Is Center City safe? What crime stats won’t tell you.

Soon after I moved to Center City in 2021, a stranger approached me on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. As he passed me, he stopped long enough to glare and spit in my face.

Another night, a mysterious man followed me and my dog home from Love Park. My protective dog, Gabby, first noticed the man behind us, and she positioned her body so she was between me and him. I moved with Gabby into the doorway of a nearby, well-lit apartment building. Rather than scurry off, the man walked across the street and leaned against a wall for 15 minutes, watching us. We stayed put until, eventually, he walked away.

Once, in the early evening, children playing with blocks in Love Park began to throw them at Gabby in an effort to provoke her. When I asked them to stop, they aimed the toy blocks in my direction.

A week or so ago, I fell while walking across JFK Boulevard on my way to the farmers’ market in Rittenhouse Square. No one stopped to help; a man simply walked by. Two women asked if I was OK, but didn’t come close to see if I needed help. I managed to get up on my own even though my pants were torn and both knees were badly skinned.

But the scariest moment I experienced after I moved downtown occurred when dozens of all-terrain vehicles and motorized carts roared down Broad Street one afternoon. One of the drivers veered onto the sidewalk and tried to chase me — a 69-year-old woman — as his fellow riders laughed.

» READ MORE: A vibrant Center City benefits all Philadelphians | Editorial

A great debate is underway in Philadelphia: Is Center City safe?

The correct answer, of course, is yes and no.

Those who answer the question with a yes tend to consult police reports on property crimes and violent crimes for guidance. They point to studies that examine data on property and violent crime rates, like the April one by the Brookings Institution, which showed that Center City is “remarkably safe,” and crime is not on the rise.

I would agree that, compared with other neighborhoods, Center City is relatively safe, with its brightly lit thoroughfares and private security personnel who keep watch to protect businesses and their customers. Since November 2020, the Center City District has deployed a bicycle patrol to support restaurants, cultural institutions, museums, and the like. Its community service representatives also patrol spots of downtown, acting as “the eyes and ears for the police.”

But public safety extends beyond academic data about murder, apartment break-ins, and assaults. The central question is: Do people feel safe as they work, shop, run errands, visit restaurants, or just sit quietly in a park?

In other words, how safe a neighborhood is has less to do with official crime statistics, and more to do with how people feel living and working there.

I didn’t report any of the incidents I experienced in Center City to the police, and even if I did, they wouldn’t be included in statistics about property theft and violent crime. So when I hear business leaders saying people who believe Center City isn’t safe have a “perception” problem, I wonder why they see the majesty of Center City yet are so blind to its flaws.

My concerns about Center City prompted me to move last summer to Fairmount — a distance of one mile. Here, I have found more joyful street encounters and greater peace of mind. I have not had one unsafe or scary encounter on the street since I moved here.

According to crime statistics from the last month, Fairmount has about half the rate of violent crime as Center City, but roughly similar levels of property crime. But in Fairmount, I am not out there on my own — residents are walking alongside me as I carry groceries from the store, large numbers of students are heading to schools and to Community College of Philadelphia, and there are coffee shops galore, trendy nail salons, and places where neighbors gather. With all the walkers on the streets, it feels much safer than Center City.

Now, when I pass a stranger, they often smile and say hello. There is greater diversity of age and race, and it feels more like a neighborhood. When I was looking for apartments, I had to wait in the lobby of one building for the agent. The nice young man at the front desk immediately changed the music playing to Sade and Earth, Wind and Fire. As I exited the building, I teased him, asking if he had changed the music for me. He replied, “I thought it would make you feel more at home.”

We should never underestimate the power of cultural competence, which can include the ability to make strangers and visitors feel special, appreciated, and welcomed. In Fairmount, I feel as though I belong.

I feel as though I belong.

The bottom line is the crime rate doesn’t necessarily tell you how safe a neighborhood is. Wealthy neighborhoods are not always ideal places to live. And poor neighborhoods can provide surprising encounters and experiences. Residents have to look beyond crime stats to determine if it is a place where you could be happy.

Our new Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel’s recent comments about crime in Philadelphia have given me reason to hope that our officials will eventually recognize the disconnect between official crime statistics and how safe a neighborhood feels to the people who live there. He noted that while he’s working to reduce major crimes and violence, he’s also trying to restore a sense of “order” to the city. That could include tackling problems that may not be officially tracked but affect how people perceive their neighborhoods, such as selling drugs and corner gambling. “Let’s take the law out of it — just order,” he told The Inquirer recently. “All of this stuff is happening and people are looking at us like, ‘Don’t you see what I see?’”

That is precisely the question I had been asking officials during the two years I lived in Center City.

Instead of employers, business leaders, and residents spending time trying to “educate” the residents who are raising valid concerns about how safe Center City is, they should publicly join with other neighborhoods to solve the underlying issues of crime — poverty, untreated trauma, underfunded schools, the lack of affordable housing, and the need for safe hangout spaces and life-changing opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

Center City will be safe when every Philadelphian has reason to feel that a better future lies ahead.

Linda S. Wallace, a former real estate editor and reporter at The Inquirer, is a blogger who writes about diversity and belonging on her blog, Cultural IQ.