I voted safe most of the time.  

One loves to posess arms, though they hope to never have occassion for them.

Thomas Jefferson to George Washington 1796

I voted that it's safe for ME, but I don't mean because of my protection or martial arts or whatever. It's safe for me because:

1) I don't feel threatened by people in need. This is based largely on my upbringing (thanks, Mom and Dad!) and my work at Bread and Roses. It is uncomfortable for me, as for many, to be around the severely mentally ill, to stand next to somebody who needs something I have and not give it to them, to hear in my head the awful judgments about addiction and bad relationships and everything else that I tell myself to justify the disparity between my own situation and others'. That said, it does not frighten me, and I do not feel threatened.

2) I personally know many people downtown--business owners and employees, regular coffee drinkers and beer drinkers and poets and hangers-out, homeless folks and walking patrol cops and residents. I am confident that the intricate web of social relationships that we build protects us more than guns or karate, that being able to reference common acquaintances, be recognized, or ask for help by name is the surest way to protect ourselves. That guy in the alley, who many passers-by assume is doing drugs or peeing, knows me. If someone tried to assault me, chances are that guy would be like, "Hey mister, leave Meta alone!" This is something I have intentionally cultivated, and it is reciprocal. It is my most valuable possession.

3) I don't have any really valuable stuff. The stuff that I have that is resellable is also replaceable, and not worth anybody's physical harm.

4) It's boring to be scared. I have enough things to be scared of, including hellfire, the eventual (?) contraction of the universe, farting in front of people (the list goes on...). I really don't need to look for things to add to that.

EDIT: Oh yeah, thanks Chia. I was so focused on myself, I forgot to add that it's a really unsafe place for some people, and many of those people who are in real danger of actual harm, are the ones everyone else is afraid of. Go figure. 

...safety in the imediate, physical sense which i think Meta said everything i could have thought about but there's also safety in the long tern, psychological sense. For instance, with no grocery store I can afford to shop at downtown, I feel downtown may not be the same for much longer, thus the culture I love about it is threatened and unsafe, so to speak.

Lord knows we have a developer happy city council. I'm constantly worried about whether the landmarks that make Olympia special have much longer to be around.

The only time I felt physically unsafe downtown I was being pepper sprayed by Olympia's one and only actual gang.