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Notes -
Not in the suburbs! I know OP was focused on city living, but still, I want to put a good word in for my preferred environment. Source: I live in a suburb, not even a particularly expensive one (by Bay Area standards anyway), and it's blissfully isolated from all manner of city problems, including a wide swathe of undesirables undertaking undesirable behavior. One perk of the car-centric setup is that you need to minimally have your shit together to own a car, and it wouldn't be practical to live here without one. (For whatever reason the hooligans who steal vehicles don't penetrate here often — perhaps it's not a particularly lucrative environment for thievery?)
The suburban version of hobos rummaging through your trash is the metal scavengers getting out earlier than the trash truck on bulk pickup day. They tend to not leave as much of a mess though.
Those guys perform an actual public service, as they take larger metal items the trash collectors won't.
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