The Bluff: Atlanta's Forgotten Community (Roswell, Washington: section 8, real estate, apartments)
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I found this news story interesting. When I first moved to Atlanta, my GPS led me through this neighborhood by accident, at 12:30 at night! I turned down another wrong street, and I ran over some debris in the street, I ended up with a flat tire in "The Bluff"! Without stopping, I was able to make it to Northside Drive but I had damaged the tire rim, pretty bad!
Well, I think that WXIA is being a bit dramatic...I mean, the reporter actually says things happen in the houses that would "sicken me."
Like what? Are they kidnapping children and then raping them before sacrificing them to Satan?
Mostly it's just drugs and prostitution. Okay, I don't want that in my neighborhood, but it doesn't sicken me. Anyway, I have been to this area a few times, mostly for housing auctions a couple of years ago just to see what was available. It's true that the area is in pretty bad shape, but there are also a lot of nice people just trying to live. I parked on the street a couple of blocks away from the auction site and walked and didn't have any problems. Of course, it was the middle of the day.
The report is correct in that the houses are in horrible shape, which is why I didn't buy one. I don't have enough know how to fix a house that has had the plumbing and wiring literally ripped out of the walls, and they all have that kind of damage. It's really sad, too, because you can probably tell from the video that there are some really great houses there that just need some attention.
I was also amazed by how prime the real estate was. It has immediate and traffic free access to downtown, 285 isn't that far away, and you can easily get to Georgia Tech, midtown, and you literally have skyline views everywhere you look. It's a terrible waste. I couldn't help thinking that all the area really needs is about 2000 gay men to move in and in a year you'd have million dollar homes as far as the eye could see.
Part of the problem is that Vine City is the heroin hub of the entire southeast. I have always heard that it is a heroin distribution center and it all comes in there, gets sorted, and goes out to other places. We're not just talking pot dealers and crack....heroin is heavy duty, and a major distribution hub would be hard to move out. Still, I think the gays could definitely do it if only they would move in en masse (but they won't).
I don't really see much hope for the area, because even if the city takes houses through eminent domain, what are they going to do with them then? Sink tons of money into them getting them ready for occupancy? It's going to take a large community of people to decide they want cheap homes in a potentially great area and just figure they'll buy a gun, get a couple of pitbulls, and see if they can make it work. I just don't think many people are THAT urban pioneering. Why would they when places like East Atlanta still have a way to go and you can get in there for cheap and the potential is much easier to see.
Well, I think that WXIA is being a bit dramatic...I mean, the reporter actually says things happen in the houses that would "sicken me."
Like what? Are they kidnapping children and then raping them before sacrificing them to Satan?
Mostly it's just drugs and prostitution. Okay, I don't want that in my neighborhood, but it doesn't sicken me. Anyway, I have been to this area a few times, mostly for housing auctions a couple of years ago just to see what was available. It's true that the area is in pretty bad shape, but there are also a lot of nice people just trying to live. I parked on the street a couple of blocks away from the auction site and walked and didn't have any problems. Of course, it was the middle of the day.
The report is correct in that the houses are in horrible shape, which is why I didn't buy one. I don't have enough know how to fix a house that has had the plumbing and wiring literally ripped out of the walls, and they all have that kind of damage. It's really sad, too, because you can probably tell from the video that there are some really great houses there that just need some attention.
I was also amazed by how prime the real estate was. It has immediate and traffic free access to downtown, 285 isn't that far away, and you can easily get to Georgia Tech, midtown, and you literally have skyline views everywhere you look. It's a terrible waste. I couldn't help thinking that all the area really needs is about 2000 gay men to move in and in a year you'd have million dollar homes as far as the eye could see.
Part of the problem is that Vine City is the heroin hub of the entire southeast. I have always heard that it is a heroin distribution center and it all comes in there, gets sorted, and goes out to other places. We're not just talking pot dealers and crack....heroin is heavy duty, and a major distribution hub would be hard to move out. Still, I think the gays could definitely do it if only they would move in en masse (but they won't).
I don't really see much hope for the area, because even if the city takes houses through eminent domain, what are they going to do with them then? Sink tons of money into them getting them ready for occupancy? It's going to take a large community of people to decide they want cheap homes in a potentially great area and just figure they'll buy a gun, get a couple of pitbulls, and see if they can make it work. I just don't think many people are THAT urban pioneering. Why would they when places like East Atlanta still have a way to go and you can get in there for cheap and the potential is much easier to see.
LOL at this. Yeah, we do tend to drive up property values, but no one I know is wanting to gentrify The Bluff any time soon.
Well, I think that WXIA is being a bit dramatic...I mean, the reporter actually says things happen in the houses that would "sicken me."
Like what? Are they kidnapping children and then raping them before sacrificing them to Satan?
Mostly it's just drugs and prostitution. Okay, I don't want that in my neighborhood, but it doesn't sicken me. Anyway, I have been to this area a few times, mostly for housing auctions a couple of years ago just to see what was available. It's true that the area is in pretty bad shape, but there are also a lot of nice people just trying to live. I parked on the street a couple of blocks away from the auction site and walked and didn't have any problems. Of course, it was the middle of the day.
The report is correct in that the houses are in horrible shape, which is why I didn't buy one. I don't have enough know how to fix a house that has had the plumbing and wiring literally ripped out of the walls, and they all have that kind of damage. It's really sad, too, because you can probably tell from the video that there are some really great houses there that just need some attention.
I was also amazed by how prime the real estate was. It has immediate and traffic free access to downtown, 285 isn't that far away, and you can easily get to Georgia Tech, midtown, and you literally have skyline views everywhere you look. It's a terrible waste. I couldn't help thinking that all the area really needs is about 2000 gay men to move in and in a year you'd have million dollar homes as far as the eye could see.
Part of the problem is that Vine City is the heroin hub of the entire southeast. I have always heard that it is a heroin distribution center and it all comes in there, gets sorted, and goes out to other places. We're not just talking pot dealers and crack....heroin is heavy duty, and a major distribution hub would be hard to move out. Still, I think the gays could definitely do it if only they would move in en masse (but they won't).
I don't really see much hope for the area, because even if the city takes houses through eminent domain, what are they going to do with them then? Sink tons of money into them getting them ready for occupancy? It's going to take a large community of people to decide they want cheap homes in a potentially great area and just figure they'll buy a gun, get a couple of pitbulls, and see if they can make it work. I just don't think many people are THAT urban pioneering. Why would they when places like East Atlanta still have a way to go and you can get in there for cheap and the potential is much easier to see.
I agree with the above, especially the bolded area. I actually live in this neighborhood and the reporter and I got into a trist of sorts on their FB page. I have seen him here before and he is a huge liar, like most journalist but he is just over the top IMO and the opinions of others I know who have met him.
But basically this neighborhood has horrible blight and due to poor code enforcement the houses are ripped apart by copper thieves and destroyed by homeless people and drug addicts around here in alot of places. I moved to Atlanta in 1997 and I remember driving down Brawley and thinking that it was a drug mini-mall. Drug dealers would openly come to your car and offer you all sorts of narcotics. That was frightening. We bought our house over here because the area is much better than it used to be. There is a large police presence here and just so you know, I know about 4 gay couples who live in this area LOL. Also white people live over here as well, those who are not on drugs. Most of the people who live here are nice people. There are bad elements of course and the drug problem especially I feel is one of the worse of any inner city neighborhoods but the prostitution isn't as bad as West End or Vine City or Washington Park here on the Westside. I have lived in all of these neighborhoods and they are all practically are identitcal with their issues, except code violations and drug issues are more prevalent here.
But I took issue with Keith Whitney's fear mongering and did let him know about it. I also knew that it would make others feel that the majority of the people who live here are downtrodden and criminals with kids who go to horrible schools. My kids go to a great public charter, I have never been the victim of any crime over here (I've had a car break in actually but that happened in another neighborhood even though people are always commenting about how "unsafe" I must feel to live where I live, I don't). I have lived here nearly 5 years and most of the people who live here that I know are decent hard working people or seniors who are retired. The only incident that has ever happened was a young drug addict from Roswell came down here to buy drugs and totaled my husband's classic Monte Carlo that he had parked on the street. The neighbors I know and some of the people who I believe are homeless and are more than likely drug addicts as well but who stay in the neighborhood, actually chased this young man down and called the police, actually preventing him from doing a hit and run.
ETA: We moved here due to the cheapness and newness of the home we bought. There is a fund that gave us nearly 40K in downpayment assistance and even though our house had had the copper ripped out, we negotiated with the bank who owned the home and they provided us funds to have it fixed, which we did before we moved in. Other than that and a few holes that we patched ourselves with drywall, we got a good deal on a nearly new house. My husband and I work downtown so we can get to work in less than 10 minutes versus the hour plus commutes we used to endure living in the burbs.
I also feel that it depends on your personal experiences living in certain neighborhoods. My husband and I are from the Midwest. He from Chicago and me the Detroit area. This neighborhood is much better crimewise than both of the areas that we hail from. It looks worse than either Chicago or Detroit but IMO this is an Atlanta thing as I feel the city as a whole is rather unkempt but it is more noticeable especially in certain areas of the Westside. I know where I'm from, you will never see thigh high or house tall grass anywhere, the city will take your house and sell it or they will cut the grass and bill you 1K and if you don't pay they will take your house and sell it for 1K plus taxes. So the blight at least in my neighborhood in my hometown is nothing like Atlanta's where the city doesn't care about how it looks.
Last edited by residinghere2007; 11-07-2011 at 10:43 AM..
I really envy you. I wish I was that much of an urban pioneer.
I think that area is really cool and I'd love to be part of the solution cleaning it up. I could probably buy one of those cheap houses and not even have a mortgage, or have a very small one, and that would be awesome!
The problem is, I know myself. I'd have one or two scary experiences and I would panic and move out. I'm also responsible for my family, and if something happened to my wife while I was working late or out of town, I would have horrible guilt over sacrificing our safety to save a few bucks.
I totally support what you are doing by living there and I would do it if I had the right personality for it, I just know that I don't. But that is why I was looking at houses there, because I thought maybe I could buy one and fix it up and get it section 8 approved and rent it out to a good person who is trying to get by the right way. If the area just got more good people in it, I think it would help.
Also, I have never been there at night, but I have noticed around metro Atlanta that the city doesn't seem to believe in light as a crime deterrent. I'm a big believer that the more streetlights and other sources of light you have, the safer the area. Crime lives in the dark. If you could convince Atlanta to install bright streetlights, I bet it would help a lot. Even where I live in the suburbs, I have my floodlights on timers and they stay on all night. I know from being a very minor and just mischievious more than damaging vandal back in my teen years that you never mess with the lit house. Dark ones are much easier targets. The pennies you spend every month keeping your lights on all night pay back huge dividends in your home being much less likely to be broken into. If you use CFL or LED lights, it basically costs nothing. When I moved to the suburbs, I was so angry to find out Gwinnett county had turned off the lights along I-85 to save money that I contacted the county and the local press and got them to turn the lights back on (I was able to find documented proof that fewer deadly accidents occur on lit highways).
I wish more people understood that light = less crime.
BTW, I don't want to be judgey, but I did feel like WXIA was using fear mongering disguised as a genuine desire to help the neighborhood. Even though I saw the blight in that area, I am under the impression that there are areas of Atlanta that are much worse. A reporter should never say something like things that would "sicken me," especially without even mentioning what those things are. He doesn't know me, he doesn't know what would sicken me. It's a fairly irresponsible series IMHO, even if it does get most of the fact straight. I would have liked to see more interviews with the good residents to get their opinions. I saw people sitting on their porches and otherwise just being part of the neighborhood when I was there. I'd like to hear their thoughts.
According to the last part of that 11Alive article, Councilman Ivory Young mused that eminent domain could be used to tear down the gutted crackhouses. For the near future, this is the neighborhood's best bet--remove dealers' hiding places and let them know that they're unwelcome.
According to the last part of that 11Alive article, Councilman Ivory Young mused that eminent domain could be used to tear down the gutted crackhouses. For the near future, this is the neighborhood's best bet--remove dealers' hiding places and let them know that they're unwelcome.
Easier said than done, you can tear the buildings down, but that wont get rid of the problem. That idea sounds nice, but in reality it wont work. The Bluff is a notorious Heroin strip, and it's one of the only neighborhoods in the city that sells Heroin as Atlanta is mostly a Cocaine and crack town. People from as far away as Alabama and Tennessee drive to the Bluff just for that reason, so if you tear the buildings down, the drug dealing will still be going on as there is way too much money that is made in the Bluff, and the drug dealers are not going to just walk away from that much money just because a few vacant houses and apartments are torn down. Look at what happened to the McDaniel Glen projects in Mechanicsville, when it was open it was literally a multi million dollar drug spot. They tore it down and all the crackheads did was move to the side streets and a few blocks down. The drug dealers moved of course, but they would drive back to that area every day just to sell drugs like any other normal person drives to their 9-5 everyday. And lo and behold the city tore the projects down and a developer put up a new complex, and guess what? It's right back where it started because the drugs never went anywhere.
The police actually road block J.P. Brawley between JE Boone and North Ave in the Bluff on a regular basis, almost every night especially in the summer. Ive been over there and seen US Marshals and DEA with full tactical gear and assault rifles posted up 5-6 deep in the middle of the day. If that hasn't put a stop to the rampant drug dealing, then you think tearing some buildings down will?
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