I'm sorry but what he has described isn't the downtown that I've experienced. I spend a lot of time downtown at all hours and I have not felt unsafe. Dude sounds dramatic and like he has only experienced downtown by watching the news.

There are common areas of concern, e.g., violence and poverty, but our reactions could not be more different.

His discussion of NYC was also peculiar. I think he thought it offered contrast but, instead, it just seemed like he forgot that he was writing about Pittsburgh.