4 out of 25 bad neighborhoods is in Atlanta (College Park, Decatur: felons, homes)

[CaliDude1]

Originally Posted by RocNY

Oakland? Detroit? Compton? Camden? Newark? this list sucks!

As someone who is VERY familiar with Compton don't let the city's reputation get in the way of reality. Both Oakland and Compton have seen huge declines in violent crime over the last decade. Both cities just seem to have permanantely bad reputations. But this report does not appear to going off reputation. They are using actual crime data.

I can't speak on Atlanta. But I can tell you that Compton (and South Los Angeles for that matter) are nowhere near as bad as they were in the late 1980's and early 1990's. That is not just from my observation. Crime statistics back this up. There is probably now more Crip/Blood activity in the South and Midwest than there is out here in Los Angeles.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by joe2000

This is a list just to make Atlanta look bad....

Why would anyone make a list JUST to make Atlanta GA look bad? Thats a strong claim.

[J2rescue]

Originally Posted by alinka72

Why would an agency want to make just Atlanta look bad when they mention tons of other cities in it??? Why can people who live in Atlanta recognize when something is wrong with their city?

Yes, the crime rate is too high in the city but the fact that others cities mentioned have even worse overall crime rates than Atlanta and do not even appear on the list just doesn't pass the smell test. Not to say that its intentional but their methodology is at least questionable. For one thing, they are using the 2000 population numbers for Atlanta which has changed dramatically in ten years.

[arjay57]

I don't think Atlanta ought to feel defensive about this. The fact is there are some high crime areas in this city. Whether or not they are "the worst" is really beside the point.

What would make a TRULY great story would be a follow up this time next year that shows how we've focused on these problem areas and turned them around. A new playground or community garden. Better streetscapes and lighting. A reinvigorated neighborhood watch. Some new cops on foot patrol. More outreach from the library and the rec centers that Mayor Reed has reopened. Some public art -- maybe a mural or some cool graffiti walls? A new bus stop.

There are a million small things that can done that turn into big things. I believe we'd be better served devoting our energies to making these neighborhoods better than complaining about faulty statistics.

[Nicole111]

Bankhead, baby!

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I don't think Atlanta ought to feel defensive about this. The fact is there are some high crime areas in this city. Whether or not they are "the worst" is really beside the point.

What would make a TRULY great story would be a follow up this time next year that shows how we've focused on these problem areas and turned them around. A new playground or community garden. Better streetscapes and lighting. A reinvigorated neighborhood watch. Some new cops on foot patrol. More outreach from the library and the rec centers that Mayor Reed has reopened. Some public art -- maybe a mural or some cool graffiti walls? A new bus stop.

There are a million small things that can done that turn into big things. I believe we'd be better served devoting our energies to making these neighborhoods better than complaining about faulty statistics.

I dont care what city you go to or what you try to do in the hood to change the hood... you're not going to get rid of it. You may RELOCATE it.. which is essentially all they did by shutting down the projects but you're not going to get rid of it altogether. When they try to "gentrify" the areas the projects used to be in all they did was move those folks into another area.. which pretty much looks to be Clayton County at this point. And I think theyll soon realize that having the crime centralized in one area was a lot better than scattering it all over the city.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

I dont care what city you go to or what you try to do in the hood to change the hood... you're not going to get rid of it..

Why can't it be changed? Or is Kassim is just howling at the moon?


Makes me think about the old joke:

Q. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Just one, but the light bulb has to want to change.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Why can't it be changed? Or is Kassim is just howling at the moon?


Makes me think about the old joke:

Q. How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

A. Just one, but the light bulb has to want to change.

It cant be changed because the hood is a mindstate.. not a location. Shutting down the "hood" projects essentially moved people that still have a hood mindstate into a lot of previously middle class neighborhoods that werent really used to dealing with the types of crime that happened in the hood. I've seen it happen first hand. Growing up there were quite a few neighborhoods that they did the "gentrification" process in and raised the prices on the homes to unaffordable levels for the people that previously lived there. All that did was scatter them and put people into middle class neighborhoods.. such as the one my parents lived in.. and let them turn what was a previously nice neighborhood into a HOOD.

Im talking about the type of neighborhood where you could literally sleep with your doors and windows open and not have to worry about a thing. Went from that to drug addicts hanging around, houses and cars being broken into, trash all over the street, grass being uncut in their yards for MONTHS. Eventually my parents along with quite a few others just moved. Now the neighborhood is what the OLD hood used to be.

Just wait... youll see. A lot of those people that were displaced from the projects relocated out into Clayton, Cobb and NW Atlanta too. In the next few years youll see what a difference it made. And really it didnt even make sense to do it because they STILL get section 8 vouchers. In most of those projects there are a lot of good people. But there are also a lot of people that grew up with a kill or be killed / take or ill take from you mentality. Trust me, I grew up in one and still have a lot of family there.

[RoslynHolcomb]

I have to agree with brownhornet. This is essentially what happened to my parent's old working class neighborhood back in Alabama. We had stable families, well-kept yards and homes. Nobody was rich, most worked blue-collar jobs, but there was a certain amount of pride. Well as those folks died off, their children inherited their homes, rented it Section 8 and our lovely old neighborhood turned in the hood in less than a decade. When I was a kid we would sleep on our back porch and sometimes our back yard when it got too hot in the house. Not only did we not lock our doors, we had no idea where the door keys were. Our bikes and toys were left casually in the yard or driveway without a problem. I knew things had changed radically when I went home for a visit and my purse was stolen out of the car, in the driveway in broad open daylight. My uncle's house was firebombed when he called the cops on drug dealers. Personally I abhor Section 8 and would never live in a neighborhood that allows it. There has to be some type of transition plan in place to teach people who've essentially been institutionalized their entire lives how to live in a neighborhood. I understand that there's no money to do this, but certainly dropping them off into these stable neighborhoods is not the answer. The people who can move away and leave nothing but these people as the neighborhood goes to pot.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by brownhornet

It cant be changed because the hood is a mindstate.. not a location. Shutting down the "hood" projects essentially moved people that still have a hood mindstate into a lot of previously middle class neighborhoods that werent really used to dealing with the types of crime that happened in the hood.

The question I'm asking is why does that hood mindset have to continue? Suppose people say, "Man, this hood mentality sucks, there's got to be a better way."

What would it take to change the attitudes that create the hood? Are you saying the cycle can never be broken?