Avondale Estates?? Anyone? (Atlanta, Decatur, North Decatur: city hall, rental homes, crime)

[willrusso]

Hello. I will be relocating to Atlanta in the near future and I was looking at a place in Avondale Estates. I am single and have no children, so schools are a non-issue. I want a place inside the 'Perimeter' (Beltway as we call ours here in Raleigh), but I understand you have to be careful about crime areas. I despise suburbia hehe. Anyways, does the Avondale Estates / Decatur area have a lot of crime or run down areas? Is the area pretty conservative? I lead an alternative lifestyle and would prefer to live somewhere more open-minded or liberal-ish. I will be visiting this weekend. Thanks a lot for your help.

[lleckband]

Hi -

I am a resident of Avondale for the last 15 years. Avondale Estates has been quite conservative in the past, but the older residents who represented that point of view are largely gone. If by alternative you mean gay, we have quite a number of gay residents with and without children. Avondale Estates is 1 mile from Decatur, and east Atlanta is the most diverse area of Atlanta - one of the reasons we live there. Midtown is the only part of Atlanta with more gay residents, but it does not have the wonderful small town feel of Avondale, with its beautiful old trees and older historic homes. We have a beautiful lake and community club, a separate swim and tennis facility, and a beautiful playground and park. We havea wealth of community organizations you can beciome involved in, and our own government. We have mail delivered to our door, and garbage pickup in the side or back yard (wherever you keep it!) I love living in Avondale, and intend to be there for the rest of my life.

Avondale is by far majority white, but the children are changing that demographic. There is a large percentage of adopted children of all nationalities and races, and many more black and Asian couples have moved in that are increasingly changing the demographics. I think Avondale is a great place to live, and I would certainly recommend it!

[tdatl]

you can find run-down areas in any city, Decatur and Avondale Estates included. There are plenty of nice areas and there are some not-so-nice areas. When you start looking, ask the local police department for stats on the specific areas you're considering.

My girlfriend is a social worker (read=low pay), and her house in Decatur is a dump. She had a crack house a few doors down, though it's currently boarded up and unused. She also has a very large German Shepherd, so she personally has had no issues. This past Saturday night, we had dinner at the Avondeal Estates home of one of her coworkers. He has a crackhead neighbor.

[gumboula]

All depends on where in Avondale you are looking... lleckband, what is the state of schools in the neighborhood? I love the neighborhood, but have a young child who I would prefer to send to public schools. Any work going on to improve Avondale Elementary? Any neighborhood opinion on how relocating the Dekalb School of the Arts may help the high school?

[lleckband]

Avondale Estates is a wonderful city where my husband and I have lived for 18 years. When we first came here, it WAS a city with many DINKS and older people. That has not been the case for about eight-ten years now. We have an excellent Parent Co-op in Avondale, and there are 188 pre and elementary school age children in that group alone. I personally have a 4 and 5 year old.

People move to AE because it has a strong sense of community, a beautiful historic housing stock, and because people who come here tend to stay. The one hitch has been the continuing decline of the public schools, which has caused many families to be forced to move in recent years. Although the International Community School is an excellent school, they are not a neighborhood school in the sense that acceptance is by lottery, and their academics are continually affected by their philosophy of 50/50 demographic mix between refugees and children of Dekalb County - a unique challenge they meet well, but a challenge nevertheless.

Last summer our citizens decided to make excellent public education a reality once again in AE, and started the AE Charter School Initiative through the Avondale Education Association. We have since become The Museum School of Avondale Estates, modeled on Normal Park Museum Magnet School in Chattanooga, one of the top magnet schools in the U.S. you can read all about us at The Museum School of Avondale Estates

We want a school that is both academically excellent and reflects our diversity, particuarly of our children's generation, and the current public school does not do that. many of us have married or adopted outside our race, and a school with many colors and cultures is a big priority. As someone pointed out, we also have a significant gay community, and many of those couples are parents as well.

We DID try to make our local school a school of choice - we spent 5 years pouring $$ and volunteer hours into the local elementary school, only to be clearly told we were not welcome there. HB 881, which passed in July 2008 and created our opportunity to build a great charter school in our community, was the right idea at the right time. We, as a community jumped on it and we have over 35 volunteers on our Executive and Steering Committees working on our charter application, plus over 200 people on our mailing list. Our petition currently represents the parents of over 240 children - clearly the need is great. Our timeline is to submit our charter application in May 2009, with the hope and expectation of approval in December 2009, and an opening date of August 2010.

I am the co-chair of that initiative, and I would be happy to talk to anyone about what we are doing. Also, all our meetings are open to the public, and are held every Thursday evening at 6:30 PM at City Hall in AE. Please join us, or contact me directly at info@museumschool.org

[PharmOne]

avondale estates is great if you're looking to live ITP on the east side affordably. i just sold my house in AE in december & moved to downtown decatur (only because i wanted to be within walking distance of activities & would like to be in decatur school system for kids down the road).

depending on where you live in avondale estates, you may see different types of neighborhoods. but, generally there are many great place to be. you can also look in decatur heights (off college avenue, between decatur & avondale estates...craigie, brown st, etc) - this is close to decatur & close to avondale estates.

my house was in the kensington parc subdivision off rockbridge road (closer to 285 & memorial drive) & it was a GREAT neighborhood full of diverse & very accepting people. there were at least 8-10 gay couples or singles that easily come to mind who owned houses there. plus, it's one of the more affordable neighborhoods for low maintenance subdivision houses. if you're looking to buy, i'd highly recommend checking it out. i hated leaving, but my goal was to be walkable. sometimes there are also some rental homes there if you're interested in that. there are several other neighborhood-y subdivisions off of rockbridge road in avondale estates & they're all seemingly nice with diverse people living in them. and of course, historic avondale estates has some amazing homes!

i would highly recommend living there.

[communityminded]

What about seniors, can anyone comment on activities or support for seniors in AE, I am looking to relocate my mother here. She is slightly disabled but youthful in spirit.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by communityminded

What about seniors, can anyone comment on activities or support for seniors in AE, I am looking to relocate my mother here. She is slightly disabled but youthful in spirit.

Not sure about AE; there is the very active Mack Love Senior Center a few miles away in North Decatur at Mason Mill Park.
To the OP: I would bet that disparaging remarks about Avondale Estates and Decatur that are being posted on here refer to areas that are located outside the city limits of both towns. It certainly doesn't characterize either city.

[electricmayhem]

Careful, though, when you drive by Avondale Estates. It's a speed trap: the speed limit changes on the main road that goes by (Covington/College), and there's often a police car waiting for you on the other side of the speed limit sign.

[cburt]

If you are open we will be relocating to D.C. for about one year, maybe longer. Our home is a top of the line luxury accomodation in a gated community. Formal living room and dining room, great room, state of the art kitche, 4 bedrooms, five baths, full basement entertainment area with separte office(total 5,390 sq. ft.) plus a fenced in gorgeous pool.
Lease//rental monthly $2,900.

If you wish to consider an alternative please contact me.