Detroit: The New and Improved #2 (and the New #1)

Morgan Quinto has released its list of the 25 most dangerous (and safest) American cities. Normally, I would be inclined to ask critical questions of such a list, probing its methodology and asking (for starters) "who the hell is Morgan Quinto?" But instead I'm struck by something that seems nearly karmic in its implications: Detroit, my hometown and the reigning most-dangerous champ has lost its throne to Camden, NJ, a city a good swim across the Delaware away from my Philly home (and where I momentarily but seriously considered moving this year).

Is it possible that my very presence somehow invites criminality? Less than three years of Tim in Philly has somehow deepened Camden's cesspool status, whereas Detroit, while not exactly recovered from 20-plus years of Tim (with the prerequisite racial tension, industrial decay, and Eddie Murphy movies), seems at least to be enjoying a respite from the Robocop-style chaos that once reigned in its streets. I have a deleterious effect on even relatively safe cities. When I lived in Oakland County, the lower burbs were spawning Eileen Wuornos, Jack Kevorkian, and Eminem. Now "Home of the Sloans" Troy, MI is the eleventh safest stateside city.

The alternative -- that I'm somehow drawn, either organically or electromagnetically, to civilization on its last legs, bears consideration. But I hope Philadelphia, currently in the midst of urban renewal, doesn't take notice and throw this Jonah overboard.