The Bay Area is now home to two of the top ten most dangerous cities: Oakland (fourth) and Richmond (ninth). Oakland was ranked eighth last year.CQ Press published the annual rankings based on several statistics: homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft.Oakland officials have already come out and cited several problems with the study. This all sounds like the usual commotion that arises every time someone is placed at the bottom—or top—of some ranking system (e.g. U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges”).The Clog cannot imagine this news affecting Berkeley students, who have long treated Oakland as a leper colony. The closest most students get to setting foot in Oakland during the semester is walking across the platform at the MacArthur BART station to transfer to the San Francisco train.As for Richmond, the Clog can’t name one thing located in the city other than Costco. As long as the gangbangers consider Costco a neutral zone, we all should be just dandy.The report also included a list of America’s safest cities. San Jose, which was perched atop these rankings last year, slipped to third behind Honolulu and El Paso. Seriously, El Paso? That must sting the pride of San Jose dwellers.Image Source: David Corby under Creative CommonsOakland 4th-most perilous U.S. city [Oakland Tribune]San Jose loses title of safest big city in America, falls to third [Oakland Tribune]