Sprawled Out in Atlanta (Marietta, Kennesaw: cul-de-sac, middle-class, 2014)

[jsvh]

Sprawled Out in Atlanta - Rebecca Burns - POLITICO Magazine

“People went to suburbia for the American dream, and it became a nightmare”

And there’s a lot about Atlanta’s suburbs that isn’t working. Suburban poverty exploded here between 2000 and 2011, rising by 159 percent. Now, 88 percent of the region’s poor people live in suburbs.

In an apt metaphor for how the 2008 recession played out, the shopping center today does have a tenant, but it is not the upscale boutiques and restaurants envisioned by its developer; it’s the offices of MUST Ministries, a full-service nonprofit catering to the surprising hidden crisis unfolding in Cobb County, which for decades has been synonymous with Atlanta’s suburban affluence but now finds itself facing an epidemic of the very poverty its residents were determined to avoid when they moved out of the city. There’s a food pantry, a free clinic, a thrift shop and classrooms where people who never thought they would ask for help are working on résumés, scouring electronic job boards and strategizing about how to avoid foreclosure. MUST was founded 43 years ago, initially to serve teens and college kids in Marietta, the Cobb County seat. From its origins as a coffee house aimed at urban youth, MUST mushroomed to offices in eight counties in the northern Atlanta suburbs. Demand for its services has never been higher.

...

For suburban Atlanta, as in suburbia nationwide, this shift presents some vexing problems. Designed around a car-centric culture of single-family homes clustered in cul-de-sacs served by strip centers and shopping malls, and fueled by jobs reached by commuting to downtown or suburban office parks, suburbs like Cobb County have struggled to respond to denser populations, increased congestion and, as a result of the 2008 recession, a decline in the middle-class jobs that made it all possible. Suburban Atlanta voters, including in Cobb County, have consistently rejected mass transit that might relieve their car dependency. And county zoning ordinances have continued to favor single-family housing over denser development, exacerbating the problem for the poor who are clustered there in ever greater numbers.

...

Here’s the most complicated problem with poverty in the suburbs: It’s almost invisible. There are 86,000 people in Cobb County who live below the poverty level. But you could live in Cobb your whole life and never see them, or at least not knowingly. Cobb County covers 339 square miles and is home to 717,000 people. Its poor residents can be lost in the crowd—and lost in all that space.

Off the shoulder of the highway route to East Cobb and Cherokee County, a tent camp temporarily houses those who have outstayed their time at local homeless shelters. | Mark Peterson/Redux


Cobb County has long been a symbol of red-state suburban comfort, but in recent years, it has also become a symbol of the nationwide spike in suburban poverty. Above, an affluent home and a multi-family complex in the Atlanta suburb. | Mark Peterson/Redux

[workaholics]

Great article, I just skimmed the whole thing but hopefully I can read it more in depth later on. It's just funny that they use the picture on the left as an example of a typical Cobb county home- maybe that was typical in the 19th century!

[bhammaster]

Man, writers love attacking the sprawl of this city. You would think the Atlanta metro is the only major city that sprawls.

[DJDeadParrot]

Oh look, another thread about sprawl around Atlanta.

Anyone want popcorn while I'm up?

[sammy87]

I lived in Kennesaw for a while, it was a nice area but over the course of 2 years it started to get run down and crime increasing. Driving N through Cobb county you feel like a slow wave has slowly run down the area. Marietta was probably nice 20 yrs ago, and some parts still are, but people left moved N to Kennesaw, now look at Woodstock. Its like 30+miles N of ATL and its a developing area.

[DaBurgh]

Politico
LOL

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by bhammaster

Man, writers love attacking the sprawl of this city. You would think the Atlanta metro is the only major city that sprawls.

It's quite possibly the most sprawled big city metro in the entire world. Why would they NOT focus on Atlanta?

[sammy87]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

It's quite possibly the most sprawled big city metro in the entire world. Why would they NOT focus on Atlanta?

Doesn't seem any worse than DFW or Houston.

[JoeTarheel]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

It's quite possibly the most sprawled big city metro in the entire world. Why would they NOT focus on Atlanta?

Nope...there are many cities that sprawl more than Atlanta if you're just looking at area. Atlanta is not the largest by far.

Everyone knows that this cannot be discussed on this site without bitter disagreement. It's a very old, tired subject that some people will immediately jump on to start an argument.

[Iconographer]

Oh, a sprawl thread. Resume napping. ZZZZZZZ...