Does Atlanta Have the worst big city downtown in the South? (Dallas: safe, bars)

[arjay57]

Looks like we are the 5th Most Exciting city in America!

The 10 Most Exciting Cities in America | Gogobot

[Codederick]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

You become a world class city by having a dense, walkable urban core where single family homes and yards don't mean anything. Let's be honest. Tourists aren't going to those neighborhoods. They are in the downtown area or the dense northern neighborhoods of Chicago.

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!

[Codederick]

Originally Posted by chimama1

I'm from Atlanta and when I moved to Chicago I was shocked at how segregated it was. I lived on the north side and I would literally not see black faces for days at a time. It was disconcerting. My Midwestern friends would ask me in hushed tones if stories about the racism in the south were true. I told them that I found the Atlanta area at least to be much more integrated--both in just daily life, and in socio-economic opportunities. I've seen enough graphs now to know Atlanta continues to have a huge problem with socio-economic disparity, but I would argue we still have a much larger and more integrated middle and upper middle class of African American professionals than any other city. This conversation still disturbs me: I have a very good friend who is a born and raised Chicagoan. She was looking through my photo album of my pregnancy/birth of my first child. Looking at picture of me, my husband, minutes-old baby, and the nurses and doctor, my friend asked who the young black guy was. Answer: my OBGYN. Her face--she was so confused for a second. Then she was devastated with herself. She said growing up in Chicago, she was not accustomed to seeing well-educated African Americans in professional careers. Obviously, they are there, but it's not like it is here in Atlanta. I mean, now I live in East Cobb (100% white, if posters on this forum are to be believed ) and my kids have black kids on their basketball, soccer and baseball teams, and in dance class, and karate, and in their schools--a far cry from not seeing economically successful African Americans.

I call major BS on this.

Uptown, Edgewater, and Rogers Park are all on the north side and all are 15-20% black.

[atlHawks]

Got to clean up the beggars and homeless. That's why people avoid downtown.

[MegaJoy]

Originally Posted by stuckinsj

I just recently visited Atlanta and thought it was going to be great considering all the good press about Hotlanta and such but i thought the downtown was awful. Pretty dead during the day with not much retail, restaurants or other things going on. Maybe Im just spoiled coming from Philly but man it was a disappointment.

I later talked to people from Atlanta and they said Midtown and Buckhead was really good but i was disappointed in those two areas too. Midtown sorta felt it was built in the 80's/90's and sorta was a cross between a downtown and office park. It didn't really work and there were so few people on the streets. It felt like a ghost town during a weekday. Buckhead felt light a series of strip malls but with rail access. Like King of Prussia back home.

Is there some other urban area that people work/shop/go to because these areas totally didnt cut it for me. I have been to Dallas, Charlotte, Houston, NOLA, and others. I honestly thought that Atlanta had the worst downtown and that Midtown/Buckhead were poor substitutes compared to other places.

Please dont shoot the messenger. I hope its getting better downtown but it doesnt take a rocket scientist to know that Downtown Atlanta is not pulling its weight for such a large and prosperous region.

========================================
I notice your message has a date of 2013!
I am glad someone replied to your old comments, gave me a chance to reply

Maybe you were traveling in the wrong circle! Most downtown's
of Big Cities are not like they used to be
I hope no one told you the street were made of gold
Many changes since 2013...Come on down...opppppps
===> I meant, ywal come on down.

[mjtinmemphis]

What downtown in the south has more amenities? I can't think of any. Museums stores shopping options LRT and HRT access. Anything else you can think of that makes a city a city.

[JoeP]

What downtown in the south has more amenities? I can't think of any. Museums stores shopping options LRT and HRT access. Anything else you can think of that makes a city a city.

Really?

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

What downtown in the south has more amenities? I can't think of any. Museums stores shopping options LRT and HRT access. Anything else you can think of that makes a city a city.

Downtown Atlanta doesn't really have as much in the way of stores/shopping options; the lack of retail is a notable shortcoming. It's not the best or the worst big city downtown in the South...somewhere in the middle and hopefully climbing towards 'best' in the near future.

[AUGnative]

The one thing that certainly jumps out at you with Atlanta's downtown is the lack of pedestrian actvity.. not counting the beggars and homeless. The Centennial Olympic park area and its surrounding museums and attraction is certainly a major improvement, but I guess I am thinking more about the downtown core around 5 points and Peachtree street. I also think the predominance of John Portman architecture contributes to the lack of a pedestrian presence and street life. His buildings are designed to have almost no interaction with the outside world around them and then couple that with the fact that most of the buildings in Peachtree center are interconnected via skywalks. One would not even need to venture outside at all. While this might make sense for a cold weather city with long harsh winters, I have never understood this for a warm weather city like Atlanta. There is a noticeable like of retail in downtown. I would not say it is the worst big city downtown in The South but it does share many of the negatives of Downtown LA and the two are quite similar in many ways even with the John Portman architecture. BUt like downtown Atlanta, downtown LA is seeing improvements and people are actually living there. I still think downtown Atlanta is ahead of downtown Dallas. Uptown Dallas is where more of the action is.. kind of like midtown versus downtown. I think if the city can build pedestrian plazas over the downtown connecter to seamlessly connect downtown and Midtown this would be a huge help. I notice there are plans to do this

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by AUGnative

The one thing that certainly jumps out at you with Atlanta's downtown is the lack of pedestrian actvity.. not counting the beggars and homeless. The Centennial Olympic park area and its surrounding museums and attraction is certainly a major improvement, but I guess I am thinking more about the downtown core around 5 points and Peachtree street.

There's a ton of pedestrian activity in and around Five Points. Now after hours is a different story, but during the day, there's no shortage.

I also think the predominance of John Portman architecture contributes to the lack of a pedestrian presence and street life. His buildings are designed to have almost no interaction with the outside world around them and then couple that with the fact that most of the buildings in Peachtree center are interconnected via skywalks. One would not even need to venture outside at all. While this might make sense for a cold weather city with long harsh winters, I have never understood this for a warm weather city like Atlanta. There is a noticeable like of retail in downtown. I would not say it is the worst big city downtown in The South but it does share many of the negatives of Downtown LA and the two are quite similar in many ways even with the John Portman architecture. BUt like downtown Atlanta, downtown LA is seeing improvements and people are actually living there. I still think downtown Atlanta is ahead of downtown Dallas. Uptown Dallas is where more of the action is.. kind of like midtown versus downtown. I think if the city can build pedestrian plazas over the downtown connecter to seamlessly connect downtown and Midtown this would be a huge help. I notice there are plans to do this

Agreed.