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Whoa, now. Let's don't start disparaging other cities, because it's all relative. I lived in Chicago for years, and the crime in Chicago is bad... but mostly in 5-6 neighborhoods, citywide. Most of it could be avoided. It's more complex in Columbia, where good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods are often close (as is the case with many cities in the southeast).
I looked up the numbers here on city-data (the 2009 numbers, which are the most recent), and while Chicago has a higher per capita murder rate than Columbia, it has lower rates of assault, which is the crime we're talking about here.
(and since it comes up ALL THE TIME, i'll mention that Greenville actually posted higher per capita assault figures in 2009 than either Columbia or Chicago. 743.9 per 100k vs 686.6 in Columbia and 552.1 in Chicago)
I agree. In Greenville's defense, those numbers only consider the city population of approximately 60,000 to 70,000 residents. The reality is that there are roughly 140,000 (perhaps more) additional people living in the city during the day and into the night, completely skewing the data. This fact must be taken into account in such cases where the City (<70,000) vs. County (>450,000) population discrepancy is so great.
Whoa, now. Let's don't start disparaging other cities, because it's all relative. I lived in Chicago for years, and the crime in Chicago is bad... but mostly in 5-6 neighborhoods, citywide. Most of it could be avoided. It's more complex in Columbia, where good neighborhoods and bad neighborhoods are often close (as is the case with many cities in the southeast).
I looked up the numbers here on city-data (the 2009 numbers, which are the most recent), and while Chicago has a higher per capita murder rate than Columbia, it has lower rates of assault, which is the crime we're talking about here.
(and since it comes up ALL THE TIME, i'll mention that Greenville actually posted higher per capita assault figures in 2009 than either Columbia or Chicago. 743.9 per 100k vs 686.6 in Columbia and 552.1 in Chicago)
Chicago is obviously a very large and important city but for someone to come in this thread about an unfortunate crime that took place in Five Points and say it's an example of why they no longer live in Columbia when they now live in one of the highest-crime cities in the country is just crazy. What's next, will they go in the "corruption in Columbia" thread and also say that's an example of why they don't live here any more? This is all just too rich!
I agree. In Greenville's defense, those numbers only consider the city population of approximately 60,000 to 70,000 residents. The reality is that there are roughly 140,000 (perhaps more) additional people living in the city during the day and into the night, completely skewing the data. This fact must be taken into account in such cases where the City (<70,000) vs. County (>450,000) population discrepancy is so great.
Certainly. But remember that all three of those cities have factors that would skew those numbers. Columbia also has lots of non-resident students and people in close-in suburbs that could skew the numbers, and Chicago has 9.5 million people living in the metro, a huge number of whom travel into the city for work and play.
[quote=CarolinaBredChicagoan;19926531]Whoa, now. Let's don't start disparaging other cities, because it's all relative. I lived in Chicago for years, and the crime in Chicago is bad... but mostly in 5-6 neighborhoods, citywide. Most of it could be avoided. quote]
While trying to get back to Madison after a trade show in Chicago ( before days of GPS ) i took a few wrong turns in the eve and drove right by Cabrini Green.... and i had heard enough of that area to have every spot on my body "tighten up" as I tried to get the heck outta there.
But that is a good point of reference, it shows like any metro there will be areas that one just needs to avoid, but it shouldnt darken opinions of an entire city/area
While trying to get back to Madison after a trade show in Chicago ( before days of GPS ) i took a few wrong turns in the eve and drove right by Cabrini Green.... and i had heard enough of that area to have every spot on my body "tighten up" as I tried to get the heck outta there.
But that is a good point of reference, it shows like any metro there will be areas that one just needs to avoid, but it shouldnt darken opinions of an entire city/area
Yep. Cabrini's gone now. The high-rises, anyway. Last I heard, they were looking at putting a Target there. How things change....
But you get my point. This isn't a thread about Chicago, but every city has some rough corner. At least every city of any size.
Chicago is obviously a very large and important city but for someone to come in this thread about an unfortunate crime that took place in Five Points and say it's an example of why they no longer live in Columbia when they now live in one of the highest-crime cities in the country is just crazy. What's next, will they go in the "corruption in Columbia" thread and also say that's an example of why they don't live here any more? This is all just too rich!
It is interesting that the OP and the most habitual Columbia basher who are using this incident to paint Columbia poorly are from Greenville. It is in poor taste to use an incident like this to try and paint a city poorly. But, thanks to Carolinabred's post, the facts suggest exactly what I and others have said, this is not unique to Columbia.
I'm going to have to go back and read through the entire thread--after page 2 I jumped to page 9. But, because I'm pressed for time, I just want to say that for a person who has been out of the States for the past 12 years and just deciding last night that South Carolina (in general) and Columbia (in particular) might be the place where I want to return, I think I'd better do a lot more research before I make a final decision.
I've been researching several places to live in the States for a few months now and I finally determined that Columbia seemed to be a good place to raise my 13-month-old daughter. I was thinking that USC would be a great place for my wife to study and complete her degree and I would be able to teach. But, perhaps it's just wishful thinking.
One thing for sure--in case I do decide to move to Columbia, I definitely want to know where Five Points is so that I can avoid it.
The crime has nothing to do with my statement. I was referring the posts preceding mine with all the talk about gentrification and how it will help save Columbia, and the assumptions that low-income people are the only ones responsible for crime and that they are all like that.
It's the close-mindedness of so many people that I met in Columbia and that I see echoed here that make me glad to not live there any longer.
As far as crime in Chicago goes, yeah, obviously it's way worse. And no, it doesn't just happen in certain neighborhoods. There's more of it in certain neighborhoods, but it doesn't mean that you shouldn't expect it to happen in other places. Lately we've had plenty of incidents similar to this one occurring in neighborhoods a lot like Five Points (college kids, lots of bars, nightlife areas, etc). There are even more that people will never hear about. I'm sure the same is true in Columbia, but it seems a lot harder to hide there (in all honesty, that's a good thing, people here are so desensitized to crime that no one cares anymore, at least y'all care in Columbia.)
Calling me a Columbia-basher and then continuing to hate on Chicago is not making any difference. You're preaching to the choir. I will be out of Chicago and back in the south in a year, just not Columbia though I would choose it over Chicago in an instant.
It sounds like no matter where you live you're not going to like it.
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