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I am coming back to Atlanta after living 2yrs in NOVA and a yr in Tampa. I have mixed feelings. There are somethings which I did not like at all in Atlanta and a few things which I loved. To the OP, metro atlanta in DC have some things in common and some things which are totally different. NOVA was much more affluent as a whole and as a result, things just seemed cleaner, in better repair etc. Things in NOVA were always clean, you would see cleaning crews in the strip malls etc. The roads were being fixed constantly, there was much better food, better stocked grocery stores etc. NOVA was also much more diverse, I remember when I first moved there, going to a starbucks and hearing some asian guys talking in thier native language. The only thing I could pick up out of the conversation is that they were talking about fantasy football. Was kinda strange!
I think the people in Ga. are friendier and more welocoming, NOVA as a whole just seemed kinda cold. People were much more competitive and status conscious. (Although there are certainaly alot of yuppie snobs in metro atlanta also) A lot of backstabbing A types and trophy wives. The consider themselves failures if thier kids don't get into the AP programs and usually schedule thier kids to be in activities 7 days a week from sun up to sun down. Perople were not nasty per se but people do not talk to strangers often and pretty much keep to themselves. To me, Fairfax county reminds me a bit of North Fulton (without the good bagels and pizza).
Traffic in both areas is horrible although metro DC does have much better public transportation. In Atlanta though, many of the commutes are suburb to suburb and the bad traffic is concentrated on the northern arc of 285, 400 and 75/85 going into the city. In metro DC, traffic is messed up going anywhere at any time.
Both areas have strong job markets although for my type of work DC did have a stronger one. If I got laid off in DC, I usuallly would have a new contract within a week. Getting laid off in Ga. can be a problem. Pay of course is alot higher in NOVA but so is the cost of living. The med income of Fairfax county is about $115k per year. Sounds good until you realize that you are going to pay 2k to rent a 2 bedroom apartment!.
Ga. seems to be a bit more of live and let live. In NOVA, the cops are very agressive and it is easy to get a ticket. They pretty much do what they want with no oversight. Also, if more then 3 motorcyclist show up in any area, you can be sure a cop will show up. We have went to bike nights in Va. and they had snipers on the rooftops of near by buildings!!.
The OP said he has a motorcycle, while the DC area does have some good riding (WV panhandle, Skyline drive etc), the riding in N. Ga, WNC is many times better. I have been riding for almost 30 yrs and I never get tired of riding in the blue ridge / smokies.
Atlanta does have better weather, not just the fact that winters are warmer but in DC is always seemed gray outside. I had to take vitiman D suppliments when I lived ni DC because I couldn't get enough sun.
One thing I am planning on doing differently this time moving back is that I am going to live in N. Ga about 40 or so miles north of the city. When I lived here before, I was in West Cobb which is not a good part of the metro area. My new job will be in Alpharetta so i am thinking of looking in the Dawsonville area.
the point I was trying to make there wasn't that Asian guys were talking in their native tongue it was the the fact that every now and then I could pick up on fantasy football references.
I am coming back to Atlanta after living 2yrs in NOVA and a yr in Tampa. I have mixed feelings. There are somethings which I did not like at all in Atlanta and a few things which I loved. To the OP, metro atlanta in DC have some things in common and some things which are totally different. NOVA was much more affluent as a whole and as a result, things just seemed cleaner, in better repair etc. Things in NOVA were always clean, you would see cleaning crews in the strip malls etc. The roads were being fixed constantly, there was much better food, better stocked grocery stores etc. NOVA was also much more diverse, I remember when I first moved there, going to a starbucks and hearing some asian guys talking in thier native language. The only thing I could pick up out of the conversation is that they were talking about fantasy football. Was kinda strange!
I think the people in Ga. are friendier and more welocoming, NOVA as a whole just seemed kinda cold. People were much more competitive and status conscious. (Although there are certainaly alot of yuppie snobs in metro atlanta also) A lot of backstabbing A types and trophy wives. The consider themselves failures if thier kids don't get into the AP programs and usually schedule thier kids to be in activities 7 days a week from sun up to sun down. Perople were not nasty per se but people do not talk to strangers often and pretty much keep to themselves. To me, Fairfax county reminds me a bit of North Fulton (without the good bagels and pizza).
Traffic in both areas is horrible although metro DC does have much better public transportation. In Atlanta though, many of the commutes are suburb to suburb and the bad traffic is concentrated on the northern arc of 285, 400 and 75/85 going into the city. In metro DC, traffic is messed up going anywhere at any time.
Both areas have strong job markets although for my type of work DC did have a stronger one. If I got laid off in DC, I usuallly would have a new contract within a week. Getting laid off in Ga. can be a problem. Pay of course is alot higher in NOVA but so is the cost of living. The med income of Fairfax county is about $115k per year. Sounds good until you realize that you are going to pay 2k to rent a 2 bedroom apartment!.
Ga. seems to be a bit more of live and let live. In NOVA, the cops are very agressive and it is easy to get a ticket. They pretty much do what they want with no oversight. Also, if more then 3 motorcyclist show up in any area, you can be sure a cop will show up. We have went to bike nights in Va. and they had snipers on the rooftops of near by buildings!!.
The OP said he has a motorcycle, while the DC area does have some good riding (WV panhandle, Skyline drive etc), the riding in N. Ga, WNC is many times better. I have been riding for almost 30 yrs and I never get tired of riding in the blue ridge / smokies.
Atlanta does have better weather, not just the fact that winters are warmer but in DC is always seemed gray outside. I had to take vitiman D suppliments when I lived ni DC because I couldn't get enough sun.
One thing I am planning on doing differently this time moving back is that I am going to live in N. Ga about 40 or so miles north of the city. When I lived here before, I was in West Cobb which is not a good part of the metro area. My new job will be in Alpharetta so i am thinking of looking in the Dawsonville area.
I know I've been commenting on a lot of DC/ATL posts but I have to say you're right about the NOVA cops (and I also lived there for 2 years)...I remember when we first got here in August and people are bolting down 400 doing 80-90 mph only a lunatic in NOVA would do that...we moved from Fairfax to Alpharetta and you're right there are some similarities in the suburbs but overall DC has much more culture...the job market is much, much better...and frankly I miss having the ability to just lay in the park near the DC airport and watching the planes fly over...even though Fairfax was also a suburb there's always something to do there...here...not so much. You can only walk through North Point Mall so many times.
The good thing about Georgia is there is a certain bright tint in the air that other places don't have - especially not DC. Every time I watch "House Hunters" I know they're in Atl before I even read or hear anything about it just by how the natural light in the houses looks. I realize that sounds crazy but it's true.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,089,277 times
Reputation: 3995
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLTJL
I'm really surprised by this. Can you describe in detail the racial tensions you are talking about? I haven't really seen many.
To be fair, I suspect at least half of the stuff I've seen has been in this forum, so that is probably not a very good reflection of reality.
Parts of the Atlanta metro are fairly well integrated, perhaps most, but you still see mostly black suburbs in the southern half of the metro, and mostly white suburbs in the northern half, and there is still an air of us versus them that I encounter from time to time. Not very often, but the fact that I encounter it at all was a surprise to me. In 40 years in the Twin Cities, I had never heard of someone not wanting to go to a certain restaurant because of the people who frequented the establishment, and I've encountered that twice down here.
The area I live in is Mableton, which is about as integrated as you can get. Blacks and white are about equal in numbers, my subdivision is probably very close to 50/50 with a number of other ethnicities represented, etc..
It wasn't population mix I was talking about. It's attitudes. If you live next to someone and you still think you're better than they are, or that your neighbor is somehow a problem just because of their race, then you aren't really playing nice with your neighbors. I see more of that down here. A lot more. Not just along racial lines, either. I worked with someone who lived in East Cobb, and I couldn't believe some of the things they said about certain areas of the metro. Broad generalizations. I know someone who lives in the area, and the assessment this person made was totally incorrect and stereotyped.
I have noticed a correlation between the attitudes I describe and either age or a rural upbringing. Most of the people I know who actually were raised in the Atlanta metro or in the City of Atlanta itself are cool.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,089,277 times
Reputation: 3995
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeorgiaLakeSearch
You do realize St. Paul is almost 70% white and Minneapolis is almost 65% white.
And the population of Minneapolis has decreased by about 150k from its high days.
I'm very aware of the relative white populations, and I suspect that's one factor. If there aren't enough representatives of a minority group in an area to form a standalone community, integration with the existing community makes a lot more sense, and racial differences become a source of curiosity rather than a social differentiator. Not that there's anything wrong with celebrating heritage, but we all know that the line is rarely drawn at that point.
The population decrease in the City of Minneapolis has more to do with the building of freeways (tearing down housing) and a general decrease of household sizes nationwide, and not as much to do with people actually leaving the city. The idea of "white flight" didn't happen as much in the Twin Cities for obvious reasons. It has a very different history.
I don't think you have much to worry about because I can disuade a lot of the issues on your bad list:
land locked - yes it is. But there are lakes and river, and you are a 4-5 hour drive away from way better beaches than you can reasonably get to from Washington. A lot of people own condos in Florida and visit frequently.
no nearby cities worth visiting - there are tons. Nashville. Charlotte. Asheville. Savannah. Charleston. Plenty of daytrips.
Unfortunately most of these cities are 4+ hrs away and don't have the perks of cities near DC. A person in DC is within 4hrs of some of the biggest cities in the United States. Baltimore, Philly & NYC. The fun is not even close IMO.
I am coming back to Atlanta after living 2yrs in NOVA and a yr in Tampa. I have mixed feelings. There are somethings which I did not like at all in Atlanta and a few things which I loved. To the OP, metro atlanta in DC have some things in common and some things which are totally different. NOVA was much more affluent as a whole and as a result, things just seemed cleaner, in better repair etc. Things in NOVA were always clean, you would see cleaning crews in the strip malls etc. The roads were being fixed constantly, there was much better food, better stocked grocery stores etc. NOVA was also much more diverse, I remember when I first moved there, going to a starbucks and hearing some asian guys talking in thier native language. The only thing I could pick up out of the conversation is that they were talking about fantasy football. Was kinda strange!
I think the people in Ga. are friendier and more welocoming, NOVA as a whole just seemed kinda cold. People were much more competitive and status conscious. (Although there are certainaly alot of yuppie snobs in metro atlanta also) A lot of backstabbing A types and trophy wives. The consider themselves failures if thier kids don't get into the AP programs and usually schedule thier kids to be in activities 7 days a week from sun up to sun down. Perople were not nasty per se but people do not talk to strangers often and pretty much keep to themselves. To me, Fairfax county reminds me a bit of North Fulton (without the good bagels and pizza).
Traffic in both areas is horrible although metro DC does have much better public transportation. In Atlanta though, many of the commutes are suburb to suburb and the bad traffic is concentrated on the northern arc of 285, 400 and 75/85 going into the city. In metro DC, traffic is messed up going anywhere at any time.
Both areas have strong job markets although for my type of work DC did have a stronger one. If I got laid off in DC, I usuallly would have a new contract within a week. Getting laid off in Ga. can be a problem. Pay of course is alot higher in NOVA but so is the cost of living. The med income of Fairfax county is about $115k per year. Sounds good until you realize that you are going to pay 2k to rent a 2 bedroom apartment!.
Ga. seems to be a bit more of live and let live. In NOVA, the cops are very agressive and it is easy to get a ticket. They pretty much do what they want with no oversight. Also, if more then 3 motorcyclist show up in any area, you can be sure a cop will show up. We have went to bike nights in Va. and they had snipers on the rooftops of near by buildings!!.
The OP said he has a motorcycle, while the DC area does have some good riding (WV panhandle, Skyline drive etc), the riding in N. Ga, WNC is many times better. I have been riding for almost 30 yrs and I never get tired of riding in the blue ridge / smokies.
Atlanta does have better weather, not just the fact that winters are warmer but in DC is always seemed gray outside. I had to take vitiman D suppliments when I lived ni DC because I couldn't get enough sun.
One thing I am planning on doing differently this time moving back is that I am going to live in N. Ga about 40 or so miles north of the city. When I lived here before, I was in West Cobb which is not a good part of the metro area. My new job will be in Alpharetta so i am thinking of looking in the Dawsonville area.
That sounds like Dekalb county cops. They are agressive, too, and feel they can do whatever they want, and their court is corrupt. They even Fired some employees for being involved in some money scam.
Unfortunately most of these cities are 4+ hrs away and don't have the perks of cities near DC. A person in DC is within 4hrs of some of the biggest cities in the United States. Baltimore, Philly & NYC. The fun is not even close IMO.
Your comment is all based on personal opinion...the fun is not even close in your opinion, but that doesn't hold true for everyone. Keep that in mind - we don't all agree with your assessment. I think there are several cities near Atlanta worth visiting, size notwithstanding. A city doesn't have to be among the largest in the U.S. to be worthwhile.
ATLTJL's post was in response to the statement that there are NO cities near Atlanta worth visiting. The fact is that there ARE cities near Atlanta worth visiting. I swear some of the idiotic comments in this thread are the reason I've been staying away from this site. People seem to come to city-data just to be stupid and irritating.
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