I recently visited SF for the first time in like 10 years, I was surprised at how safe and clean everything appeared after reading these sorts of articles for years. I walked 40 miles over the course of a week doing touristy stuff and spent lots of time in lots of neighborhoods at day and night and it wasn't nearly as "scary" as everyone seems to think it is.

If anything Denver has more homeless per street, and they seem to be much more aggressive and/or unstable. The Mission District was pretty hip and relaxed in comparison.