#4 Most Dangerous City in America

I get all my news from Yahoo! and Facebook, (our TV is soley for DVR'd kids shows, hockey playoffs and trashy reality shows), and both sources were abuzz with this little piece of information: New Haven, CT ranks #4 on the list of Americas Top 10 Most Dangerous Cities.  Full article here.

New Haven is right behind freaking Flint, MI Detroit and St. Louis.  It's that bad? Seriously?  That's just lovely. 

I would like to clarify that I do not live in New Haven, but in New Haven COUNTY.  I'm not a fan of going into New Haven only because I hate traffic and grid systems (one ways bother me, if I drive down one street I want to drive back on that same street!).  And no, I wouldn't walk around there too late at night, but I didn't think it was worthy of #4! 

I'm a Jersey Girl, and quite frankly, I'm surprised that none of Jersey's more nasty cities didn't make it on the list.

I love the area we live in, and we are a hop skip and a jump away from New Haven, maybe closer.  My degree (from the University of New Haven) is in Criminal Justice, and to be honest I think little of stories like this.  The area they are considering is so concentrated that I think it's unfair to paint such a bad picture on an entire city.  I mean, there are areas of New Haven I would sell a kidney to live in...seriously, I'd have to in order to afford these homes (I could probably find a buyer downtown)!

New Haven is a cultural melting pot, not to mention an area with historical value as well.  To be completely honest I have spent almost zero time there, and Nate and I have said several times we need to explore the city more, being so close to it and all.  But we really aren't much of city people to begin with, and on top of that we are total homebodies.

Why am I even writing this?  I'm not even sure.  Maybe because my blog has "New Haven" in the title.  Really, I'm just throwing it out there for anyone in the area or in another dangerous area.  Are the places to avoid? Absolutely.  Would I consider this when making a real estate decision? Totally.  Do I think media likes to put a scare into people? Oh, yes.  But really, anything can happen to anyone, anywhere.  Stay away from the sketchy places and you ought to increase your odds for safety.

And by the way- the number of murders for New Haven in 2010 was 22.  In Baltimore (#8 on the list) the number of murders in 2010 was 223.