LoftSEVEN

The reason DTLA is safe

There was a very interesting discussion going on at blogdowntown the other day with a lot of locals talking about safety. The whole discussion was sparked by the email below:

My husband and I are moving to LA from the Bay Area. I should say back to LA, since both of us spent our childhoods there, but we’ve been gone a long time. We highly value walkability and since he’ll be working downtown (I’m still working on my dissertation–in communication, incidentally, so location is less important for me), we’re thinking about moving there. I’m nervous about safety, though. Do you have any thoughts on that issue, or can you point me to any good resources? I love to feel free to walk around, including after dark–not necessarily at 3 in the morning, but in the winter, after dark starts at 5.

When I moved to downtown almost 8 years ago, I thought I was going to get killed. If I hadn’t been escaping a house in the Valley with a bunch of crackhead actors, I NEVER would have moved down here. It helped that my best friend from high school had already survived a year in the building (Spring Towers), but still, I planned on getting in and out as quick as possible. No shocker that I had fallen in love after a few months, but I WAS still shocked to be alive. No one had even broken into my car. I figured after four years that I was playing with dice and had a shanking in my future.

But now I realize just how safe I am down here. Our crackheads really just want your change for some more crack (and not the dangerous kind who are also actors and live in the valley). They don’t carry guns (that shit is worth at least 20 hits of crack!). I kid…. kinda….But now the real reason (Thanks Hal Bastian for the actual facts) – it’s the freaking DOGS!!! No joke, everyone down here is walking dogs at all hours of the night, too many eyes and too many dogs make criminals look elsewhere for targets, so thanks Pussy n Pooch (think Broken Window Theory and Lassie). It’s almost 8 years now – still alive and well (and no friends with any problems either). And we have the dogs to thank for it.

- Josh