Midtown? Job in Alpharetta...

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

It isn't your terminology, your entire premise is flawed if you take all pertinent information into account. That is what I (and many others) are trying to express to you. Your statement is tunnel visioned

Here's an analogy. If you only ever saw a baboon's rear end though a tiny hole in a wall then you might swear up and down to high heaven that all baboons are red. Although it might appear that way from your tiny, limited perspective... the *fact* is that baboons are mostly brown, or white, or grey, and many other shades between.

I'm not sure why you feel the need to keep defending such a (demonstrably) misleading statement. You are welcome to believe whatever you want for yourself (in spite of any facts or observations to the contrary), but it is probably hoping too much to expect the of us to buy into your rationalization for ignoring the bigger picture (for reasons already stated).

Speaking of looking through a keyhole, you may recall that I've said many times (including this thread) that a lot of people still commute into the city of Atlanta from the surrounding suburbs. That's obvious.

What I've also said is that 60% or so of people who make their home in the city proper now commute to work in the suburbs. When a majority of the population living in area A commutes to work in Area B, then in my opinion it's accurate to say that A functions as a bedroom community vis-a-vis B.

I don't read any negative connotations into that whatsoever, but it would be unwise to ignore the emergence of this phenomenon or pretend that it isn't happening. The city of Atlanta Department of Planning agrees and includes this in the city's official Comprehensive Development Plan.

And you don't just have to believe me or the COA Planning Department.

From the Brookings Institution:

Despite the much-hyped revitalization taking place in many city centers across the country, [Brookings Fellow Elizabeth] Kneebone said the jobs are not necessarily following the shift of residents toward downtown districts. In many places, these new urban dwellers end up reverse commuting to the suburbs for work.

More....America's jobs are moving to the suburbs - Apr. 18, 2013

[Tarzanman]

No. What you're saying is still misleading and semantically incorrect.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_town . Pay attention to the italicized portion.

"A commuter town may also be known as a bedroom community or bedroom suburb (Canada and U.S. usage), a dormitory town or dormitory suburb (UK Commonwealth and Ireland usage), or less commonly a dormitory village (UK Commonwealth and Ireland). These terms suggest that residents sleep in these neighborhoods, but normally work elsewhere; they also suggest that these communities have little commercial or industrial activity beyond a small amount of retail, oriented toward serving the residents."

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

No. What you're saying is still misleading and semantically incorrect.

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commuter_town . Pay attention to the italicized portion.

Wikipedia is great when it comes to compiling facts but articles that venture out into cultural commentary are often on pretty thin ice. That's why this one is prefaced by warnings like:

"This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.
The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (January 2012)
This article may contain original research. (January 2012)
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2008)"

Indeed, the italicized language is the part I disagree with. I don't believe that bedroom communities are defined as areas that "... have little commercial or industrial activity beyond a small amount of retail, oriented toward serving the residents." That may have been sort of correct at some point in time but it's no longer the case in many cities.

The fact that these definitions and relationships are evolving is why I've been careful to qualify my comments by saying that Atlanta is a bedroom community "in a sense" and "with respect to" and "vis-a-vis" the suburban job centers. It's obviously a place of substantial commerce. Yet at the same time, for a majority of city residents it functions primarily as home -- it's the place where they sleep, grocery shop, send the kids to school, mow the lawn, etc. Work is somewhere else.

And them thar is just the facts.

[Tarzanman]

Oh. Now I understand. Wikipedia, and just about everyone else on this message thread is incorrect. You, a person who apparently doesn't watch this traffic pattern day in and day out and maintains a loose relations with context, definitions and other objective touchstones are....right (but not really, only "in a sense")?

Lol, thanks for clearing that up for all of us. I am sure that I speak for all of us (in a sense) when I say that we await your concise analysis and critical thinking on the next thread with bated breath.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Tarzanman

Oh. Now I understand. Wikipedia, and just about everyone else on this message thread is incorrect. You, a person who apparently doesn't watch this traffic pattern day in and day out and maintains a loose relations with context, definitions and other objective touchstones are....right (but not really, only "in a sense")?

Lol, thanks for clearing that up for all of us. I am sure that I speak for all of us (in a sense) when I say that we await your concise analysis and critical thinking on the next thread with bated breath.

I'm surprised you've gotten so riled up about this, but here are some important factoids.

"According to the Census, in 2008, there were 171,292 persons in the City of Atlanta labor force. Of those persons, 71,271, or 41.6%, worked in the City of Atlanta. An additional 12.8% worked in elsewhere in Fulton County (excluding Atlanta), 14.2% worked in DeKalb County and 20.2% worked in the other first ring suburban counties (Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton). The remaining 11.1% worked in outlying counties.

Thus, the trend is for more Atlanta residents are commuting outside the City for work. This is likely a combination of Atlanta residents who now must travel farther to find work and to persons who already worked outside of the City moving into the City over the period (see Table 2-16)."

2011 City of Atlanta Comprehensive Development Plan

In other words, for around 60% of the COA workforce, the city is home only. For these 100,000 city residents, work is somewhere outside the city.

Now you could argue that although the city is where these folks sleep, grocery shop, send their kids to school, mow the lawn and tend to domestic matters, it really isn't their home.

However, I don't think it's a stretch to say it is. Those are traditionally the things people do in bedroom communities, and then they commute to work somewhere else.

As I mentioned above, this is hardly unique to Atlanta. The Brookings Institution reports that despite the revitalization taking place in many city centers across the country, the jobs are not necessarily following the shift of residents toward intown areas. In many places, these new urban dwellers end up reverse commuting to the suburbs for work.

Is that "bad" in some way? I certainly don't think so. If anything, it shows that cities can be terrific places to live, and not just daytime commuting destinations.

Nor does it mean that cities are no longer important employment areas. In metro Atlanta, around 17% of the region's jobs are in the city proper. 112,150 people were employed downtown, 89,624 in Midtown, 89,462 in Buckhead, and another 91,529 elsewhere in the city. Those are big numbers.

In terms of the highest paying jobs, the city is also doing well.

[berkeleylake]

To the OP, if you want good public schools, I would go with an area in Roswell and completely avoid Dekalb county (Brookhaven). Overall Roswell has some really great schools to consider.

I don't know enough to comment on public schools in Buckhead (APS), however, you can research here and find enough information.

The commute is key, the closer to your job, the better for your lifestyle. You would probably get caught in enough traffic going intown to Alpharetta for your job, that it can be frustrating even with a so-called "reverse commute."