on an isolated island where I know all of my neighbors.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I agree about the 'burbs. I always feel like it's more dangerous in areas where there are NO other people out walking around, no one to witness anything that happens. I feel much safer walking in the Tenderloin in SF at night that I would if I was out at night in one of the suburban areas where people always say things like "We never thought it could happen HERE" every time something bad happens outside of a big city.

It's time they woke up... when those Yosemite murders happens this year, the media reported in that rural county, one in 20 residents was on parole for a violent crime (and who knows how many were violoent but hadn't been in prison yet). I thought that was an extremely high percentage and would raise a person's odds of running into a violent situation out there in the country compared to the odds in a large city.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

Oh, yeah, I grew up in a rural area and I practice law in rural counties, and I've always known that the placid countryside is full of violent wackos. No question about it.

I've tried to explain to Jeremy in the past why I'd rather walk down a busy but questionable main street than a silent and dark residential street. What I've discovered lately is that there are a lot more people out and about at sundown than I thought there were, which makes me feel a little safer being around at that time, as well.

I agree with whoever it was who talked about it being too dark where they live, as well. The city just finally put in streetlights in parts of midtown, but even though we're being taxed for it, we don't have them in my neighborhood. It sucks -- I now feel totally safe in the neighborhoods with streetlights, because they are brightly lit and there are lots of people around. When I walk back into the area without lights, it's like walking in a different city.

I want my damn streetlights, and I want all of my neighbors to get porch lights, too.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

When the streetlight across the street works, I feel pretty safe. When it doesn't, I get nervous, but that is just because I am paranoid. I think most of the people on this street know each other, or at least know many of the others. And I think there are a number of people besides us who will keep their eyes open, and notice pretty quickly when something is wrong. It is suburbia, but people walk around a lot, though not much at night (and neither do I, mainly because there isn't anywhere to go).

When I lived in Davis, I felt safe at night. Well, except for fearing being hit by a car because there were no streetlights and people parked across the sidewalk so I had to walk in the street on F St. And I wouldn't walk down H St. to the co-op, ever - not much traffic, but with aimless people hanging about. Made me nervous. But I would walk from apartment to pool in swimsuit with towel, no problem.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I live in the city of Haarlem, the Netherlands, in a neighborhood that's widely advertized as one of the worst parts of town. Apart from some noisy kids every now and then, I've never seen or heard anything there that bothered me in the least.

I work in the city of Lelystad, widely advertized as one of the fastest growing towns in this country. But in this case there's no truth whatsoever in advertizing. We don't really have anything like slums in this country, but Lelystad fits the description if anything does. I don't even feel safe here when I'm walking around in broad daylight, let alone after dark.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

We lived in San Francisco until quite recently, and our neighborhood was pretty safe. I went out at night on errands without giving it much thought. But I was nervous about going downtown or to places like south of Market by myself, and was always getting in these mental debates about shows I wanted to go to but was afraid to go to by myself. Even driving - you gotta walk back to your car. Consequently I didn't go out at night a lot (my partner doesn't like the same kind of entertainments that I do, alas.)

Now we live in deep suburbia. The week we moved in there was a gang shooting down the street, but that was such an oddity that people are still talking about it. "Why, the last time the police were here was when George's car caught fire!" It feels extremely safe here, partly because we know a lot of the neighbors (it's the house where my partner grew up). We leave the windows open at night during the summer and the garage door open all day on Saturdays. We feel like the biggest risk is that there are a couple of bratty kids who might grab something out of the garage, but we know their parents.

We do have a lot of streetlights, though there are dark areas, and we walk to the Chinese restaurant etc. I haven't walked at night by myself mainly because if I suddenly needed a cup of sugar, I'd get in the car and drive over to the market. But even there, I'd watch my back in the parking lot.

So I'm a weird mixture of overconfidence and scared of the dark-ness.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999

I live in the centre of Liverpool city, right in the financial district. When my partner and I were first deciding whether or not to come here from Australia, he flew here to visit his prospective company over Xmas. On his way back to his hotel with an armful of Xmas shopping he was mugged by 3 thugs who knocked him to the ground, kicked him repeatedly and yelled "Stick him, stick him" (stab him) to each other before they ran off having taken everything on him. It took an extra 2 years before we would contemplate a move here again. I certainly don't feel safe here but I think like everything you can only do so much to safeguard yourself without turning into a basketcase and you still need a life!

-- Anonymous, November 06, 1999

I live in Detroit, which of course has a terrible reputation that is for the most part deserved. I have lived here over two years, though, and nothing (knock on wood) has happend to me yet. I have been careless with my safety - I used to walk home alone at 2 or 3 in the morning from a friend's apartment. Now we all look out for each other and someone will give those people without a car a ride home. I live in a university area, which I think is safer in general than the rest of Detroit. Still, one can't be too careful. Things to seem to be turning around in Detroit - hopefully they will keep getting better and people can stop fleeing to the suburbs, or as some call it: "white flight".

I agree on the street light thing - it does make a big difference. My neighborhood is well lit for the most part, but sometimes the streetlights are out in isolated areas. You never know who you can bump into in the dark here.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 1999