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What do people mean when they say Mableton is Old? I was considering renting a home there and when I mention it, all people say is that it is old...Smyrna is on the list as well, but when I went to crimereports.com Smyrna lit up like a christmas tree...I understand that crime is everywhere but Im not comfortable with the amount of Breaking and Enterings
?? maybe they feel it is run down in terms of amenities, like dated strip malls or lack of "modern" shops/restaurants?? Or do they mean old, as in, historic/less urban? Not sure how that = crime so I take it they mean "run down." Both areas contain parts that are almost exurban/rural too, with houses spread far out.
Smyrna covers a wide area, and has many different levels of economic, cultural, and lifestyle options. You have some run down parts near the more industrial areas, but you also have the downtown village area which has been revitalized with new shops/restaurants/condos. And then there's the burb-box store shopping areas along Cobb Pkwy into Vinings/Cumberland.
Mableton is definitely less urban, and was an old railway town, having some historic 19th century homes and the Silver Comet Trail goes through there. I haven't been to Mableton proper in years as it was always a little out of the way (which could have lead to some economic decline that may make it "old?"). Since I can't speak on it either way.
Smyrna is like any other large diverse metro area...can't judge an entire city by its crime statistics as every neighborhood is different. I'd definitely watch the activity around the house / neighborhood/local stores&gas stations day and night. See who the neighbors are. Unfortunately in some areas around Atlanta, some rented homes can be a bad thing as they may become essentially illegal "boarding homes" for those with less than stellar goals in life, who then bring in others who are not officially on the lease. The condition of the home is also important. We have a lot of negligent, out of state/foreign landlords around the metro who rent to anyone and when the tenants leave just let the homes fall into ruin/become filled with vagrants.
I'm not saying every landlord is scum or every rented house is filled with unsavory people...definitely not. But if you are concerned with breaking/enterings and you see patterns particular to the neighborhood best to look elsewhere. Attending a neighborhood meeting or council meeting is always a great way to hear the concerns of the citizens - if there is a crime problem, this is typically a primary topic of discussion.
I have lived in Smyrna for 18 years and have never felt unsafe or there was any evelvated crime in the area.
Mableton and Smyrna were traditionally blue collar neighborhoods in the mid 20'th century. The wealthier neighborhoods were in Vinings, Atlanta and then out in Marietta north of Atlanta. Mableton and Smyrna was nothing to speak of with much of the city center paved over so people could get from Atlanta to Marietta.
As Atlanta grew and grew and grew, the closer in locations of Smyrna, Mableton and other areas became desirable in the late 20th century and there started a revitalization of the areas. The advantage that Smyrna would have over Mableton is that Smyrna is a city with its own local government and taxes that are focused on improving the area. Mableton is an unicorporated area of Cobb County. Smyrna is also closer to Vinings and directly benefits for the spill over of that area as Mableton then gets the spill over from Smyrna
Both Smyrna and Mableton were pretty beat up by the late 70's and early 80's so there was alot of revitalization that needed to take place and with the recent recession, many of those efforts have slowed. The hardest part has been improving the local schools. This becomes a catch 22, the schools don't improve until you get more home ownership and higher average wages in the area, but it is difficult to attract those individuals when the schools are not great. They have definitely made a lot of progress but more is still needed.
There are specific areas of Smyrna that have made less progress (like Windy Hill and north) and much of those statistics may be in that area. Overall, Smyrna is a great community with a great location.
Mableton is an older suburb as is Smyrna. Some people think neighborhoods built in the 1950s-60s are very old. It's all relative. Visit the area in person, if you have not and see what you think, I would live in that area if it were convenient to work.
Mableton is an inner suburb, one that came of age during the 1960s and 1970s. Unlike most inner suburbs of Atlanta, it was unique in that the part of Mableton closest to Atlanta (the eastern section) remained rather undeveloped until the 1990s and early 2000s, while the central and western sections developed decades earlier in the fifties, sixties and seventies, with a few neighborhoods finishing construction in 80s.
As such, what one sees in Mableton reflects this reality. Along Veterans Memorial Highway (formerly Bankhead Highway), what one sees once they pass the Village at Mableton shopping center, anchored by K-Mart, heading west toward Austell, are smaller, older shopping centers built in the sixties and seventies. Outparcel shops are also from this time era. Given the time in which they were built, they do look dated, and some might even view them as "run-down".
On the other hand, newer commercial developments can be found on the northern and eastern sides of Mableton. Along Floyd Road north of Clay Road, all the developments are relatively new, with the oldest being built in 1994 (Mableton Walk shopping center: anchored by Publix). Many of the commercial buildings in this area were built within the past five to ten years. Some refer to this as the "New Mableton", but in reality, this area was developed, at least residentially, at least going back to the seventies.
The eastern end of Mableton, along Veterans Memorial Highway (formerly Bankhead Highway), east of Dodgen Road, was primarily undeveloped (excluding residential on the south side of Veterans up to Lakeshore Drive) until the 90s and early 2000s. Since, this has become the area of Mableton that has been "Viningsized" to an extent, considering that it is closest to Smyrna and that it was the area that had plenty of available land in which to build. It also had the steepest terrain in Mableton, with plenty of steep hills, which lent itself to larger, more expensive homes. This was especially true, since the southern part of Smyrna was already home to larger expensive homes. These realities (available land, steeper terrain, and proximity to wealthier areas) have caused this area of Mableton to become the area with the highest income. In reality, locations east of Floyd Road and north of Veterans, as well as south of Veterans from Queen Mill Road, have become the area with the highest income. This area has also seen some new commercial development, anchored by a relatively new (5-7 years) shopping center.
The far southeast of Mableton along Mableton Parkway is a bit blighted. The south side of Mableton along Mableton Parkway, south of Veterans is also a bit dated, considering that many of the homes and commercial areas were built in the fifties, sixties, seventies, and eighties. This area has also had the reverse effect as the eastern end of Mableton. Whereas higher income spillover has occurred on Mableton's eastern end, the reverse effect has occurred on Mableton's south side, where lower income spillover has moved in from the city of Atlanta. This has caused some problems with closed storefronts and what some perceive to be lower class establishments opening up in the area.
?? maybe they feel it is run down in terms of amenities, like dated strip malls or lack of "modern" shops/restaurants?? Or do they mean old, as in, historic/less urban? Not sure how that = crime so I take it they mean "run down." Both areas contain parts that are almost exurban/rural too, with houses spread far out.
Smyrna covers a wide area, and has many different levels of economic, cultural, and lifestyle options. You have some run down parts near the more industrial areas, but you also have the downtown village area which has been revitalized with new shops/restaurants/condos. And then there's the burb-box store shopping areas along Cobb Pkwy into Vinings/Cumberland.
Mableton is definitely less urban, and was an old railway town, having some historic 19th century homes and the Silver Comet Trail goes through there. I haven't been to Mableton proper in years as it was always a little out of the way (which could have lead to some economic decline that may make it "old?"). Since I can't speak on it either way.
Smyrna is like any other large diverse metro area...can't judge an entire city by its crime statistics as every neighborhood is different. I'd definitely watch the activity around the house / neighborhood/local stores&gas stations day and night. See who the neighbors are. Unfortunately in some areas around Atlanta, some rented homes can be a bad thing as they may become essentially illegal "boarding homes" for those with less than stellar goals in life, who then bring in others who are not officially on the lease. The condition of the home is also important. We have a lot of negligent, out of state/foreign landlords around the metro who rent to anyone and when the tenants leave just let the homes fall into ruin/become filled with vagrants.
I'm not saying every landlord is scum or every rented house is filled with unsavory people...definitely not. But if you are concerned with breaking/enterings and you see patterns particular to the neighborhood best to look elsewhere. Attending a neighborhood meeting or council meeting is always a great way to hear the concerns of the citizens - if there is a crime problem, this is typically a primary topic of discussion.
I find it odd that you claim that Mableton and Smyrna have rural areas? There is nothing rural about Smyrna, and outside of a few undeveloped patches that exist in Mableton along Ivey and Pebblebrook roads, there's nothing in Mableton that could even be considered rural.
Secondly, Mableton was in a no-way a railroad town. Mableton did have a stop on the railroad over half a century ago, but the railroad did not make Mableton, despite the area having two rail lines (Norfolk-Southern and CSX) running through it at one time. The old CSX line is now the Silver Comet Trail.
If you were to look at aerials of Mableton before suburbanization of the 1950s, you'd have seen it to be a rather small community dominated by family farms and woodlands. The railroad played a small role in industry for the area, if any at all. Mableton by and large developed as a bedroom community suburb for Atlanta in the 1950s.
I have lived in Smyrna for 18 years and have never felt unsafe or there was any evelvated crime in the area.
Yes, the area does have higher crime levels than it did thirty years ago.
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Mableton and Smyrna were traditionally blue collar neighborhoods in the mid 20'th century. The wealthier neighborhoods were in Vinings, Atlanta and then out in Marietta north of Atlanta. Mableton and Smyrna was nothing to speak of with much of the city center paved over so people could get from Atlanta to Marietta.
Many of the people who lived in Mableton decades ago were blue collar, but starting in the seventies, one started to see higher numbers of white collar individuals living in the area. During the 80s, Mableton was rather nice, though its commercial areas were beginning to show some age. Crime was very low at the time. The same can be said for Smyrna, with the exception that nearly all of its commercial areas remained rather vibrant until the 90s.
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As Atlanta grew and grew and grew, the closer in locations of Smyrna, Mableton and other areas became desirable in the late 20th century and there started a revitalization of the areas. The advantage that Smyrna would have over Mableton is that Smyrna is a city with its own local government and taxes that are focused on improving the area. Mableton is an unicorporated area of Cobb County. Smyrna is also closer to Vinings and directly benefits for the spill over of that area as Mableton then gets the spill over from Smyrna
Mableton went through two "desirable periods", at least in terms of developers desiring to build.
1) 50s-early 70s: This is when lots of homes were being built in the area.
2) Mid 90s-2007 recession.
There was a smaller, shorter desirable period during the mid to late 80s, in which a number of homes were built along Nickajack and Cooperlake roads.
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Both Smyrna and Mableton were pretty beat up by the late 70's and early 80's so there was alot of revitalization that needed to take place and with the recent recession, many of those efforts have slowed. The hardest part has been improving the local schools. This becomes a catch 22, the schools don't improve until you get more home ownership and higher average wages in the area, but it is difficult to attract those individuals when the schools are not great. They have definitely made a lot of progress but more is still needed.
Mableton and Smyrna were not beat up by the 70s and 80s. You weren't even living in the area at the time, so you don't really know the reality of these towns. Mableton and Smyrna, at least in terms of the whole towns, were at their best in the 80s. Blight started to set in sections of Mableton and Smyrna beginning in the early 90s. Even then, many areas of these towns were not affected. Furthermore, starting in the mid 90s, the area began to see a greater percentage of investment in high end homes.
I had to run out to Mableton the other day and was amazed by all the growth. It's a great close-in location.
P.S. One thing I have wondered about is how Mableton got to be such a big center for furniture?
Mableton was seeing a lot of growth until the recession hit, like many areas of Atlanta. What you see are neighborhoods that are still trying to finish construction from developments that started five years ago.
As far as "furniture" goes, I take it you mean the wholesale places seen on Veterans. Well, Pat's Furniture on Mableton Parkway has been in the area since the 80s. It originally had its location on Veterans Memorial, but moved to a larger location in a newer building on Mableton Parkway in the 90s.
Bolton Furniture once occupied the spot on Veterans Memorial near Lakeshore Drive, but it went through several name changes and changed ownership, calling itself "Cobb Furniture" at times. Before it closed earlier this year, after being in business for over thirty years, it was known as "Furniture Furniture" and had two locations in Mableton. One was located at the original location, and the other was housed in the old K-Mart shopping center on the west side of Mableton.
Other wholesale furniture places, I believe, have opened since the 90s. Why? Back in the 90s, Cobb commissioners want to steer industrial and commercial investment to the area of eastern Mableton, east of Floyd Road, an area in which much of it is now seeing high end developments. They did this because the area was rather undeveloped and they thought it would bring jobs and a greater tax base. They decided to create a special district which would have reduced tax rates, designed to steer investment to the area. Some buisinesses came in and built new buildings, while others occupied vacant buildings.
...You weren't even living in the area at the time, so you don't really know the reality of these towns. ...percentage of investment in high end homes.
Sound of Reason, not sure why you felt the need to respond and correct to everyones post. There will always be different takes on an issue here at CD.
I was living in the Vinings/Cobb County area prior to living in Smyrna proper.
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It's all relative. Visit the area in person, if you have not and see what you think, I would live in that area if it were convenient to work.
