Atlanta's population after annex (Sandy Springs, Druid Hills: neighborhood, best schools, living)

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Nope, you're off by half. Here are the current populations:

City of Atlanta - 443,775
Clayton County - 261,532
Dekalb County - 699,893
East Point - 33,712
College Park - 13,942
Hapeville - 6,373
Chattahoochee Hills - 2,378
Fairburn - 12,950
Palmetto - 4,488
Unicorp - ~20,000

Total population - 1,499,043

I don't think this a good idea though (or possible). I think the current borders of the city of Atlanta are as big as they could reasonably be, if not too large.

The OP specifically mentioned keeping the current incorporated areas, which would drop that number way below one million (I guessed on the 650-700K number)

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I don't think this a good idea though (or possible). I think the current borders of the city of Atlanta are as big as they could reasonably be, if not too large.

i don't think atlanta's borders are too big, especially considering dekalb county, which contains a lot of what most people would consider "atlanta" including druid hills, north decatur road, etc. in addition, it's not out of this world to think of places like vinings and sandy springs being incorporated into the city one day. i just don't think it will happen.

[waronxmas]

Originally Posted by Gulch

The OP specifically mentioned keeping the current incorporated areas, which would drop that number way below one million (I guessed on the 650-700K number)

Oh, I just noticed that. In that case, you are still too low. Most people who live in Dekalb and Clayton county live in a unicorp area still. Nine times out of ten, whenever someone says they live in "Decatur" or "Stone Mountain" they really live in an unincorporated place. Their post office is just in Decatur or Stone Mountain.

With that said, here is the population of incorporated cities in Fulton and Dekalb that aren't Atlanta.

East Point - 33,712
College Park - 13,942
Hapeville - 6,373
Chattahoochee Hills - 2,378
Fairburn - 12,950
Palmetto - 4,488
Avondale Estates - 2,960
Decatur - 19,853
Brookhaven - 49,000
Chamblee - 15,790
Doraville - 8,330
Dunwoody - 46,267
Lithonia - 1,924
Clarkston - 7,554
Stone Mountain - 5,802
Pine Lake - 730
Forrest Park - 18,468
Jonesboro - 4,724
Lake City - 2,612
Lovejoy - 6,422
Morrow - 6,445
Riverdale - 15,134

Total population of incorporated areas in Dekalb, Clayton, and South Fulton: 285,858

Population of the City of Atlanta that annexed the unincorporated parts of Dekalb, Clayton, and Fulton counties: 1,213,185

Even though I think it would be even harder for the city of Atlanta to gobble up what's left of the surrounding counties, it is pretty weird how many people in Metro Atlanta do not live in an actual city. If one were to take the time to add it all up, it would probably be 70 to 80% of the population living in a unincorporated area.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I don't think this a good idea though (or possible). I think the current borders of the city of Atlanta are as big as they could reasonably be, if not too large.

Absolutely!

We have tons of space, much of which is sparsely populated and grossly underutilized. Probably 20-25% of our population is below the poverty line.

Even poor old Detroit, which is about our size and has an additional 250,000 people, is too large. And 50 years ago they comfortably fit nearly 2 million people into an area our size!

The city of Atlanta needs to focus intently on urbanizing what it's got, not adding areas that will frankly drain us even further.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Absolutely!

We have tons of space, much of which is sparsely populated and grossly underutilized. Probably 20-25% of our population is below the poverty line.

Even poor old Detroit, which is about our size and has an additional 250,000 people, is too large. And 50 years ago they comfortably fit nearly 2 million people into an area our size!

The city of Atlanta needs to focus intently on urbanizing what it's got, not adding areas that will frankly drain us even further.

Agreed! I think Atlanta is a good size. I think annexing the rest of Druid Hills makes sense and maybe a few other smaller annexations.

As a whole I think Georgia gives too much power to counties. I think we need more incorporated cities. I think there also should be more mechanisms to allow municipalities to work together and jointly tax themselves for projects.

[cqholt]

If Atlanta was to annex, it needs to annex Druid Hills, Sandtown, Camp Creek area, and Fulton Industrial area.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by cqholt

If Atlanta was to annex, it needs to annex Druid Hills, Sandtown, Camp Creek area, and Fulton Industrial area.

Yes--and a few more areas.

[Ant131531]

Why should Atlanta annex more land? To jerk itself off by saying it has over 1 million residents? It will still be a low density suburban sprawly mess regardless. It's just like how Houston doesn't impress me by having 2.2 million residents within 600+ sq miles with average densities of only 3.2k.

SF is only 49 sq miles(7x7), yet it's 10x the city Houston or Atlanta is.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Why should Atlanta annex more land? To jerk itself off by saying it has over 1 million residents? It will still be a low density suburban sprawly mess regardless. It's just like how Houston doesn't impress me by having 2.2 million residents within 600+ sq miles with average densities of only 3.2k.

SF is only 49 sq miles(7x7), yet it's 10x the city Houston or Atlanta is.

The areas I listed was to increase the tax base.

[Psykomonkee]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Why should Atlanta annex more land? To jerk itself off by saying it has over 1 million residents? It will still be a low density suburban sprawly mess regardless. It's just like how Houston doesn't impress me by having 2.2 million residents within 600+ sq miles with average densities of only 3.2k.

SF is only 49 sq miles(7x7), yet it's 10x the city Houston or Atlanta is.

You're so waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off base.

First, the thread isn't about whether or not Atlanta NEEDS to annex. That's not the question.
I was curious what the population would be had that happened.

But if you want to ask about if there's a need,
Thinking about NYC, (I could be wrong cause I'm only getting this info from that How the states were made TV show) once upon a time New York City was only on the island of Manhattan. Brooklyn was/is in Kings County & there was Queens Co, Flushing, Bronx Co. etc... Lots of separate governments. The problem with all of those separate municipalities in one major region (like the current ATL region with ATL, No Fulton, Sandy Springs, Cobb, etc...) is that all the separate cities and counties all work against each other attempting to support their own little bubble of interest, but to the detriment of the bigger picture of improving the region. So, NYC forms one large city and incorporated all of those smaller cities & county land under one larger city so that they are all now working in one accord toward a common goal.

Atlanta is bound to fail as long as every little pocket city (that apparently THINKS they can make it on their own and just let the center city flop... Looking at you Sandy Springs & Brookhaven) keeps trying to separate themselves from the center city and work against what should be a common goal.

I just wonder if things would actually start getting done if the cities around area were all working under one umbrella toward one common goal.

And the plus of the higher population is more tax money,
(however that could be good or bad. Maybe more people paying taxes could = less tax per person. Maybe???)