Socio-political vibes in Northern ATL (Vinings, Buckhead, Marietta, etc.) (Atlanta: apartments, rent)

[K-SawDude]

I'm moving to ATL very soon, and I've narrowed down my options to Northern ATL. I was hoping to hear more information about several areas, particularly regarding their political leanings, cultural diversity, etc.

For example, from these forums I've seen people mention that my main target--Vinings--is pretty Republican. Is this true? How conservative are they? I'd prefer to live near some more progressive types, but I also don't mind Republicans if they're open-minded. (Are they cool with gay and black people, for example? I hear some of the suburbs aren't.)

How does Buckhead compare? Marietta? Kennesaw? How diverse are they?

A somewhat related question: do any of these areas offer diverse ethnic cuisines (Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, etc.)? Or do you have to go further ITP for that?

[wxjay]

Well, in "true" Vinings, I don't know how Republican it is. I live there (in a condo), and many people in my complex are quite liberal. For what it's worth, during the election, I saw more Obama signs than McCain signs in the Vinings area. So I don't know if I agree it's hugely Republican.

Buckhead would be more "liberal", IMO. But then again, you will also get a more urban atmosphere. Sp I don't know how you feel about that.

[K-SawDude]

Do you happen to know of any apt. complexes/communities in Vinings that seemed similarly liberal to your condo area? (Maybe even places you spotted that seemed to have a lot of Obama signs--that seems to be a decent measure.) It's so hard for me to get a read on these places from the net alone, and I'll only have a two day span at the end of this week to check places out in person.

In general, does anyone have a feel for any of the following places in terms of types of people living there, safety, etc?

Gables Mill
Rockledge
Vinings at River Parkway
Wildwood Ridge
Magnolia Vinings
Village at Lake Park

I realize that not all of these places are in actual Vinings. Again, I'm not looking for liberal homogeneity or anything--just cool open-minded people, neighbors that aren't mean, weirdly judgmental or snobby, etc.

I'd also love to find a place in Vinings or Buckhead within walking distance of a good bar. Don't know if that's in the cards, though. (wxjay: I could definitely go for either the urban or quieter settings. They're both good, for different reasons.)

[Shagbark Hickory]

Forgive me - anyone I offend, as that is not my intention but here goes.
GA is hard core conservative. Rep or dem, no matter. The dems here are pretty conservative- most obama supporters during the past election here were african-american- many southern baptists- not very liberal. I know white and black dems in THAT area (mayretta, smyrna), they are against gay marriage, very against gun control etc.

If you are moving from a normal, more politically balanced moderate place, you are in for a disappointment. But if you can find several liberals to make friends with, then how many do you really need?

[thedudewiththeplan]

Good rule of thumb, the closer to city of Atlanta you get, the more liberal it tends to become.

[David1502]

One thing to keep in mind, when you speak of Vinings, Buckhead, Sandy Springs or any of the affluent N. Atlanta suburbs, is that in many ways they are in some ways schitzophrenic - in that you have the wealthy families living in the large expensive single family homes (who tend to be fairly conservative) and then you have those living in multi-family housing (either apartments or condos) who tend to be more liberal than the crowd living in the single family homes. The two groups are quite different - in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Vinings, the overwhelming majority of families send their kids to private schools and their major priority in life is for little Johnny to get into Duke so he can be an attorney or doctor and continue the lifestyle. The major political factor to consider is that this affluent homeowner group dominates politically. For example, while Vinings is an unincorporated community, the Vinings Homeowners Association rules politically and anyone running for office in that part of Cobb better have "their blessing." You don't have a prayer of getting a change in zoning without their approval. They try to prevent any additional apartments from being zoned to their communities. In general, these homeowners would be considered Republican, although there are loyal Democrat donors on W. Paces Ferry, too.

The multifamily home crowd runs the gamet from the poor working class living in run down older apartments (often considered to be borderline 'hood) to high income professionals living in top dollar condos. While you will find more Democrats here, a lot of the apartment crowd barely knows their neighbors, so they wouldn't have a clue what their political leanings are other than seeing a bumper sticker. So if you are looking to connect with people though multifamily housing in Atlanta, I wouldn't bet the farm on it. The rich homeowners have a big advantage in that they connect through their childrens Private Schools, their neighborhood homeowners association (and swim/tennis) and churches in Buckhead. They are in a different world than their multifamily neighbors. Many of the multifamily cowd - the 20's and 30's are busy out "looking for love" in Buckhead and so are not focused on their immediate neighbors. (They hope to join the ranks of the rich they see in the Publix parking lot who have Lovett or Westminster stickers on their cars.)

[BringBackCobain]

Originally Posted by David1502

One thing to keep in mind, when you speak of Vinings, Buckhead, Sandy Springs or any of the affluent N. Atlanta suburbs, is that in many ways they are in some ways schitzophrenic - in that you have the wealthy families living in the large expensive single family homes (who tend to be fairly conservative) and then you have those living in multi-family housing (either apartments or condos) who tend to be more liberal than the crowd living in the single family homes. The two groups are quite different - in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Vinings, the overwhelming majority of families send their kids to private schools and their major priority in life is for little Johnny to get into Duke so he can be an attorney or doctor and continue the lifestyle. The major political factor to consider is that this affluent homeowner group dominates politically. For example, while Vinings is an unincorporated community, the Vinings Homeowners Association rules politically and anyone running for office in that part of Cobb better have "their blessing." You don't have a prayer of getting a change in zoning without their approval. They try to prevent any additional apartments from being zoned to their communities. In general, these homeowners would be considered Republican, although there are loyal Democrat donors on W. Paces Ferry, too.

The multifamily home crowd runs the gamet from the poor working class living in run down older apartments (often considered to be borderline 'hood) to high income professionals living in top dollar condos. While you will find more Democrats here, a lot of the apartment crowd barely knows their neighbors, so they wouldn't have a clue what their political leanings are other than seeing a bumper sticker. So if you are looking to connect with people though multifamily housing in Atlanta, I wouldn't bet the farm on it. The rich homeowners have a big advantage in that they connect through their childrens Private Schools, their neighborhood homeowners association (and swim/tennis) and churches in Buckhead. They are in a different world than their multifamily neighbors. Many of the multifamily cowd - the 20's and 30's are busy out "looking for love" in Buckhead and so are not focused on their immediate neighbors. (They hope to join the ranks of the rich they see in the Publix parking lot who have Lovett or Westminster stickers on their cars.)

Well since Buckhead, Vinings and Sandy Springs are majority homeowner, and not majority rental, then it would make sense that they dominate politcally, dont ya think?

And someone said Buckhead was liberal? Thats a joke, right? We are talking about the blue-blood, WASP capital of the south. It is far from liberal.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Well since Buckhead, Vinings and Sandy Springs are majority homeowner, and not majority rental, then it would make sense that they dominate politcally, dont ya think?

And someone said Buckhead was liberal? Thats a joke, right? We are talking about the blue-blood, WASP capital of the south. It is far from liberal.

Buckhead is far more complex demographically. It's not entirely comprised of old-money families...far from it. My sister's neighborhood in North Buckhead was quite liberal, for example.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Well since Buckhead, Vinings and Sandy Springs are majority homeowner, and not majority rental, then it would make sense that they dominate politcally, dont ya think?

And someone said Buckhead was liberal? Thats a joke, right? We are talking about the blue-blood, WASP capital of the south. It is far from liberal.

I didn't say that I had a problem with that - it is only logical that the long term residents would be the political power and not the transient residents living in Apartments and Condos. However, the wealthy homeowners may not be quite as strong a majority when you look at all of the older run down apartments around Cumberland Mall (many of which are in the Vinings zip 30339) as well as the older run down aparments along Roswell Rd. in Sandy Springs. In fact, they are building a new elementary school in Sandy Springs which will take the aparment kids out of the Heards Ferry distric leaving what one teacher described as "Heards Ferry will be the rich white kids private school." In fact all of the apartments and lack of zoning were the major catalyst for Sandy Springs becoming a city.

Buckhead had its lower income areas several years ago, too, before it became the hotpsot. People forget that Peachtree Hills had a lot of older aparments (several of my neighbrs moved from that area because of the crime) and the Lindberg Marta Station area east of Pedmont had a whole bunch of older low rent apartments which have now been bulldozed for high rent complexes.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Buckhead is far more complex demographically. It's not entirely comprised of old-money families...far from it. My sister's neighborhood in North Buckhead was quite liberal, for example.

I would agree with you that Buckhead is more complex demographically, however, I don't think it is that different from Sandy Springs and Vinings which have elected Republicans. Sure the area aorund Lenox and Tower Place has a lot of high rise dwellers who may trend more liberal, and West Paces has its share of Democratic donors, it is a different culture (politically, too) from Morningside, Piedmont Park, and Druid Hills which are liberal strongholds. If Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Vinings were Democratic strongholds, Republicans wouldn't have a chance in this state. There is too much money given from those areas too dismiss and still be competitive in this state.