Beautifully put. I've noticed a lot of the barometer (if you will) for gauging peoples "feelings" of safety is if you're personally scared and/or uncomfortable with just the existence of homeless people. I live DTLA - 4 blocks off skid row - and I've never felt unsafe. Uncomfortable? Sure sometimes. Disheartened by the state of one of the richest cities in the world? Absolutely. But unsafe? never.
But if you equate homeless people near me = unsafe, then that's a different discussion.
Unsafe was 80's-90's Compton crack gang wars with machine gun drive-bys.
Unsafe is the current Baltimore or south side of Chicago.
The Tenderloin isn't anything remotely like that. Sure there are dealers on the street and people hawking stolen goods at the bus stops, but there doesn't seem to be violent unsafety.
But if you equate homeless people near me = unsafe, then that's a different discussion.