Why New York neighborhoods are safer

Such citizen-fueled transformations are evident all over the city. In Jackson Heights, Queens, where prostitution was a persistent problem during the '90s, Ralph Moreno and his Jackson Heights Action Group got tired of waiting for police to act. So they started visiting prostitution houses to collect evidence to turn over to police. Within a year, the houses were put out of business.

"It's safer because we put a lot of pressure on the police precinct," he says. "And they've worked well with us."

Jackson Heights also has block watches and neighborhood patrols wearing bright orange vests. And like Mr. Curtis, Mr. Moreno says he's seen a change in the young people today. "Kids are more conscientious today. Say with graffiti, they now say, 'That's a crime. That's terrible,' " he says.

When Moreno does see kids and graffiti in the same place, he offers to pay the kids to help him clean it up. "I befriend them, and eventually some of them start to do well," he says.

Graffiti was also a major problem in Bushwick. Peter Martin says that every time he painted the wall outside the S&S Clothing Store where he works, the next day it would be covered by gang tags and kids' street names. Now, thanks in part to police's zero tolerance for even small crimes, that's changed.

Mr. Martin thinks the large influx of immigrant families into the neighborhood has also had an effect. Many bought houses that were built with subsidies. They were designed so that low-income families could begin to have a stake in their communities.

"There are more families here, and that's made a difference," he says, watching dozens of shoppers browse through the sweaters and coat racks as they get ready for the winter season.

There's no doubt that other factors have also played a role in the reduction of crime across the city. Sociologist Andrew Karmen says they include the sharply increased rates of incarceration, the waning of the crack epidemic, and the gentrification of neighborhoods like the East Village – once the home of the counterculture and revolts by the homeless.

All these factors have combined to make a difference. "Bushwick changed from a neighborhood where hope was impossible, to one in which positive things could be seen," says Rex Curry of the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development in Brooklyn. "Hope became something that at least seemed to be attainable."

From his perch behind the counter at Popular Hardware, Won Yoo sees that as well. While he notes that people are still dealing drugs just 10 blocks away, for now, he's pleased with his community. "Things are definitely better here. It affects everybody."

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