Advice on Genesee River

I came across about some good reviews about the fishery at the Genesee river, supposedly it's a very wide river perfect for to swing flys with two handed rods. they say some of the biggest Great Lake steelhead ( there's a picture of renown Dec Hogan whit a huge steelhead on that river) The only thing is that the best place to swing flys is in the middle of a big City, that is kind of  like Newark NJ... i asked a Friend of my and he's heard people get rob there, and when his friend fishes that river he packs a gun... So, the question is this..has anyone ever fish there and if so, are the rumors true.
I'll appreciate any help, because I'll like to give it a try.
 

Its gotten much better in the lat couple of years. The city has cut back bushes and shrubs that shielded the crooks from sight. It is still the city though and the middle of what is called the cressent of crime. More people carry cell phones than glocks but both are present at most times.
That said it is a tremendous fishery and a big, often too big, river. The draw back is that while wide the fishable area is fairly short so crowding at times is a problem.
As for the big fish angle I personally released a steelhead  of 42 inches 4 or 5 years ago. 30 pounds?, I don't know because it swam away but I knbow it was real close if not. That day a friend and I landed a couple dozen fish fishing spey rods that may well have averaged 13-14 pounds. That was just before the lean years started. Thankfully numbers were back up a bit last year but the overall size was down.
If you want more details give me a PM and I will try to help with more specific info.