Five best and worst things about the Atlanta metro. (Alpharetta: live in, move)

[kurls]

Hi.

You mention being from Minnetonka. My wife and I are considering moving there from Brooklyn Park in a few years. Her father is there and we saw the housing costs and like the idea of being able to buy our dream house for what we basically paid for our starter up here, plus we hate the winters. You may be able to provide some insight to compare these concerns.

My wife is a Registered Nurse. I am sure there is a good job market there as is all over the US for RN's?

I work in Accounting with a BS in Business Admin / Econ minor, do you have any insight on the job market for my field?

Last but most important, we are a multi-racial family with an infant son. I am German and she is African American. You mention that you like the diversity, compared to Mpls would you say it is as friendly towards our family type? We think that one of the advantages here is that outside the West Coast we have a very good atmosphere and high amount of multi cultural people.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by goozer

Wow. Sounds like Lexington is a true BBQ mecca. I guess that explains why Atlanta does not impress you as a BBQ town. I don't think I've ever tried the style of BBQ you describe, but I look forward to it someday. I've had what I think is eastern NC style -- is that the one that has a mustard base? Or am I thinking of Savannah style? All in all, one of the big positives of living in the South (anywhere) is the Q!!!

No town will beat Kansas City when it comes to steak and BBQ.

[Red Flame]

One of the biggest things I noticed in Atlanta was the homeless problem. I hated going downtown because the homeless would bother you and follow you for blocks until you gave them something. Has the city done anything to curb or not?

[NovationMortgage]

Likes:
1) Wonderful people in diverse packages
2) Great sports choices
3) Everywhere is driving distance
4) Good food!
5) Fantastic music

Dislikes:
1) Drivers who don't turn on lights in the rain, speed in the rain, pass on the right side, tailgate, pass in the TURNING LANE, don't use turn signals and - this in particular - PARK IN THE FIRE LANE AT THE SHOPPING CENTER. You know who you are - quit that crap.
2) Training new comers that everyone who talks like Gomer Pyle is not an idiot and, in fact, may be a Rhodes Scholar research scientist at the Centers for Disease Control.
3) Terrible street planning that goes back 200 years - can't fix it now
4) One street - ten names - each section with a different name that may change next month
5) Toll-booth on 400 wasn't that supposed to be gone when 400 was paid for?

[charolastra00]

Likes:
1. Thrashers and Gladiator games never seem to sell out
2. only a few really cold days a year
3. (when there's not a PHENOMENAL DROUGHT) plenty of water space to swim, fish, or just picknick
4. lots of history if you dig a little bit underneath all the new growth
5. Hartsfield- as someone who is TERRIFIED of flying and needs to fly away to college, it's nice being so near a hub so I don't have to change planes

Dislikes:
1. must have a car to get anywhere- horrible public transportation
2. people can all too often be "fake" nice (you know the type )
3. not so much in terms of higher education (if you don't like to drink, it's not worth even applying to most GA colleges)
4. bad city planning from all the exploding growth
5. in some of the suburbs, a real lack of diversity or acceptance

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by kurls

Hi.

You mention being from Minnetonka.

Yuppers, from 1962 until 1981. Then I went to college in Mankato and moved to Bloomington just across 494 from the airport when I got back, and then to Eden Prairie when I got married where we lived until the fall of 2004.

My wife and I are considering moving there from Brooklyn Park in a few years. Her father is there and we saw the housing costs and like the idea of being able to buy our dream house for what we basically paid for our starter up here, plus we hate the winters. You may be able to provide some insight to compare these concerns.

Maybe. However,

1. Atlanta is a big metro (roughly 8,000 square miles to the Twin Cities' 6,000, and over 5 million people compared to 3.5 million), so nothing I say will apply everywhere,
   
   
2. Atlanta has several different regions which might be very different socially (some of the northern Atlanta suburbs are largely white and seem to be stuck on themselves, some of the southern suburbs are largely black and also seemingly stuck on themselves, and some are a mixing pot with far fewer demographic/historic hangups), and
   
   
3. I've only been down here for three years.

My wife is a Registered Nurse. I am sure there is a good job market there as is all over the US for RN's?

I know we have a pair of hospitals (Wellstar and Emory-Adventist) close to us, but there's another hospital in the metro (Grady) which is having serious issues. If it keels over and dies, it will probably have a short-term impact on medical employment in the metro.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is one place to read about the happenings down here.

I work in Accounting with a BS in Business Admin / Econ minor, do you have any insight on the job market for my field?

No, I'm afraid I don't have a clue.

Last but most important, we are a multi-racial family with an infant son. I am German and she is African American. You mention that you like the diversity, compared to Mpls would you say it is as friendly towards our family type? We think that one of the advantages here is that outside the West Coast we have a very good atmosphere and high amount of multi cultural people.

It's going to depend on a whole bunch of factors just like living in the Twin Cities does (different parts of different suburbs have different mixes of people and will probably react differently than neighboring areas), so I don't think you're going to get a nice solid answer.

I don't think it will be all that different in general, but I suspect in some areas and situations you'll encounter more "direct opinions" than you're used to. A certain amount of racial tension exists here that I don't remember seeing in the Twin Cities, but being a suburban white middle-class male I'm not really that clueful or aware about race relations and issues to begin with.

I wish I could be more helpful.

[diva05]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

Likes:
3. not so much in terms of higher education (if you don't like to drink, it's not worth even applying to most GA colleges)

That's quite wrong . . .going by U.S. News famed college rankings, for 2008 Georgia Tech has the #1 Industrial Engineering program in the country, Aerospace and Biomedical rank in the top 3. Overall it is in the top 35.

Emory is ranked in the top 20 of ALL universities in the country; the medical school is also ranked in the top 20.

[dls]

Do you really get palmetto bugs or roaches INSIDE your house?
Do other people get them? Even in a newer suburban house (like in Alpharetta)?

[dens]

I am in a 3 year old home in Alpharetta...about a month ago when we got the first cold night...I woke up and found a big palmetto rug in my bedroom on the carpet....I killed it and have not seen one yet...although yesterday I was sweeping my patio and the saw the shell of one amongst some leaves.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by dls

Do you really get palmetto bugs or roaches INSIDE your house?
Do other people get them? Even in a newer suburban house (like in Alpharetta)?

If you want to keep your home pest-free, you've got to hire a company to treat it every 2-3 months- otherwise, no matter how clean you are or how new the house is, the creepy-crawlys will get in. The treatment generally runs around $50-60/visit.