UPDATED: City-Data Atlanta Forum Posters: City of Atlanta or Suburban Residents? (East Point: middle-class, how much)

[equinox63]

As a follow-up to a long-standing C-D poll from 2012, I was just curious about the percentage of current City-Data Atlanta posters that live in the City of Atlanta in relation to those that live in the surrounding suburbs.

I tried to expand the categories without getting too specific. So if you live OTP Northwest of the city (for example), I will leave it to you to choose "OTP North" or "OTP West" based on your location.

[cwkimbro]

The region has mostly grown north. Gwinnett alone is going to surpass 1 million people this year.

I would split OTP North into 3: otp NW, OTP north, and OTP NE. I think k the results would be more interesting/even.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

The region has mostly grown north. Gwinnett alone is going to surpass 1 million people this year.

I would split OTP North into 3: otp NW, OTP north, and OTP NE. I think k the results would be more interesting/even.

This is a good suggestion as the Atlanta region has experienced most of its heaviest northward growth in the post-World War II era along radial superhighway corridors like I-75/I-575 Northwest, GA-400 North, and I-85/I-985/GA-316 Northeast.

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

This is a good suggestion as the Atlanta region has experienced most of its heaviest northward growth in the post-World War II era along radial superhighway corridors like I-75/I-575 Northwest, GA-400 North, and I-85/I-985/GA-316 Northeast.

Originally Posted by cwkimbro

The region has mostly grown north. Gwinnett alone is going to surpass 1 million people this year.

I would split OTP North into 3: otp NW, OTP north, and OTP NE. I think k the results would be more interesting/even.

True indeed. I just didn’t want to complicate things too much. Also, I was curious how this trend translates in the C-D Atlanta forum. Other local forums are more “city-centric” and others are even more southern suburban focused depending on the demographics of the users.

Nevertheless, in an effort to not repeatedly flood the forum with near identical threads, perhaps someone can post a northern OTP poll to disaggregate the split between Cobb, North Fulton, and Gwinnett (and further out).

[Prickly Pear]

Should just do ITP and OTP. Atlanta proper goes OTP

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

Should just do ITP and OTP. Atlanta proper goes OTP

In that case, they should choose “City of Atlanta Proper”. I think Decatur, College Park, East Point, Avondale Estates, Chamblee, Doraville, etc. make a difference — a subtle difference, but a difference nonetheless.

I suppose that I should clarify that (in this poll) OTP also denotes outside the City of Atlanta. So the primary municipality would supersede the physical location in that situation.

[bryantm3]

I thought this forum had an OTP north bias.

There are a lot of ways to divide up Atlanta though. I think the OTP/ITP is a little dated— it used to be ITP was a weird mix of urban, industrial, and rural, and OTP was the suburbs. Now, it seems like the most popular neighborhoods are a kind of urban/suburban mixture. Maybe the better question to ask now would be "do you live within 2 miles of a Whole Foods or Sprouts?"

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

I thought this forum had an OTP north bias.

There are a lot of ways to divide up Atlanta though. I think the OTP/ITP is a little dated— it used to be ITP was a weird mix of urban, industrial, and rural, and OTP was the suburbs. Now, it seems like the most popular neighborhoods are a kind of urban/suburban mixture. Maybe the better question to ask now would be "do you live within 2 miles of a Whole Foods or Sprouts?"

Your comments raise the point that this forum not only has a Northside OTP bias but has a clear bias towards the Northside as a whole (generally everything in the greater Atlanta metropolitan region that is located north of Interstate 20) that is most evident in how much Northside OTP suburban and exurban areas are very often discussed much more favorably than other parts of the Atlanta region (particularly parts of the greater Atlanta region that are located south of I-20).

In addition to asking whether Atlanta Forum posters live inside or outside of the City of Atlanta or whether Atlanta Forum posters live inside or outside of the I-285 Perimeter, another good question seemingly could be to ask whether Atlanta Forum posters live north or south of Interstate 20 in an Atlanta region where there often very much seems to be an obvious and overwhelming social bias towards the north side of the region where the most wealth and affluence exists in the region.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

I thought this forum had an OTP north bias.

There are a lot of ways to divide up Atlanta though. I think the OTP/ITP is a little dated— it used to be ITP was a weird mix of urban, industrial, and rural, and OTP was the suburbs. Now, it seems like the most popular neighborhoods are a kind of urban/suburban mixture. Maybe the better question to ask now would be "do you live within 2 miles of a Whole Foods or Sprouts?"

It's not so much that it's a bias, as much as OTP north is half of the region's population.

[equinox63]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Your comments raise the point that this forum not only has a Northside OTP bias but has a clear bias towards the Northside as a whole (generally everything in the greater Atlanta metropolitan region that is located north of Interstate 20) that is most evident in how much Northside OTP suburban and exurban areas are very often discussed much more favorably than other parts of the Atlanta region (particularly parts of the greater Atlanta region that are located south of I-20).

In addition to asking whether Atlanta Forum posters live inside or outside of the City of Atlanta or whether Atlanta Forum posters live inside or outside of the I-285 Perimeter, another good question seemingly could be to ask whether Atlanta Forum posters live north or south of Interstate 20 in an Atlanta region where there often very much seems to be an obvious and overwhelming social bias towards the north side of the region where the most wealth and affluence exists in the region.

You practically took the words right out of my mouth. I was just about to make a near identical comment. To give the Northsiders a bit of grace, people generally talk about what they know — which explains why the forum is often northern OTP (even northern ITP) focused. I can speak on the eastern suburbs and Atlanta proper (both north & south of I-20) all day as I am most familiar with these areas. The other areas — not so much…

The only issue IMO is when these same individuals may disparage or dissuade posters regarding the city (and even more specifically, south of I-20 and the southern OTP crescent) with little to no first hand knowledge.

Again, I usually don’t fault these posters because it is easy to cast a positive shade on the area/community in which one lives — unless, of course, they don’t like it want to leave. But that is rarely the case. As of right now, if we looked at the total ITP responses to OTP North responses, it would be 12 to 15, which is actually a smaller gap than I thought it would be… at least for now.

However, I think one of the biggest takeaways is that there is very little representation in this forum from places like Stone Mountain, McDonough, Conyers, Douglasville, Union City, Forest Park, Peachtree City, Fairburn, Camp Creek, or even College Park and East Point, etc.

This is not to say that people (and yes, even middle-class and relatively affluent people) don’t live in these areas, it’s just that they are not present or do not post in this forum, which can somewhat skew the perception for those unfamiliar with these regions or Metro Atlanta as a whole.