What's Wrong with the Suburbs? (Atlanta, Smyrna: homes, neighborhoods, public schools)

[Freeminds]

Originally Posted by N_A

You might be on to something there. A few years ago, I went to a book club meeting and the intowners were talking about how bad the suburbs were. I remember thinking, well dang, I didn’t know I had it so bad. At the time I had bought a house up in Gwinnett along the Lawrenceville and Duluth line. My job was less than 2 miles from home, there were 2 malls nearby, and a third one a little bit further up the road, all types of bars and clubs and restaurants, grocery stores scattered about, Gwinnett Civic Center in the area, very diverse, very walkable, even a transit system. The intownish feel is further felt by the fact that there is even a gang problem in Gwinnett . Aside from the girlfriend I had in Decatur, there was no reason for me to ever leave the area. I mean, there were the 3 or 4 festivals in the city, but those are only once a year.

Now I am in Tucker, and it’s much of the same. Festivals, farmers markets, several grocery stores within spittin range, very walkable, bars, hair salons, health food stores, plenty of schools, nice little up-and-coming downtown area, small town feel with access to almost anything, and well established. Yeh, you are probably right. I haven’t read any justifiable responses to suburban disdain. Too many city dwellers are elitists.

Very Walkable?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by N_A

[color=black][font=Calibri][font=Calibri][color=black][font=Verdana]You might be on to something there. A few years ago, I went to a book club meeting and the intowners were talking about how bad the suburbs were.

To tell you the truth, I've heard a lot more snooty talk from suburbanites about how skanky and terrible they think the city is. Taking pot shots at the COA seems to be very popular armchair sport in some quarters.

In any event, both factions should give it the Rodney King treatment and simply agree to get along. They both need each other and serve complementary functions. A city without suburbs would be just as incomplete as suburbs without a city.

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

The hypocritical thing I see from some intown dwellers is the fact that the suburbs are what give cities like Atlanta and Dallas panache on the national scene. Both are top ten metro areas now but without the suburbs, they would be Memphis or Tulsa or Birmingham.... .

Damn..guess without OTP we would be just another Birmingham.

I love when people hold the suburbs up as being so nice, like as whole they are that mich nicer than ITP. Guess everyone who feels that way must live in Dunwoody, Johns Creek or East Cobb. 'Cuz to be honest outside of those and a few others, a lot of these other suburbs you OTP people live in really aint that nice. Straight up.

Not going to name places but a good number of these areas in the metro look plain jain as hell. Just because you live in a nice subdivision in the middle of nowhere with a Publix 8 minutes down the road just after you pass the trailer park or the lower income apartment complex does not mean that you really live in a nice area. Sure the houes are nice out there, but they got houses just like that in the city, if not way better.


There is nothing panache about Kennessaw or insert whatever other random metro suburb you want to insert here _________.

[cqholt]

There are many intown neighborhoods where the price for a home trumps many OTP subdivisions. Eg: Buckhead, Ansley Park, Virginia-Highlands, SFH Midtown, Peyton Forest, Cascade, Candler Park, Inman Park, Lake Claire, Morningside, Druid Hills, Sherwood Forest.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy

Damn..guess without OTP we would be just another Birmingham.

I love when people hold the suburbs up as being so nice, like as whole they are that mich nicer than ITP. Guess everyone who feels that way must live in Dunwoody, Johns Creek or East Cobb. 'Cuz to be honest outside of those and a few others, a lot of these other suburbs you OTP people live in really aint that nice. Straight up.

Not going to name places but a good number of these areas in the metro look plain jain as hell. Just because you live in a nice subdivision in the middle of nowhere with a Publix 8 minutes down the road just after you pass the trailer park or the lower income apartment complex does not mean that you really live in a nice area. Sure the houes are nice out there, but they got houses just like that in the city, if not way better.


There is nothing panache about Kennessaw or insert whatever other random metro suburb you want to insert here _________.

I completely agree! I had the exact same thought as I was driving in the Smyrna/Mableton area. There are some subdivisons there with $200k plus homes. Sure they look nice but outside of them the areas looks raggedy and depressed, they are surrounded by power lines, near the city dump's incinerator, some of these homes were built on land fills, and when you go right up the street you are in the bad part of Atlanta where many of the homes have bars on the windows. On top of that the schools are bad. I can't understand for the life of me why someone would buy a $200k home in that area.

[N_A]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

I completely agree! I had the exact same thought as I was driving in the Smyrna/Mableton area. There are some subdivisons there with $200k plus homes. Sure they look nice but outside of them the areas looks raggedy and depressed, they are surrounded by power lines, near the city dump's incinerator, some of these homes were built on land fills, and when you go right up the street you are in the bad part of Atlanta where many of the homes have bars on the windows. On top of that the schools are bad. I can't understand for the life of me why someone would buy a $200k home in that area.

Yeh, you're right. Atlanta Public Schools are much better

[jeoff]

I can think of a few reasons (some of which may describe myself).
1) Some folks that grew up in the suburbs remember it as a repressive homogeneous white-flight monoculture, and they grew up wanting to be (what they believe to be) the opposite of that. If you were different in any way growing up pre 1990s in the suburbs--you were probably not left with very good memories of it. Some (not all) suburbs have changed very much since then, but the memories have not.
2) Boosterism--some folks just think whatever choice they make is just the best in the world, because they made it. If they choose to be in the city the city must be the best, and everything else just stinks (if they had chosen to live in the suburbs, well then the suburbs would be the best!).
3) There are city people out there that just cannot imagine living any other way.
4) There are some awful parts to any place, and they have only experienced the bad parts of the suburbs.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

I completely agree! I had the exact same thought as I was driving in the Smyrna/Mableton area. There are some subdivisons there with $200k plus homes. Sure they look nice but outside of them the areas looks raggedy and depressed, they are surrounded by power lines, near the city dump's incinerator, some of these homes were built on land fills, and when you go right up the street you are in the bad part of Atlanta where many of the homes have bars on the windows. On top of that the schools are bad. I can't understand for the life of me why someone would buy a $200k home in that area.

So, what place in the city of Atlanta can you find beautiful 200K homes with great schools? Only, being a little sarcastic here. We are moving soon, and I would love to know what you know.
(just kidding, I am being REALLY sarcastic)!

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by jeoff

So, what place in the city of Atlanta can you find beautiful 200K homes with great schools? Only, being a little sarcastic here. We are moving soon, and I would love to know what you know.
(just kidding, I am being REALLY sarcastic)!

LOL! There aren't any. That's why I'm a renter.

[ATLHRLGUY]

Originally Posted by jeoff

2) Boosterism--some folks just think whatever choice they make is just the best in the world, because they made it. If they choose to be in the city the city must be the best, and everything else just stinks (if they had chosen to live in the suburbs, well then the suburbs would be the best!).

Amen to that Brother! Some folks can't admit to being wrong about anything. This forum is a perfect example, some posters get so defensive when you talk about where they live or where they're from. Even if the intent is to just give your honest opinion, people can't take it. I've only given a negative opinion in jest about an area of town or another city, b/c I don't want to waste energy trying to argue with some insecure irrational person- also I'm not Ted Turner. So the thought of me getting into an online argument about some city I don't have a huge financial stake in is ridiculous.

More people should say, "I chose this area to live in because, while I would love to live in this other part of town my budget at this time restricts me from doing so and I found that while I may not love this area, it has enough of my wants where I can grow to love it and not break the bank." Period