But isn't the Third Side much more work?

It has been noted that cities with the highest crime rates are "liberal" cities. 

Yes, and the bulk of the populace expresses that via voting for empathic human social safety nets, which helps both the deserving poor and the criminal poor. We know that. 

The Third Side challenge is to have both empathic social services and robust law enforcement, which would feature restorative justice and rehabilitation in proven ways to reduce recidivism. We can be both empathic and strong on law and order. 

The ongoing challenge is that cities with strong social safety nets constantly attract new people from elsewhere who need that, some of whom prey on others. It's much more work to be a successful liberal city than a lock-em-up or light-em-up rightwing city. But many of us feel it's worth the work.