What has happened with Marietta? (Atlanta, Roswell: crime, neighborhoods, to live)

[LovinDecatur]

You realize that the OP is referring to a pretty small area of Marietta, and yet the title of the thread is 'What Has Happened to Marietta?' Please...

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Love Cobb

I now live off the E/W connector near Powder Spr Rd and that area is very mixed.

We actually live fairly close to one another because I live right near downtown Powder Springs.

Slightly off topic but FYI - rumors are that they're about to start getting up land in the Austell Road/East-West Connector area and for about a mile in each direction of that intersection there's going to be a LOT of development in the coming years. Mostly those new style cookie-cutter "mixed use" live/work/play type of things - but that area is about to see a lot of growth.

I also think according to my earlier comments, that many areas around Marietta Square are also about to undergo a lot of change as well. Mostly very high dollar stuff that I couldn't even afford, but better than seeing 50 people hanging out and peeing on the side of the road waiting for work trucks to pick them up I guess.

[netdragon]

Ummm? Marietta's getting nicer is what's happening.

Well, guess what? The area to the East and West of the AFB ISN'T Marietta. Austell Rd mostly isn't Marietta. Powder Springs St mostly isn't Marietta. It's all unincorporated! :-)

Also, all those areas are mixed income ($200k+ swim/tennis communities next to trailer parks), the only one that isn't is a very small area along S. Cobb between Smyrna and Marietta and along Cobb Parkway on the exact other side of of the AFB.

Some of these areas also look worse than they are because the lower income people walk everywhere and things are clustered to be convenient for them to walk to.

The area outside the square in Marietta, like Hedges St off Atlanta Rd, is very expensive. The lots are worth around $300k. It's dumpy because people owning them are renting them out cheaply waiting for an investor to come bulldoze. North of the square, the houses get up into the millions... The lower income houses around the square are being replaced by mixed-use communities... So I don't really know what you're talking about. The projects at Franklin, etc, have always been like that from what I've heard.

Additionally, a lot of the lower income people were pushed out of Smyrna, they had nowhere else to go.

Originally Posted by Scraper Enthusiast

What is so great about a very "integrated" (racially diverse) area.

More culture, less crime, people learning to be tolerant of each other.

[Memphiz]

I hate to say it too but they have ruined marietta!!, I will not stay in this area once our house sells in Nashville.

[bayarea-girl]

Scraper Enthusiast, you need help and if more people think like you they need help too.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by netdragon

Some of these areas also look worse than they are because the lower income people walk everywhere and things are clustered to be convenient for them to walk to.

That's actually one thing that some realtors tell people under the table. They tell them that if they want to avoid (cough) "undesireables" in their area, that they should move to a neighborhood that has no sidewalks, and is at least 1.5 miles away from any type of store or convenience store that people could possibly walk to. This is also one of the answers to the question a lot of newcomers have to this area of, "How come there are so many suburban areas with no sidewalks in Atlanta?". Alot of areas refrain from installing sidewalks to basically force people to have to drive to ammenities locally, to help avoid having people move in who wouldn't own cars and need to walk to these places. Yep. Really.

[RoslynHolcomb]

I wondered about that AG. I thought it was very strange that even new developments have no sidewalks. Though in other towns sidewalks are very desireable. That was one of my fave things about my old neighborhood. It was a nice walkable area. That's unfortunate, and contributes to our sedentary lifestyle.

[neil0311]

One thing to add as someone who lives in unicorporated Marietta 30064, just outside the city limits of Marietta.

Marietta is a big place. Even if we're just discussing the actual areas within the city limits, there are some areas of town that are nice or nicer than many other areas of Atlanta. The west side of Marietta from the square and north of Whitlock has some nice middle class neighborhoods, and some absolutely huge mansions along Burnt Hickory Rd. and near the mountain.

Of course, if you include the unincorporated areas of east and west Cobb with Marietta postal addresses, then this whole discussion is pointless and silly.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I wondered about that AG. I thought it was very strange that even new developments have no sidewalks. Though in other towns sidewalks are very desireable. That was one of my fave things about my old neighborhood. It was a nice walkable area. That's unfortunate, and contributes to our sedentary lifestyle.

The town I'm in decided to install sidewalks along a 1.5 mile stretch of road that didn't have them. People showed up in droves over that to protest it as they didn't want, quote, "What that will attract", to the area. They installed it anyway and I kid you not - 100 "for sale" signs went up in that neighborhood the second they broke ground to build the sidewalk. It's one of those "they don't talk about it openly but they do it" things here.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Maybe they'll change their minds as the price of gasoline keeps skyrocketing. Walking is my favorite form of exercise, and, of course, it's free. Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I'll take a neighborhood I can walk in, complete with 'undesirables' over gaining weight any day.