Honestly, NYC has gotten better as a whole, but there are certain parts you just don't go.
My friend won't leave his home in Flatbush past 10:30, the Taxis leave and don't reenter the area after 11, and cops are nowhere to be found.
Just walking through there can get you shot. And it's not even the worst spot. There's still most off the rest of Brooklyn and the South Bronx.
Hell, just Saturday my step-sister had a gun pulled on her for a parking space.