Ghettoization? When you look at Sunnyslope, 19th and Northern, Maryvale, etc. used to be mostly middle income blue collar neighborhoods. Decent places to buy a home and raise a family through the 60's to the 80's. In the 90's, this started to change as the neghborhoods became more Mexican in flavor, more properties became rentals, and a good degree of white flight took place to other areas of the Valley as the neighborhoods degraded in character.
Today? Won't catch me in those parts. Maybe during the day if I have to be there for some reason, but not at night. Gangbangers and crime. There are pockets of the same in Mesa and South Phoenix, but not to the same degree as the West Valley. I watch the local news and near daily there's a shooting or body found in an alley or street. And 90% of the time, it's in the West Valley area.
Don't have an answer for it or know how to fix it, but you are correct that it's not a safe place to be.
