What's wrong with the city of Atlanta? (Marietta, East Point: job, housing)

[Miami305Kid]

With around 486,411 people living in the city of Atlanta it is only the 34th largest city in the U.S while around 5 million people live in its suburbs. Why? Atlanta has affluent neighborhoods like Buckhead and intresting places like Little Five Points and corporate places like Downtown, wouldn't you think that would attract more people? I know Atlanta has a high crime rate but so does The Bronx and it has 1.3 million people living there. And its not like all of ATL's suburbs are picture perfect, East Point and College Park certinally have their own crime problems. In the future I'm thinking about moving to the ATL and if I lived there I'm pretty sure I would want to live in the city proper and not one of its suburbs.

[netdragon]

That's because it's not all about Atlanta. In almost every cardinal direction, there are major job centers, like Cumberland, and the Perimeter Center both of which have a skyline and hundreds of thousands of people living right around it. Many suburbs are cities in every sense of the word and are now relatively independent with large populations and higher density than much of Atlanta. Believe it or not, most don't work in Atlanta.

Additionally, aside from the N-S MARTA line along Peachtree, most of the rest of Atlanta are single family homes with relatively large lots, hence the "low" population. What happens over time in a lot of these areas is that they gentrify instead of increasing in density (they just become wealthier and more expensive). For example, one of the areas gentrifying right now is Bolton (Northeast Bankhead), next to both Vinings and Buckhead. I think the main reason it's staying low density is that there is no mass transit in the NW part of the metro, so it's just getting more expensive but not denser. The part of Atlanta densifying right now is the Southeastern part of Bankhead (called "West midtown") around the Western edge of Georgia Tech, midtown and downtown, where 4 story lofts are shooting up like there's no tomorrow. If a rail line to midtown were built through the Eastern part of Bankhead, along Marietta Blvd, the area would shoot up a lot faster.

[atlantagreg30127]

You can't compare Atlanta to cities like the Bronx or NYC or others in that area - Northern cities are typically more compact and the population is more closely packed in. Atlanta is more like it's nickname suggests - the "L.A. of the East Coast"... it's very spread out and not a compacted type of city layout.

If you look at L.A. it's city population is just over 4 million, while there are 10 million in the metro area. Atlanta is approaching 500,000 in the city limits which are relatively small, and 5.1 million in the whole metro area, of which there are several "satellite cities". The Interstate road system played a part in contributing to Atlanta's spread-out sprawl. We have three major Interstates that pass through the city, with a beltway that goes around it - perfect recipe for spreading out.

If gas prices continue to rise or even stay where they are now, yes, there will be a bit of a reverse trend and more people will move closer to the city or INTO the city again, but in the past cheap gas lent itself to people wanting to spread out in all directions from the city center.

[VJP]

IF it's any remote explanation - some of us moved OUT of the city proper. I lived in the city itself in midtown for 7 years. Getting out was the best quality of life adjustment I could make. I now live .5 miles from the city limits and 8 miles to midtown. Don't worry about how many people live in the jurisdiction - check out if you would actually want to live with the sprawl and the people and the problems and the good stuff - it's everywhere.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by Miami305Kid

With around 486,411 people living in the city of Atlanta it is only the 34th largest city in the U.S while around 5 million people live in its suburbs. Why? Atlanta has affluent neighborhoods like Buckhead and intresting places like Little Five Points and corporate places like Downtown, wouldn't you think that would attract more people? I know Atlanta has a high crime rate but so does The Bronx and it has 1.3 million people living there. And its not like all of ATL's suburbs are picture perfect, East Point and College Park certinally have their own crime problems. In the future I'm thinking about moving to the ATL and if I lived there I'm pretty sure I would want to live in the city proper and not one of its suburbs.

Actually the intown area of Atlanta is the fastest growing city in the U.S. in the years between 200-2007.There are now just 2000 shy of 500,000 people intown.Also like most cities,its kinda expensive in the really popular places.I personally like the Castleberry Hill area

[thedudewiththeplan]

Because Atlanta does not have good public transportation and the people have a love affair with their cars. That and there are no real natural boundries to prevent sprawl from occuring.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Miami305Kid

With around 486,411 people living in the city of Atlanta it is only the 34th largest city in the U.S while around 5 million people live in its suburbs. Why?

Because there's only so much geographical area in the City of Atlanta proper, because it's difficult for a city to expand in this state, and because there are already dozens of other communities surrounding the City of Atlanta with their own governments, etc. Atlanta would actually have to annex land from other entities in order to expand very much.

In the future I'm thinking about moving to the ATL and if I lived there I'm pretty sure I would want to live in the city proper and not one of its suburbs.

Different people look for different things. My wife and I both work OTP or very close to OTP, so we simply looked for affordable housing with characteristics we liked within a certain radius of work. That included sites ITP and OTP, and OTP won for various reasons in our case.

[Georgia]

Three Words: CURRENT CITY GOVERNMENT

If the general population can elect proper leadership within the City of Atlanta it will explode with incoming population. Yes, today it is close to 500k but even when and if it hits this magic number it will still be short of what it once was before 1970.
Wild Bill, the previous leader is in the pokey, and Queen Shirley the current, spends her days finding ways to tax the city into oblivion, coddle panhandlers, and add to government.
With the overall boom Georgia has experienced in the last 10 years, Atlanta should be the NYC of the South as the state is refered to the Empire State of the South.
Though my post will not be popular, we can find things to blame all we want, transit, etc., but until they clean house and bring in strong fiscal leaders with common sense, Atlanta will not become the metro mecca nor will it reach its full potential.

[masonbarge]

The most immediate cause has nothing to do with suburbs or crime (although the "doughnut effect" certainly underlies the historical roots of the problem). It's a matter of politics.

Until about 1960, the city limits were a reasonable definition of the city. As the actual city pushed out beyond the city limits, the population living inside the city limits became increasingly African-American. (Less importantly, the white residents in the city limits became more liberal than those living outside.)

By about 1970, a black power structure had begun to dominate city government, and in 1974, with the election of the first black mayor, it consolidated its power. The city became a black political stronghold with enormous benefits flowing to the inner circle of a black political machine.

At that point, expanding the city limits (which had become a major issue in the late 60s) became impossible. The one reason that the "City of Atlanta" has and absolutely will continue to constitute less than 20% of the actual metropolitan area is that the city government will not allow dilution of its black power base by inclusion of more white voters -- especially the richer conservative whites who live towards the north -- in city elections.

It is, at least in my opinion, unfortunate. There is an enormous need for consolidation of government in the area.

[netdragon]

Sheesh (at the above two posts)... Anyway, the interesting thing is metro Atlanta is twice as large in area as Greater Los Angeles. There's a lot of room to fill in around the city just as there is in the city, so growth isn't going to happen just inside the city limits at the expense of the rest of the metro.