You can walk around downtown/Uptown at dark. The crime, especially murder, is not spread evenly around the city. There are neighborhoods that experience flash points quite often -- as is the case in most cities.

Oakland, for reasons unique to Oakland, did not benefit from the move-back-to-downtown movement of the 90s-on that turned around city cores like Chicago. Still, Oakland's downtown is so small and geographically special that another strong wave of residential building will turn it around quicker than other cities. I'd argue we are already witnessing the run...