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From certain angles, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ looks like a flaming progressive city.

Like from Lake Havasu City.

Or from the historic center of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

But from either of those angles, it’s a misperception, a distortion caused by the particular politics of that place. The results of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ city election that ended Tuesday showed this.

Example A was the vote on the so-called sanctuary initiative, Proposition 205. For some months I’ve wondered aloud, including on social media, whether it isn’t the kind of idea popular in the part of town that considers itself the heart of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, but not so popular in the vast acreage sprawling east, south and north from downtown.

This part of town is what I call the streetcar corridor — from the university, down North Fourth Avenue, through and around downtown over to the near west side. This is the area that is home to much of the artistic creativity that characterizes the city — the murals, the galleries, the writers, the musicians. The area is essential to what makes ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ more than a long series of commercial strips. It’s an area that gets a lot of attention.

But it is also atypical of the city as a whole. The bulk of the Old Pueblo’s population lives in square mile after square mile of single-family homes, mobile home parks and apartment complexes stretching out in all directions. It’s a varied populace, much more Democratic than Republican, but surprisingly mainstream, especially if you’re looking at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ from a fortified bunker in Lake Havasu, expecting us to foment revolution.

From the streetcar corridor, the idea of giving the middle finger to the state Legislature and declaring ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ a sanctuary city seemed like a natural choice. We should take risks to support the undocumented neighbors who need our help, supporters argued, even if it means facing the wrath of the Republican majority at the state Capitol. Besides, they said, the initiative was carefully written not to violate state law. (This was arguably true, though the Legislature would undoubtedly have changed state law to punish us.)

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ as a whole, though, didn’t find supporters persuasive. In fact, an analysis by my colleagues at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ shows the only area of the city that voted for the sanctuary initiative was precisely the streetcar corridor — the area including the university, downtown and adjacent neighborhoods. Even the south and west sides, the centers of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s Mexican-American community, voted “no.â€�