The ridiculous violence in N.O.

Maybe grown up was the wrong choice of words. Maybe "changed" would have been better. I don't know. You're right there are things to do on a gameday. But other than Saints gameday or work, I find myself rarely travelling into the city. I find myself spending the weekeneds working in yard and bringing my oldest son to baseball games/practice. So, yeah, I take back the "grown up" wording.

Right - and there isn't anything wrong with that. Everyone just has different priorities and interests.

But I just find it somewhat disingenuous to say that the city is just so much more dangerous than it ever has been, and going into the city in general is just way too much of a risk.

I don't see it like that at all. I hear my parents make similar arguments, but I think that this is what happens when every single incident is blasted all over NOLA.com, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Everyone hears about it, everyone keeps hearing about it, so people seem to think that it is happening much more than it used to, but the statistics don't really back that up.

Crime is a serious problem out there. Yeah, it does tend to happen in some random places, but that has always been the case. There was never some time in history where random crime didn't happen in decent neighborhoods or busy intersections. People just don't remember them, because they were infrequent, just like they are now.

I still think, by and large, people that aren't involved with illegal activity are still basically as safe as they ever were in the city.

Personally, I love living in New Orleans, and feel like the rewards greatly outweigh the risks, as much now as it ever has.