Few areas in the city have experienced as much change recently as Downtown, covered by the 1st Precinct, which stretches south from Houston Street west from Broadway, around the tip of Manhattan and up to the Brooklyn Bridge — and that's not just because of September 11.

SoHo galleries decamped for Chelsea long ago. As soon as TriBeCa cleared out its gangs of young miscreants arriving on the PATH train from New Jersey in the mid-1990s, it began attracting entrepreneurs and families. Similarly, Battery Park City soon became one of the most family-friendly neighborhoods in New York.

Of course, these changes came to a temporary halt after Sept. 11, 2001, when people left the area for fear of air pollution and a second attack. Then the financial crisis and recession put Downtown's nascent recovery on hold. But things are looking up. The Financial District (FiDi) is now less of a ghost town after Wall Street's closing bell, as many office buildings have been converted into apartments. Dive bars, strip clubs and low-end retailers are being replaced by trendy restaurants, luxury hotels and designer boutiques. Vacancies in all the neighborhoods have begun to fall, even as prices climb, and families are drawn again to TriBeCa and Battery Park City for the area's sought-after schools.

It's surprising, then, that Downtown ranks as only the 63rd safest area out of 69 neighborhoods for per capita crime in DNAinfo.com's Crime & Safety Report — even though major crimes have plummeted 79 percent in the 17 years to 2010, including a drop of 96 percent car theft, 89 percent in robbery, 81 percent in burglary and 82 percent in murder.