Steve Novella, from the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, has described how he has had bear visitors to his deck more frequently recently than ever before. He aggravates the situation by having bird feeders, because he is a bird guy. He called his local parks and conversation department (whatever it's called in Connecticut) and they said basically yeah, when a bear moves in there's nothing you can do. You're in bear territory now.
If you're not on edge, you're taking up too much space.
This is very true, but there is an additional factor - that bears can be driven from their regular areas by development, basically removing their food sources, so they go looking elsewhere. Suburbs are a good place for bears to find food, so that's where they go.
If you're not on edge, you're taking up too much space.