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This thread has gone off-topic but I wanted to address the OP's concern.
It is not worth incremental improvements to the 5 points area right now, because a much larger scale plan is in the works to revitalize that and the entire area. Specifically, think parks and green space and a complete revamp of the MARTA station.
It's called the green line (yes, another knockoff imitation of other cities). Here are the details: CAP/ADID Initiatives - The Green Line. This plan was unveiled in December last year.
Come back in another 10 years and cry with joy over the re-invented 5 points!
That Multimodal Passenger Station would be one of the Best things to happen to Atlanta. Man I would really love a piece of that that action. It would bring a lot of Jobs to Downtown. It would be like a rail version of Hartfield-Jackson only better. Amtrak, Greyhound, Marta, Georgia Commuter all in the same building/tower would be major. Cleveland has one called the Tower City Center. Its a great place.
Hello. I am probably dating myself very much, but I just got back from visiting Atlanta for the first time since 1970. I grew up there, and when I left, Five Points was the CENTER of the whole region. It was great! It was clean, vibrant, and truly the place to be. And Underground had just opened up. It was also extremely safe.
Fast forward to 2008. On the way to Florida, we decided to check out my old stomping grounds. I am amazed at how terrible Five Points is. I would describe it as a step below a ghetto. It was disgusting. I broke down in tears, and I know it has been a while, but what in the heck happened to Five Points??? Maybe some fellow baby boomers who have lived in Atlanta since the time Five Points was happening, please fill me in.
I know cities change, but this has to be one of the most drastic changes I have ever seen. Please, explain.
^^^^
Dude there is no way that you can clean Five Points up because there are a number of different factors as to why Five Points is what it is. You could station the National Guard down there on every corner and incidents like the one last week where the police killed that homeless man who had a gun, or the gang fight that ended up in a homicide a few weeks ago would still happen. I said this on an earlier page that Five Points is just of victim of its location, first Atlanta has a high homeless population and there are a number of homeless shelters within a few blocks of Five Points, so it’s only natural for them to congregate in the Woodruff Park/ Underground Area. Basically they have no where else to go, unless you folks want them in your neighborhood panhandling in your subdivision. I actually think it’s a smart move for the police to keep them isolated in that 5 block area of downtown, it’s a lot better than have them spread out to every possible location they could get to on MARTA. And as far as the homeless issue that you should taken up with the cities that give homeless people free one way tickets to Atlanta; there is actually a non-profit called Travelers Aid and that’s one of the main things they do- they give homeless individuals in other cities bus tickets to Atlanta. With that said I would bet some $$$$ that 75% of the homeless vagrant’s downtown are not from here. The other problem with Five Points is where that the inner city youth of Atlanta hang out at Five Points, and that’s where the violence comes in, and as long as you have the Five Points MARTA Station where the North, South, East, and West lines converge all in one place you will continue to have kids from the Westside, Eastside, and Southside meeting up in one place where there are bound to be problems because of this. You don’t have to be a police officer or an urban gang expert to know that mix will always eventually lead to some sort of violence. So if you give kids other social options in their respective sides of town, instead of hopping on MARTA to go fight another crew/gang from a different neighborhood or side of town in Five Points a lot of the riff raff will get cut down. But even that will just cause more problems just in different areas; what I don’t get is why people are so shocked by the way in Five Points is but this a big city that stuff comes with the territory, just get used to it and be thankful they are not in YOUR area. I never understood why people from the suburbs come to Underground anyway, the retail stores don’t cater to you, stores like Walters, Balboa, and USA Boutique definitely cater to shall we say urban clientele… rappers, drug dealers, urban hipsters, and the like, and quite honestly if your down there to sight see you come off looking like a target, take it from a grown up who used to ride MARTA downtown with my friends in high school almost every Friday afternoon after school, stick up kids abound in Five Points. I personally have been robbed twice downtown in Five Points, both times in broad daylight. But yet I don’t feel scared going to Underground even now because I know what I’m dealing with, and I act accordingly. Act or look like a victim and you probably will become one
^^^^
Dude there is no way that you can clean Five Points up because there are a number of different factors as to why Five Points is what it is. You could station the National Guard down there on every corner and incidents like the one last week where the police killed that homeless man who had a gun, or the gang fight that ended up in a homicide a few weeks ago would still happen. I said this on an earlier page that Five Points is just of victim of its location, first Atlanta has a high homeless population and there are a number of homeless shelters within a few blocks of Five Points, so it’s only natural for them to congregate in the Woodruff Park/ Underground Area. Basically they have no where else to go, unless you folks want them in your neighborhood panhandling in your subdivision. I actually think it’s a smart move for the police to keep them isolated in that 5 block area of downtown, it’s a lot better than have them spread out to every possible location they could get to on MARTA. And as far as the homeless issue that you should taken up with the cities that give homeless people free one way tickets to Atlanta; there is actually a non-profit called Travelers Aid and that’s one of the main things they do- they give homeless individuals in other cities bus tickets to Atlanta. With that said I would bet some $$$$ that 75% of the homeless vagrant’s downtown are not from here. The other problem with Five Points is where that the inner city youth of Atlanta hang out at Five Points, and that’s where the violence comes in, and as long as you have the Five Points MARTA Station where the North, South, East, and West lines converge all in one place you will continue to have kids from the Westside, Eastside, and Southside meeting up in one place where there are bound to be problems because of this. You don’t have to be a police officer or an urban gang expert to know that mix will always eventually lead to some sort of violence. So if you give kids other social options in their respective sides of town, instead of hopping on MARTA to go fight another crew/gang from a different neighborhood or side of town in Five Points a lot of the riff raff will get cut down. But even that will just cause more problems just in different areas; what I don’t get is why people are so shocked by the way in Five Points is but this a big city that stuff comes with the territory, just get used to it and be thankful they are not in YOUR area. I never understood why people from the suburbs come to Underground anyway, the retail stores don’t cater to you, stores like Walters, Balboa, and USA Boutique definitely cater to shall we say urban clientele… rappers, drug dealers, urban hipsters, and the like, and quite honestly if your down there to sight see you come off looking like a target, take it from a grown up who used to ride MARTA downtown with my friends in high school almost every Friday afternoon after school, stick up kids abound in Five Points. I personally have been robbed twice downtown in Five Points, both times in broad daylight. But yet I don’t feel scared going to Underground even now because I know what I’m dealing with, and I act accordingly. Act or look like a victim and you probably will become one
Regular people do out number thugs. The more regular people the smaller the thugs look. White Flight all over again.
^^^^
Dude there is no way that you can clean Five Points up because there are a number of different factors as to why Five Points is what it is. You could station the National Guard down there on every corner and incidents like the one last week where the police killed that homeless man who had a gun, or the gang fight that ended up in a homicide a few weeks ago would still happen. I said this on an earlier page that Five Points is just of victim of its location, first Atlanta has a high homeless population and there are a number of homeless shelters within a few blocks of Five Points, so it’s only natural for them to congregate in the Woodruff Park/ Underground Area. Basically they have no where else to go, unless you folks want them in your neighborhood panhandling in your subdivision. I actually think it’s a smart move for the police to keep them isolated in that 5 block area of downtown, it’s a lot better than have them spread out to every possible location they could get to on MARTA. And as far as the homeless issue that you should taken up with the cities that give homeless people free one way tickets to Atlanta; there is actually a non-profit called Travelers Aid and that’s one of the main things they do- they give homeless individuals in other cities bus tickets to Atlanta. With that said I would bet some $$$$ that 75% of the homeless vagrant’s downtown are not from here. The other problem with Five Points is where that the inner city youth of Atlanta hang out at Five Points, and that’s where the violence comes in, and as long as you have the Five Points MARTA Station where the North, South, East, and West lines converge all in one place you will continue to have kids from the Westside, Eastside, and Southside meeting up in one place where there are bound to be problems because of this. You don’t have to be a police officer or an urban gang expert to know that mix will always eventually lead to some sort of violence. So if you give kids other social options in their respective sides of town, instead of hopping on MARTA to go fight another crew/gang from a different neighborhood or side of town in Five Points a lot of the riff raff will get cut down. But even that will just cause more problems just in different areas; what I don’t get is why people are so shocked by the way in Five Points is but this a big city that stuff comes with the territory, just get used to it and be thankful they are not in YOUR area. I never understood why people from the suburbs come to Underground anyway, the retail stores don’t cater to you, stores like Walters, Balboa, and USA Boutique definitely cater to shall we say urban clientele… rappers, drug dealers, urban hipsters, and the like, and quite honestly if your down there to sight see you come off looking like a target, take it from a grown up who used to ride MARTA downtown with my friends in high school almost every Friday afternoon after school, stick up kids abound in Five Points. I personally have been robbed twice downtown in Five Points, both times in broad daylight. But yet I don’t feel scared going to Underground even now because I know what I’m dealing with, and I act accordingly. Act or look like a victim and you probably will become one
Oh, about a couple of weeks or so ago. And thanks. May god have mercy on your souls. LOL
Now, if only I could wield this power to clean up Five Points... hmmmmm...
A couple weeks or so ago.
Sire AtlantaGreg, I knighted thee a few months back. Your tenure know grants you status of the round table of Sir Moderator of Atlanta Thread.
Exactly! That all it is. If all the people that are so afraid of thugs would just all come out and go where the thugs are, over crowd them, make them feel out of place, guess what that is called. Gentrification!
All people have to do is tell there rich white friends to set up shop at the underground, one by one by one, Underground Atlanta will suddenly be the safe place the non thugs want it to be.
Ima get off topic to make a point real quick.
Whats safer, a diverse crowd playing top 40 hip hop & RNB?
or an all black crowd playing trap/street/thug music?
You are black, you drive a BMW, and you dress like something out of GQ, which place will you party at?
Take all of the whites, asians, latinos away from the first club and just leave the blacks, what does the first club become? It becomes the 2nd club.
So all the non thug, suburban, young blacks scare me, crowd need to take Underground Atlanta back and over populate it. It is really that simple.
Its not that simple at all. The high crime rate makes insurance rates high for normal "non-thug" businesses, thus the only ones who will do business there are the ones that dont have insurance... That place needs to be closed down, wait another 10 years, then reinvent intelf. Hopefully by that time GSU will have 10,000 students living downtown looking for a place to have a drink.
Its not that simple at all. The high crime rate makes insurance rates high for normal "non-thug" businesses, thus the only ones who will do business there are the ones that dont have insurance... That place needs to be closed down, wait another 10 years, then reinvent intelf. Hopefully by that time GSU will have 10,000 students living downtown looking for a place to have a drink.
And you know for a fact, the Thug Businesses don't have insurance?
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