Philadelphia has developed this reputation: Killadelphia or something like it.

In a prominent New York Times profile of Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams last week,  the city was described as having been “battered for years by the worst sort of superlatives — the highest murder rate, the lowest conviction rate.”

What a damaging and sweeping comment that when reiterated and reinterpreted across media — that Philadelphia has been “battered” by having the “highest murder rate,” of what, well, they won’t say — can dramatically impact how the Cradle of Liberty is seen nationally.

Williams is supposed to be a part of a “sea change” in the city’s role of prosecuting criminals — a major Philadelphia Inquirer investigation found, as the Times reported, that “the city had failed to obtain convictions in two-thirds of cases involving violent crimes, and that thousands of cases were dismissed because prosecutors were not prepared or witnesses did not appear.”

So, yes, Philadelphia has a problem convicting criminals and crime is certainly a major sticking point for people living in cities (though I’ll add that violent crime is down nationally and many inner-ring suburbs have been battling increases in gangs and drugs and crime since the 1990s). And this ‘Killadelphia’ reputation doesn’t help… but how accurate the name is remains a point of contention here.

Three points

1. The overwhelming number of murders are targeted — as I read in a 2007 column from the Inquirer’s Tom Ferrick. Though I can’t quite recreate that point in existing literature or research offhand, it’s intuitive enough that the chances of you catching a stray or being gunned down are quite a bit less likely than we often think. In our cities, mostly poor black boys are killing poor black boys.
2. The overwhelming number of murders happen in neighborhoods most educated, relatively privileged people aren’t going to live. See this 2007 map from the Inquirer.
3. The sense of what cities are most dangerous, or at least most murder-ridden, is a remarkable marketing game.

Killadelphia’s real rap is being the most dangerous big city — with the highest murder and violent crime rates of the country’s 10 largest cities. But it’s hardly the most violent of big cities when taking in to account all of those with a quarter million people or more.

As seen in the chart above, according to 2008 figures, Pittsburgh — often lauded as a functioning, safe Midwest city — has a higher per capita murder rate than Philadelphia — yes, Pittsburgh. So does Washington D.C. St. Louis has double the murder rate and almost always lauded — the music! the food! — New Orleans has nearly three times the rate, though, yes, the post-Katrina apocolypse likely has quite a bit to do with those numbers.

There are two details that need to be settled. First, as all of the country’s crime statistic-collecting agencies are very quick to remind us, crime numbers are just crime numbers. They reflect a sea of variables and are complex matters that no one has actually entirely figured out.

Secondly, Philadelphia — and all U.S. cities — need to aspire to more. Philadelphia ought not settle with being the most violent of the country’s largest cities. With Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, Philadelphia is easily the most culturally significant of American urban centers so it should be far easier for it, like the rest, to be safer than its peers.

It’s just worth noticing how misrepresented these figures can be.

But the skew of violent crime — this perception — so interests me and will surely affect the development of all our cities.

Last month, a study from the Brookings Institution was a major news story.

White flight? In a reversal, America’s suburbs are now more likely to be home to minorities, the poor and a rapidly growing older population as many younger, educated whites move to cities for jobs and shorter commutes. [Source]

It’s complicated of course: new immigration trends chasing a different American dream, people of color from cities doing the same, white families from inner-ring suburbs moving farther from cities and younger white people moving back into those same cities (like me).

But it got me thinking about perceptions.

About how often someone who grew up in the latter half of the 20th century would disparage and dismiss our American cities as unlivable — tourist attractions amid pits and ghettos. No matter that the Brookings report suggests a larger percentage of country’s poor are now in the suburbs.

The suburban poor grew by 25 percent between 1999 and 2008 – five times the growth rate of the poor in cities. City residents are more likely to live in “deep” poverty, while a higher share of suburban residents have incomes just below the poverty line. [Source]

The report was promoted under the guise that our country needs to rethink its evaluation of our cities. That sometime in the 1950s, young white people started leaving cities for a new lifestyle. For 60 years, populations of every kind have followed what our country’s most able residents did then. Something has flipped and the speed with which it happens has everything to do with perception.

It’s funny that the two things that seem to most often keep people from living in our cities — crime and schools — are two things that are perhaps most impacted by one’s population.

If Philadelphia had 2.1 million residents (like in 1950), including a healthy swath of working families (no matter their race, religion or creed), its crime rate and public school success would be quite a bit different, I’d say.

I’d guess jobs to be the third most popular reason someone might move away from the cities. Residents and tax dollars and safer streets would impact them too.

Change is go’n come in our cities but how quickly we respond to those changes will make all the difference.

This is a conversation I’ve had too many times.

I am in Washingto D.C. today, the day after Martin Luther King day, for the inauguration of Barack Obama. While I will have much more to say on that in coming days, being here reminded me of how often we in the mid-Atlantic take for granted what we have: five of the most influential cities in the country and among the more meaningful in the world.

All Americans have relative access to them, but the densest collection of our residents can visit Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore or Washington D.C. for the weekend.

While many like to point to the availability of train access between historic European cities, the age of Middle Eastern and Asian metropolises and the culture of South American and African urban centers, I can’t help but think there is something meaningful here.

The United States is the world’s greatest exporter of culture and five of our most powerful hubs are all within eight hours.

Do you take advantage of that? If you aren’t in the region or even the country, am I overselling what I have?

Boston

Why do I care?:
Population: 608,352
Size: 89.6 sq mi
Nickname: Beantown
Symbol:
Sports Teams: Celtics, Bruins, Red Sox, Patriots
Universities: Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern University, UMass-Boston
Famed Newspaper(s): Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Herald
Famed Corporation(s): Dunkin Donuts,
Famed Citizens: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Mark Wahlberg, John F. Kennedy Jr.
Phrases to help fake you’re a local: “I’m from Wahdatown Mass!”

New York

Why do I care?: U.S. Cultural Capital
Population: 8,274,527
Size: 468.9 sq mi
Nickname: Big Apple; City that Never Sleeps
Symbol: Statue of Liberty
Sports Teams: Yankees and Mets, Giants and Jets (in name), Knicks, Rangers
Universities: New York University, Columbia University, Fordham University, Fashion Institute
Famed Newspaper(s): New York Times, New York Post and New York Daily News and Village Voice
Famed Corporation(s): Dunkin Donuts,
Famed Citizens: Adam Sandler, Rudy Giuliani, Frank Sinatra, Norman Rockwell
Famed Music: Jay-Z, Billy Joel
Big Money: John D. Rockefeller
Food: Pizza, nuts, Italian ice
Phrases to help fake you’re a local:

Philadelphia

Why do I care?: U.S. Historical Capital
Population: 1,449,634
Size: 135 sq mi
Nickname: City of Brotherly Love; Illadelph
Symbol: Liberty Bell
Sports Teams: Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and 76ers
Major Universities: University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Drexel University, and La Salle University
Famed Newspaper(s): Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Tribune
Famed Corporation(s): Comcast, QVC, Vanguard, Slinky
Famed Citizens: Bill Cosby, Bob Saget, Joe Fraizer, Tina Fey, Ben Franklin
Famed Music: The Roots; Hall & Oates; Paul Robeson; Beanie Sigel; Man Man; Dr. Dog; Jill Scott
Big Money: Stephen Girard
Food: Cheesesteaks, soft pretzels, water ice, Tastykakes
Phrases to help fake you’re a local:

Baltimore

Why do I care?: History; National Aquarium
Population:637,455
Size: 80.8 sq mi
Nickname: Charm City
Symbol: Waterfront
Sports Teams: Ravens, Orioles,
Major Universities: University of Maryland, Loyola University
Famed Newspaper(s): Baltimore Sun
Famed Corporation(s):
Famed Citizens: Ray Lewis, Cal Ripken Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Frederick Douglass
Famed Music: Toni Braxton
Food: Crab cakes
Phrases to help fake you’re a local:

Washington D.C.

Why do I care?: U.S. Political Capital
Population: 588,292
Size: 68.3 sq mi
Nickname:
Sports Teams: Redskins, Nationals, Wizards
Universities: George Washington University, American University and Howard University
Famed Newspaper(s): Washington Post and Washington Times
Famed Corporation(s):
Famed Citizens: “Sugar” Ray Leonard; Colin Powell;  Sojourner Truth
Famed Music: Marvin Gaye Duke Ellington
Phrases to help fake you’re a local:

OK, plus, having grown up in New Jersey, I had to add the Garden State.

New Jersey

Why do I care?: U.S. Political Capital
Population: 8,685,920
Size: 8,729 sq mi
Nickname: Garden State
Sports Teams: Devils, Nets (for now); Jets and Giants (really!)
Major Universities: Rutgers University; The College of New Jersey and Montclair University
Famed Newspaper(s): Newark Star-Ledger
Famed Corporation(s): Wyeth and every other pharmaceutical company known to man
Famed Citizens: Jon Stewart
Famed Music: Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean
Phrases to help fake you’re a local:

So for those nearby appreciate being so near to so many distinct cultures. Those outside of it, let me know how excessive this all is.

What did I miss?