Hmmm ... interesting how owning can change one's perspective.
I spend a bit of time in the East Village of New York City, where I am often out at ridiculously late hours. I almost never feel unsafe there precisely because there are people on the street and businesses are open at all hours. The presense of people often precludes crimes from happening. Business owners don't want crime, so they'll often take an active role in discouraging it and they become "eyes on the street" whenever they're open. Not always (as the Somerville Home/Heroin Depot shows), but generally. Jane Jacobs, in her masterpeice "Death and Life of Great American Cities," described how a vibrant neighborhood requires different uses at different times of the day to keep it from being seedy--office workers on the streets in the morning, lunchtime and evenings; shopkeepers, parents and children during the day; and diners and bar patrons at night. The longer you extend the hours that people have a legitimate reason to be on the street, the better. There used to be a restaurant in Davis called Dolly's that was only open in the middle of the night. It was generally packed and it didn't cause any significant problems despite being a magnet for people with the drunk munchies. Just some food for thought.
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I spend a bit of time in the East Village of New York City, where I am often out at ridiculously late hours. I almost never feel unsafe there precisely because there are people on the street and businesses are open at all hours. The presense of people often precludes crimes from happening. Business owners don't want crime, so they'll often take an active role in discouraging it and they become "eyes on the street" whenever they're open. Not always (as the Somerville Home/Heroin Depot shows), but generally. Jane Jacobs, in her masterpeice "Death and Life of Great American Cities," described how a vibrant neighborhood requires different uses at different times of the day to keep it from being seedy--office workers on the streets in the morning, lunchtime and evenings; shopkeepers, parents and children during the day; and diners and bar patrons at night. The longer you extend the hours that people have a legitimate reason to be on the street, the better. There used to be a restaurant in Davis called Dolly's that was only open in the middle of the night. It was generally packed and it didn't cause any significant problems despite being a magnet for people with the drunk munchies. Just some food for thought.