An article in the latest Atlantic Monthly explores a sobering explanation for why crime rates are falling in big cities and urban cores, but getting worse in formerly peaceful suburbs. The theory is that  well-intentioned efforts to demolish public housing projects has dispersed criminal activity to other parts of town. 

In her research, Suresh noticed a recurring pattern, one that emerged first in the late 1990s, then again around 2002. A particularly violent neighborhood would suddenly go cold, and crime would heat up in several new neighborhoods. In each case, Suresh has now confirmed, the first hot spots were the neighborhoods around huge housing projects, and the later ones were places where people had moved when the projects were torn down. From that, she drew the obvious conclusion: “Crime is going along with them.”

So far, Tampa's crime statistics are fairly rosy, but there are many public housing units still slated for demolition. If you want to see a public official squirm, try asking for a comment on this.