New Yorkers had a discussion on City Data some time ago......... (Atlanta: neighborhoods, university)

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by vision33r

I always thought people in the suburbs hate mass transit because they dislike being near other race and ethnic folks. The reason some people like in the suburbs is to get away from inner city multicultural hubs and they rather drive to work.

What? This is so ignorant, it's hard to provide a sufficient response.

Yes, we in the suburbs are just racists who like to drive to work to keep clear of the unwashed masses. Wow....is all I can say.

[jsvh]

Free highways encourage less density. Transit needs density to be effective. Atlanta metro has a history of building a lot of highways. Something that is hopefully leveling off now.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by vision33r

I always thought people in the suburbs hate mass transit because they dislike being near other race and ethnic folks. The reason some people like in the suburbs is to get away from inner city multicultural hubs and they rather drive to work.

The suburbs are by far the most diverse part of the metropolitan area.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by neil0311

What? This is so ignorant, it's hard to provide a sufficient response.

Yes, we in the suburbs are just racists who like to drive to work to keep clear of the unwashed masses. Wow....is all I can say.

Neil, race was The reason Gwinnett and Cobb voted down MARTA several decades ago.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Neil, race was The reason Gwinnett and Cobb voted down MARTA several decades ago.

That may well have been a reason, but bear in mind that they were both small counties at the time. Gwinnett had 70,000 residents and Cobb was still under 200,000.

There just wasn't much reason for either county to strap on an additional tax for something they didn't need. At the time MARTA was sold as something that wouldn't even get to Cobb and Gwinnett until 20 years later, and it's hard to get the taxpayers pumped up about something that remote.

There was considerable opposition to MARTA within the city of Atlanta as well.

[earthlyfather]

Absolutely, positively correct. Coincidental, but our 50 home neighborhood in suburbia, contains Middle Eastern, South Georgian, Black Philadelphians, East Asian, mixed race families and a couple of refugees from New Jersey/NYC areas. Not a scientific study. Just observations and acquaintance-ships from dog walking. Point being; many folks from many areas hold onto old stereotypes and prejudices. The OP is just an example.

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

I'm not sure if you're speaking about Atlanta in particular or in general, but it's a thing of the past to automatically equate suburbia with a lily White population. Minorities have been settling in the suburbs for the better part of of the past three or four decades now. Of course you have suburbs that tend to be overwhelmingly White or minority, but that's just not a hard-and-fast rule anymore. In terms of diversity levels, I'd put Gwinnett County up against just about any other majority-minority suburban county in the country.

[Adric]

Originally Posted by vision33r

I always thought people in the suburbs hate mass transit because they dislike being near other race and ethnic folks. The reason some people like in the suburbs is to get away from inner city multicultural hubs and they rather drive to work.

It's more or less that Atlanta's suburbs tend to represent more conservative people and they don't like paying for things unless they see a real benefit coming from it... which isn't entirely unreasonable. We have the same issue here in Portland even. There were plans for Oregon and Washington to cooperate together to rebuild the I-5 interstate bridge (which is in dire need to be rebuilt - a magnitude 5 or more earthquake would probably bring the current bridge down) complete with another light rail line to Vancouver. Washington State pulled out saying that they didn't want to increase taxes on the people of Vancouver (a suburb of Portland) for LRT that most people wouldn't use.

Columbia River Crossing: Oregon Senate wavering on bridge project after Washington pullout | OregonLive.com

So don't feel bad Atlanta. Most of the country deals with this issue.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Neil, race was The reason Gwinnett and Cobb voted down MARTA several decades ago.

It was also the reason for Jim Crow, but what does that have to do with us in 2014?

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Free highways encourage less density. Transit needs density to be effective. Atlanta metro has a history of building a lot of highways. Something that is hopefully leveling off now.

This mindset is why traffic is so horrible now. Atlanta needs two outer perimeters that it doesn't have and probably never will because of this myopic viewpoint.

I laugh heartily about the thought that highways cause sprawl. The areas have sprawled with the same freeway layout (minus 400) that came about in the 50s and 60s.

[Saintmarks]

Neil, Arjay, Earth, great comments debunking the racist component of transit (or lack thereof) in the suburbs. Bringing that up is so half a century ago.