Metro Atlanta 2nd city (Columbus, Savannah: homes, school, subdivisions)

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

Nerdragon, again I'm agreeing with aries here. Your disdain and misinformed comments about EC (throughout many of your posts) really reveals how little you know about the area. Which is fine, of course, but you have a lot to say about an area you are unfamiliar with. East Cobb is far from perfect, but it definitely has more than subdivisions and strip malls. A huge lovely park (in addition to several smaller parks, including some public pools) bike trails, great hiking trails at Sope Creek, a couple of popular golf courses, 2 very nice YMCA's, oh--and the Chattahoochee River are some of what East Cobb has to offer it's residents.

Yes, EC is nothing new. Many (most) houses are from several decades ago, and many people grew up in EC and have moved back to raise their families. Most people who moved from Smyrna did so recently. Not 20 years ago. Plus, I would venture to guess that the majority of East Cobbers moved here from outside of Cobb County. And that "convenience" is nothing to sneeze at: halfway between the historic downtowns of Marietta and Roswell, easy access to 75, 285, and 400. Access to Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, Brookhaven and Buckhead on surface streets. It's really a nice spot from which to experience metro Atlanta

Sense of place?? Like a contrived, long half-dead shopping center that happens to have some condos upstairs?? Yeah, you're right. East Cobb doesn't have that. If anything, EC's popularity hurts it from developing a "new urban" district since there's no incentive for strip mall owners to do more than cosmetic renovations. It would be lovely if we had some sort of "town square," but "community" doesn't come from a particular physical setting-it's more about the people who are there. IMO. If the people care about and are involved with their neighbors, neighborhood, schools, civic organizations--that creates community.

Fantastic post. Was fomenting a reply but you covered about everything I was going to add.

The question of East Cobb earlier was NOT that it become an urbanized area with a "sense of place," but whether or not it would remain stable. The things that Netdragon espouses are for areas that are in decline and to bring some life back into a community. There is enough life of community in East Cobb to keep it a desirable location for decades to come. In fact the more suburban layout without the dense urbanity in the location is the reason it WON'T decline. Not all people are looking for a walkable, dense neighborhood.

Schools, location, suburban layout. The keys to this area's success. They aren't changing anytime soon.

[AfternoonCoffee]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

Fantastic post. Was fomenting a reply but you covered about everything I was going to add.

The question of East Cobb earlier was NOT that it become an urbanized area with a "sense of place," but whether or not it would remain stable. The things that Netdragon espouses are for areas that are in decline and to bring some life back into a community. There is enough life of community in East Cobb to keep it a desirable location for decades to come. In fact the more suburban layout without the dense urbanity in the location is the reason it WON'T decline. Not all people are looking for a walkable, dense neighborhood.

Schools, location, suburban layout. The keys to this area's success. They aren't changing anytime soon.

Thank you, Saintmarks! Coming from you, that really means a lot, since I have appreciated your thoughtful and reasonable responses on this forum

As I subsequently read through some other posts this morning, I have have a feeling Netdragon is just looking for an argument since on other recent threads he makes the same points you, aries and I do about the close-in 'burbs...

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by netdragon

East Cobb's conservatism is distorting Cobb politics, forcing their politics on everyone else, and Bob Ott just panders to EC and gerrymander s his district to avoid being voted out. It's EC's fault that we don't have a dedicated transit lane down Cobb Parkway. And a whole host of other things ubtil Smyrna and Marietta and other urban parts of Cobb continue to grow and become more of a force. Then we can have a 2nd progressive commissioner and make him fight for EC. We could have voted him out this year if the commissioners didnt give part of Northern Smyrna to Marietta's commissioner. Furthermore, in character, EC and North Fulton represent old-school suburban sprawl, though EC makes the least effort to create sense of place. "East Cobb" is not a "place". Places are compact. The only effort I really see is the Johnson Rd plan going into effect, which of course was fought vigorously by a lot og East Cobbians who don't want to see progress.




I know all about this. They monopolized time in our district meetings talking about this for far too long, so how coyld I not? They should welckme the investment, find another spot for the park.

East Cobb politics are actually similar to North Fulton...and North Fulton citizens are striving for more MARTA.


The most conservative parts of Cobb County are non-apartment North Cobb and West Cobb. East Cobb is not outer suburban/exurban tea-party land like Cherokee.
East Cobb Republicans are more similar to the Republicans in Dunwoody, Northlake/Lakeside/LaVista, Sandy Springs, Buckhead, and Vinings.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

Thank you, Saintmarks! Coming from you, that really means a lot, since I have appreciated your thoughtful and reasonable responses on this forum

As I subsequently read through some other posts this morning, I have have a feeling Netdragon is just looking for an argument since on other recent threads he makes the same points you, aries and I do about the close-in 'burbs...

East Cobb doomed, or not?

[cdw1084]

Decatur has 22 votes, Sandy Springs have 20 but Marietta and East Cobb are being talked about 3 times as much...hmmm!

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

As I subsequently read through some other posts this morning, I have have a feeling Netdragon is just looking for an argument since on other recent threads he makes the same points you, aries and I do about the close-in 'burbs...

Definitely not trying to start an argument. You have a right to your opinions, and I have a right to mine. Saying I'm making an argument, when you are even misinterpreting what I call an inner suburb, is confrontational.

Originally Posted by aries4118

East Cobb doomed, or not?

Aries shows I've always thought this way about East Cobb. Anyway, we should probably take this discussion there.

I don't consider East Cobb, Roswell or Alpharetta as inner suburbs. East Cobb is a fully developed suburb, but the development came much later than the inner suburbs. East Cobb, just like Roswell and Alpharetta, is also a good trip from the perimeter compared to the inner suburbs but that's less important since I'd consider Marietta an inner-suburb because of its history and character.

One thing that really sets apart the inner suburbs is that they declined while Atlanta did, and the other suburbs grew during Atlanta's decline. Marietta, Smyrna, Sandy Springs - for example - all went through a decline as Atlanta did. To avoid confusion: unincorporated Sandy Springs (at the time) and Marietta did have some wealthy areas that still did well during that decline, but the older suburban-character middle-class and working class areas declined as suburban flight happened.

East Cobb, Roswell and Alpharetta are just suburbs. Good old-fashioned suburbs that are not attempting to take a jump towards being more urban and walkable ahead of the national trend that has started, which tend to also set apart the inner suburbs.

[Clayton white guy]

If all of unincorporated Jonesboro was in the the City of Jonesboro (population around 3000) it would extend into Clayton, Henry, and Fayette Counties and have just under three hundred thousand people. I must point out that since "unincorporated" areas annexed to existing cities has been mentioned that if this was done all over that Fairburn, Fayetteville, and College Park would also wind up with cities of a hundred thousand or more. Food for thought, but will never happen.

[netdragon]

All, Someone created a new thread that is about the true cities, not municipal boundaries. METRO Atlanta's and Georgia's True 2nd City (Edge City if it was incorporated as a City)

[AfternoonCoffee]

Originally Posted by netdragon

Definitely not trying to start an argument. You have a right to your opinions, and I have a right to mine. Saying I'm making an argument, when you are even misinterpreting what I call an inner suburb, is confrontational.


Aries shows I've always thought this way about East Cobb. Anyway, we should probably take this discussion there.

While I think "confrontational" is a bit extreme, I do apologize if you were stating your sincere opinion and I accused you of merely looking for an argument.

It's just that your strongly worded opinions on EC are so egregiously uninformed (even after threads such as the one aries linked to) that I figured it was intentional. I guess I was mistaken...

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by AfternoonCoffee

While I think "confrontational" is a bit extreme, I do apologize if you were stating your sincere opinion and I accused you of merely looking for an argument.

It's just that your strongly worded opinions on EC are so egregiously uninformed (even after threads such as the one aries linked to) that I figured it was intentional. I guess I was mistaken...

No worries. My biggest frustration with EC is more frustration of the politics of the two commissioners that EC controls, and I can get a little heated when talking about EC.