How do you like living in Atlanta?

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by non-linear

Black people tend to live in separate communities and the white communities won't support marta going into their suburbs because of racial fear.

Having lived in Midtown for eons and a fairly recent transplant to the suburbs, I have a bit of a different take on the whole MARTA-to-the-suburbs thing. Most of the folks in these parts who oppose a MARTA expansion to the burbs do so for economic reasons: they don't want to foot the bill for something they believe they will never really use. Of course, like all over, there are some folks who would oppose transit because of their ill-informed views on race, but I haven't run across more people of that ilk here in the burbs than I did when I lived in the city proper.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by ThingsLikeThat

Hows the library system, how are the women, how's the job market, how's the weather, how's the freeways, how's the food, are the people stuck up, how's the golf, are the police very racist, how are the colleges, do people seem pretty happy or do they hate their lives?

Libraries - not good IMO. I am from a smaller midwestern/great lakes city and thought that Atlanta would have a better library system than what I considered my "po-dunk" Ohio city and I was 100% wrong. Atlanta's libraries aren't total crap but they are not good IMO and have nothing really going for them at all. That said, some of the colleges have very good libraries - GSU and Emory especially. The AUC also has a decent library with lots of interesting collections regarding black history especially. I love to research and spend a lot of time in libraries. The one in my hometown has a cafe, audio/video lounge, huge, open, beautiful children's section; and a teen's section that has big screen TVs and video games and extremely helpful staff. The AFPL in contrast has none of that and the staff aren't very friendly and the main branch downtown, even though I love the odd architecture is not kept up as nice as it should be and it doesn't have the amenities that other cities' modern libraries have. It also looks like a dungeon and unfriendly to me on the inside.

Women - I'm a woman so no info on that

Job Market - Depends on your field. I personally feel it is very tough to get a decently paying job in Atlanta unless you are in specific fields. The job market is doing better but not that great

Weather - is good in the fall and winter. Due to the beautiful trees Atlanta has hellish springs filled with unbelievably high pollen counts and if you have even the slightest allergies you will have issues. Even people who have never had allergy problems before who move to Atlanta many times develop horrible allergies. I broke out in hives every day the first spring I spent in Atlanta. ETA: Summer is brutal if you aren't used to the heat/humidity. You can practically never do anything outside in the summer and I have come to the conclusion that I would rather be cold in the north during the winter versus hot all summer (May - Sept) and not being able to do anything outside lol. We recently moved back to Ohio and had a great, regularly mild summer - only 2-5 days of over 90 degree temps so it was bearable and we could do things on our summer break versus staying inside all day and that was a good thing.

Freeways - Traffic is bad but the roads themselves are very well kept IMO. Coming from the west coast I don't think you will think traffic is all that bad either. It is just big city traffic. But there aren't a lot of pot holes or anything like that on freeways in Atlanta and like I said, I'm from the Midwest and potholes there are nothing like the easy Atlanta potholes

Food - Is great!! You can find something of every type of cuisine in metro Atlanta and the city is home to some of the country's best restaurants.

Stuck Up People - I do think Atlanta has a good amount of stuck up people and a good amount of regular non-stuck up people. It is a transient city and so there are people from everywhere and all sorts of personalities in the mix. I honestly feel Atlanta is more of a "fake" city where lots of people pretend to be something they aren't. But in general, people are friendly in Atlanta.

Golf - Is great too. I took up golfing a few years ago and love that you can go play practically all year. Atlanta is also very close to many other great golf courses and experiences in FL and AL.

Racist Police - Yes in specific counties. Metro Atlanta is a large area. I personally feel the worst racist police are DeKalb county. Atlanta (APD) has their issues too but they are not as bad IMO as DeKalb. Cobb IMO are the least racist since they treat everyone the same and are just more professional IMO than APD and DeKalb. And FWIW, please note that racist cops don 't mean "white cops." I and my husband have had the worse run-ins with black cops, especially APD versus white officers who have mostly been very nice to us. For white people in mostly black neighborhoods, they will also be harassed due to cops thinking they are in those neighborhoods to buy drugs. For many years I was more afraid of police in my neighborhood versus the criminals due to run-ins I've had with them. One had I had to file a suit against the department and it was settled.

Colleges - IMO are great. There are a plethora of high education institutions in or near Atlanta from the HBCUs of the AU Center to UGA and GSU and Emory amongst other rising suburban campuses like KSU. Lots of beautiful campuses and opportunities for a great college education in Atlanta. I moved to Atlanta to attend college initially.

Happy People - Most of the people I know in Atlanta are happy. Those who are not have economic issues, mostly stemming from feeling they are underpaid or they can't find employment. But in general most people live content lives.

[OneTrickNet]

Living in Atlanta is alright - it's definitely better than other locales (e.g., Cleveland, Detroit, etc. [sorry]). Personally, I'd rather be living on a coast, but there are a variety of reasons that that's not happening for me.

My frame of reference is the NE/Midwest were I grew up. I also spent about 7 years in central Florida.

Atlanta proper is a prisoner of its surrounding suburbs and state of Georgia. There are a lot of things that I think the city wants to do, but is prohibited by the conservatism and traditional values most southerners have. For example, we need to invest a vast sum of money into infrastructure projects. However, raising taxes are seen as a no-no. We need to legalize gay marriage to ensure we attract a diverse and talented workforce. But bible-thumpers who run the state see otherwise. We could also legalize facets of marijuana for medical use. That's also against God's will. Or something. There's a variety of other forward-thinking things that could be beneficial but don't happen either due to conservative politics or thinking. Or both.

Atlanta as an island is decently progressive, but once you add in surrounding areas and tack on the rest of the state it quickly goes back to the good ol' southern status quo. I think eventually the pendulum will swing opposite to where we are now, but it's going to take a long time. The more out-of-town businesses and people relocate here, the faster it'll happen. But a lot of people want to preserve the ol' south. See the Confederate flags on cars and houses.

So it depends on what you're looking for. Atlanta is a big area with good food and a decent amount of things to do. It's been getting a good deal of publicity and attraction from Hollywood which is cool. But if you're expecting a progressive thinking location you're probably best suited for Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, etc. Perhaps even Denver or Austin, but I think they have the same entrapment issues as we do here.