The night the cops raided the apartment below us, we no longer felt safe here.

My girlfriend’s apartment building is in a city neighborhood that not too long ago was relatively peaceful and stable. But that has eroded in recent years, and the signs that this is a “transitional” neighborhood are not subtle.

Shootings, armed robberies, assaults at all hours of the day and night. Not on a regular basis, but often enough to be unsettling. All just a few streets from us.

We look out the window and see trash strewn on lawns, including ours. There’s often broken glass in our parking lot. We frequently have to put up with noisy, inconsiderate neighbors.

Most weeks, we take care of all the trash and recycling because few tenants think to take it to the curb on pickup day. If we don’t, it just sits next to the building and attracts squirrels and…