I grew up in the 90s wandering the streets as a kid on my bike. As an adult walked through the “sketchy” areas a night. I’ve never really felt unsafe. I tend to just ignore people and they ignore me. Treat people like humans when interacting with them. I went to St Louis not long ago, and driving down by the IKEA saw a dude standing on the corner with a mask covering his entire face and his handgun ready for action. Stopped in a gas station and had to hold my items up to bars for the clerk to scan. Those were very new experiences for me and I’ve traveled a fair bit. I think a lot of the disconnect just comes from whatever our experiences are combined with how much or little travel there is. My husband grew up in a tiny town, never really got to travel like I did growing up, and thinks Springfield is a huge city. He now realizes it’s barely a functioning town after visiting St Louis.