Cleveland, Ohio, the 10th "Most Dangerous" City

According to 13st annual Morgan Quitno Press rankings of the "Most Dangerous Cities" in America, Cleveland Ohio was ranked number 10. This is a harsh reality for those of us leaving in Cleveland Ohio, but can we argue with this ranking? Cleveland is unfortunately known for our bad reputation and losing sports teams, but is Cleveland an unsafe place to live?

I think that's its unfair statement to mark the entire city of Cleveland as dangerous, but the lack of economic growth is spreading like a cancer. Many big cities have areas that are "Run Down" or "Low Income," and this is were crime seems to live. When a city has lost major sources of income these areas become larger and larger until the disease consumers the entire city. So what cause's this devouring disease?

Any large city that has lost substantial work dooms the people in the community to failure. Company's leave and take with them jobs, money, and property value. Without money and pride in your city a thick disparity sets in, and some people take risks they wouldn't take in normal circumstances. Crime can increase when people have no means of income and are forced to literally scrape, and fight to survive. Does this make it ok to shoot someone and take their wallet? Of course not, but when do the leaders stop watching the problem and start fixing it?

It's true city leaders can't take 100% of the fall for criminals, but they have contributed to the problem. When you hear the word crime the first thing that should come to my mind is police. In resent years a majority of the Cleveland Police force has been laid-off. With not enough police officers to fight crime how do we stop it? Crime is an issue for many different reasons and problems that variety between cities. Stop the poverty, and you'll stop the crime.