The District's Danger Zone?

Near Southeast is not a convincingly dangerous neighborhood

The most dangerous neighborhoods list for 2010 is about five years too late.

WalletPop, an AOL consumer blog, listed D.C.'s Near Southeast neighborhood among its top 25 most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation.

The same Near Southeast where new luxury condos are rising? Where the Latrobe Gate stands? Does the danger extend fully to Nationals Ballpark? Did no one tell the developers of Yards Park?

According to WalletPop, that's the most dangerous neighborhood -- the same Near Southeast that hasn't recorded a homicide since 2005.

The news isn't good, WalletPop reports. On the main page, it says that a resident's chance of falling victim to a violent crime is 1 in 9.

On the NeighborhoodScout report page (from which WalletPop culled its data), for some reason, Navy Yard residents fare a little better: Their chances of being subjected to felony crimes is 1 in 14.

But that's still pretty grim. It's also far removed from the actual experience of D.C. residents, who not only know more dangerous neighborhoods to avoid, but who don't yet live in Navy Yard in great numbers.

According to Southeast blogger Jacqueline Dupree, assaults with a deadly weapon have roughly fallen since 2005. Granting some variance from year to year, burglary, robbery, and stolen automobile rates have plunged since 2006.

Dupree speculates that higher (read: any) homicide rates before 2004 and low population density might lead an outsider looking at old data to call Near Southeast one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the nation.

Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells knows well enough that this isn't accurate. "Dr. Andrew Schiller's team at NeighborhoodScout.com r idiots," the Councilmember tweeted.

On the brightside, NeighborhoodScout ranks the Navy Yard neighborhood as more trendy than 75 percent of U.S. cities.

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