The answer to Monday's quiz is #2. At an Operation Better Block meeting Saturday, Pittsburgh Chief of Police Nate Harper said, "We have to get the word out here that Homewood is safe; that the East End is safe."

He made that statement based on the statistics that the department compiles monthly. The chart below shows some of those statistics; namely, the numbers of what are called Class 1 offenses. That category includes murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft (including vehicle theft), arson, drugs, prostitution and gun offenses. If you look at the large bars on the right, you will see that the total number of all of those offenses put together for the 12 months ending April 30, was 15 percent lower than the total for the previous 12 months.

The smaller bars compare each month's figures with those for the same month a year earlier. For instance, the first pair of bars shows that in May 2007, part 1 offenses were 47 percent higher than in May 2006.

But here is the news in the chart: in every single month after that, the total number of offenses dropped. That's 11 months of continuing decline in offenses.

But wait, there's more: The dotted lines in the upper half of the chart show what the trend has been for the past two years. The darker line indicates that a slight declining trend from May 2006 through April 2007; the lighter line indicates a stronger declining trend from May 2007 through April 2008.

In other words, crime has been declining in Homewood for at least two years now.

Now, Zone 5 is more than Homewood. But Chief Harper specifically commended Homewood for its improvement, saying, "With the crime stats the way they are, businesses should be beating down the door to come here."

And that was when he added, "We have to get the word out here that Homewood is safe; that the East End is safe."

When an Ernest Tolliver or a Christopher Evans dies a senseless death at the hands of knuckleheads with guns, the horror of the event can overwhelm us. Even one such death will always be too many. But in order for Homewood to recover its potential, the neighborhood must not only reduce crime. It must also become known as a neighborhood that is reducing crime.

Some folks may say that it is the media's responsibility to make that known, to put the word out. Well, you're reading the media right now. Don't hold your breath waiting for a front-page story, folks. Instead, in your own thinking, try replacing this:

Homewood = crime

with this:

Homewood = crime reduction.

Then, if you want to help Homewood, you can do this: spread the word. Gossip about the good news.

Or if you're not the gossipy kind, just do this: email the link for this post to five or 10 of the most influential people you know (you know, people who talk a lot and who other people actually listen to), and let them spread the word - crime is dropping in Homewood.

And houses are still dirt-cheap.