Moving To Clayton, County Ga/ HELP (Atlanta, Macon: foreclosure, transporting, condo)

[Jimbook]

Originally Posted by GF72

These proud people trying to defend Clayton County make me laugh. Every time I am unfortunate enough to have to drive through Clayton County I feel unsafe and would never dare stop at a gas station there. Last time I was in Riverdale I almost ran over a crackhead who was hobbling across the road.

I do believe there are one or two spots somewhere in Clayton County that are not totally bad yet, but anyone recommending a move into Clayton County is just doing that person a major disservice. Crime is everywhere? Good schooling begins at home? Sorry, no. Yes crime is everywhere but in some places (ie not clayton) it is exceedingly rare. Yes, good values and basic communication is learned at home, but parents could never hope to teach their children anywhere near as much as their teachers will. Not to mention the school environment is completely horrible in Clayton County on top of the teaching.

I am not trying to defend Clayton County, but I think it is unfair for someone who does not live in ALL of Clayton or travel throughout all of Clayton County to trash the whole county. Riverdale is just one part of Clayton County. What about the man who was recently shot to death outside of his home in one of the up-and-coming areas in ATL? That did not happen in Clayton. The restaurant shooting? That did not happen here, either. Yes, I will agree that there are MANY areas in the metro in which I would "feel" safer, but that doesn't necessarily make them safer. (The devil is in many places and can travel. Who makes one safe is God.)

It is easy to make an unfair judgment about a place one knows little about, other than statistics and periodic visits. I have been guilty of this myself. If one would take the time to visit--not pass through--s/he might gain a different insight. Sometimes it seems that whatever has the term "Clayton" attached to it is deemed undesirable. That is just not true. Furthermore what makes or breaks an area are people, reputation and reality. We must choose what role we will play. What is important is that we teach our children and residents no matter where we live to be productive citizens. That will help all of us out tremendously, no matter where we live.

I do not "encourage" others to come here, but it is not fair to trash the whole place. There are some nice areas and wonderful, concerned citizens who live here. It's not as horrible as some portray it to be. There are also some good schools and teachers here. While it is not a totally flagship assessment, the 2007 CRCT scores will show some of our schools were not at the bottom. There were comparable schools in other metro counties who did poorly.

[GF72]

Originally Posted by galightman

"Crime exceedingly rare elsewhere".... Like where? I mean look at Fayette murder/suicide, Dope grow houses, Henry the same thing, Fulton murders galore, modern day kidnapping , Dekalb murders galore shootings, Douglas the same, Gwinnett Murders, Bank Robberies. Once again CRIME IS EVERYWHERE!!! Case in point most of these crimes happened this week!

Murders and shootings "galore" in Douglas? I don't think so. Dekalb, sure parts of Dekalb are very bad, I never said it wasn't. Parts of Gwinnett and Fulton are bad too. I never said Clayton was the only place with crime. I just said saying "crime is everywhere" is misleading because there are plenty of places in metro Atlanta with extremely little crime like Roswell and pretty much any place within 10 miles in any direction from Roswell. These are some of the safest areas in the entire country, Roswell is rated among the safest cities in America year after year. And it's not like this is only a small part of metro Atlanta... Roswell = almost 90,000 people. Alpharetta 50,000 Johns Creek 60,000 East Cobb 120,000 Sandy Springs 90,000 Dunwoody 40,000 not to mention pretty much all of Cherokee and Forsyth counties... Far more people live in the safe areas of Atlanta than the unsafe areas. I could keep listing but the point is, yes there are areas other than Clayton with a lot of crime, but you cannot pretend there are areas with extremely little crime - you just have to face it, there are places in Atlanta that are just better to live in than Clayton County. And like I said, true there are still places in Clayton County that are far better than Riverdale but on the whole, Clayton County isn't faring well nowadays, saying otherwise is just being foolish.

Just to pull out some facts since people like them, Morgan Quitno is an independent research firm which does lots of research and publishes lists of the safest and unsafest areas in the US. For 2006 Roswell was rated the 18th safest city (of population higher than 75 thousand) in the United States and Atlanta was rated the 17th unsafest. The Atlanta metro area was neither on the list of safest or unsafest metro areas (the Macon area and Charlotte metro were both on the list of unsafest metros). Even Houston was on the list of unsafest metro areas. The only reason metro Atlanta wasn't on the list, despite Atlanta being one of the most dangerous cities, is because Atlanta has plenty of suburbs that are extremely safe.

[JBlodg]

Having read this thread I've noticed that there are good arguements on both sides of the story, but unfortunately the negative side is the most realistic. I've lived in clayton county for the past 17 years and witnessed and experienced its appeal decline rapidly over the past ten.

When I first moved to GA at a very young age, the neighborhood I lived in (ten minutes south of Jonesboro) was a great place to live and be raised. The good-year streak ended ended when I was 11 years old, midway through sixth grade, someone known to be in a school gang attempted to steal my instument just before getting off the school bus. After this incident, my parents decided to move to River's Edge; move to what they thought was a better neighborhood. I've read all to the posts saying that there are good parts of Clayton county in the very south side-they are wrong. River's Edge was a good place to live until my 10 ten old borther was mugged by a group of high-schoolers while skating through our part of the neighborhood. A few months later, there were several occurances of people being robbed on the golf course of all places. More recently houses have been broken into when its residents are away. So as far as I have witnessed, there is no place in Clayton county worth living.

Having attended Clayton county schools from kindergarten to graduation, I can say that the teachers were exceptional when I attended. I formed a close bond with all of them and I can say I will remember them all my life. But the problem with the school system is the environment in which these teachers are forced to teach. I went to one of these "good schools" mentioned in previous posts, and I can say that their version of good is horribly warped. The teachers cannot teach in an environment of constant disorder and complete unruliness of the students that they strive so hard to teach. For example in my freshman year, my health teacher quit his job because he couldn't get a word in. Needless to say no one could learn if they tried. Almost every semester the administration would botch my schedule up so badly, I'd have to attend the wrong class for upwards of two weeks before the problems were fixed. Like I said earlier, I will defend to the death the teachers of Clayton county but the school system itself is in shambles due to a lack of structure and compliance with its attendees.

For those who take the defensive position, saying that crime is everywhere -they are correct. For that I have this to say: I drive to work through College Park on Old National Highway every day from Thursday to Monday. I can honestly say that atleast three out of the five days, I see either one or more drug deals going on via the vacant carwash buildings and/or one or more prostitutes. Now I dare anyone to say they've driven through Peachtree City and seen anything like that. Case in point, don't move to Clayton County.

[dmj2007]

I love the fact that the "Clayton County Controversy" is making such a big splash in this message board.

I've posted previously with very favorable comments about Clayton County because I both live and work here.

I am posting today to point out the fact that, in addition to the crime problems, there is also a huge problem with racism and "white flight" which started even before the crime rate began to go up. The statistical numbers on this information are publically available at the following website:
Georgia Division of Public Health | OASIS

The actual population numbers in Clayton County are increasing at about the same rate as the state of Georgia's numbers. BUT, even more importantly, the demographics for the county have drastically changed over the last 13 years or more. The rate of decline in the number of Caucasians in the Clayton population is almost an exact mirror of the rate of increase of the numbers of African-Americans in the county. This is sad, but true.

Unfortunately, white families, who many times own businesses in Clayton County, and have significant financial investments in the county, have uprooted their families and their money and resources and relocated to other counties that are in more distant and secluded areas. This is nothing new in the USA. And the statistics don't lie, either.

What is now happening is this. The newer families in the county, who are usually middle class and struggling just to keep their houses, now have to adjust to being here and establish a new stable societal order to let the criminals know that they aren't going to let them take over. This takes time...probably as much time as it took the fleeing whites to establish themselves before they left.

There are plenty of us who are committed to making this county better. So, it really doesn't matter what all of the naysayers keep saying. We who love Clayton just have to keep trusting God and keep doing our parts to make it better. And it will be better...and then the white people's children and grandchildren will try to move back in after 2 or 3 generations and try to lure us to leave our county while they take over all the hard work we've put in. (I saw this happen in Chicago and the city of Atlanta...they call it "regentrification").

Think about it.

Originally Posted by Jimbook

I am not trying to defend Clayton County, but I think it is unfair for someone who does not live in ALL of Clayton or travel throughout all of Clayton County to trash the whole county. Riverdale is just one part of Clayton County. What about the man who was recently shot to death outside of his home in one of the up-and-coming areas in ATL? That did not happen in Clayton. The restaurant shooting? That did not happen here, either. Yes, I will agree that there are MANY areas in the metro in which I would "feel" safer, but that doesn't necessarily make them safer. (The devil is in many places and can travel. Who makes one safe is God.)

It is easy to make an unfair judgment about a place one knows little about, other than statistics and periodic visits. I have been guilty of this myself. If one would take the time to visit--not pass through--s/he might gain a different insight. Sometimes it seems that whatever has the term "Clayton" attached to it is deemed undesirable. That is just not true. Furthermore what makes or breaks an area are people, reputation and reality. We must choose what role we will play. What is important is that we teach our children and residents no matter where we live to be productive citizens. That will help all of us out tremendously, no matter where we live.

I do not "encourage" others to come here, but it is not fair to trash the whole place. There are some nice areas and wonderful, concerned citizens who live here. It's not as horrible as some portray it to be. There are also some good schools and teachers here. While it is not a totally flagship assessment, the 2007 CRCT scores will show some of our schools were not at the bottom. There were comparable schools in other metro counties who did poorly.

[dmj2007]

College Park by the "bad" part of Old National Highway is in Fulton County, not Clayton County
The south end of Old National is called "Evander Holyfield Highway" and is a very nice and affluent area with homes worth well over $500,000 and very very little crime. This area is both Fulton County and Fayette County...but not Clayton County.

[kennonburk]

If you don't want your children to have a chance of growing up to be adults. If you like drugs and high crime rates. If education isn't important and a chance to improve your life, then Clayton county is the place to be.

My wife and I moved to Jonesboro in 1983 in the Old South Sbudivision off Fielder Road. Twelve years later it was hard to believe the change. We had the Old South Gang, two drug houses and guns going off in the neighborhood day and night. Our cars were vandalized a number of times and my wife was afraid to go outside by herself.

We raised to boys and got them through college and in 2005 we were able to sell our house and move fifty miles East of Atlanta. Clayton County now has one of the higest crime rates around. Anyone living there who thinks it's so great, please do me a favor and stay there.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by grayv01

Hi, I am moving to Clayton county in mid june. I already have a job and seeking an 3-4 bedroom house or apartment to rent. I have searched the web and have found several places. I have to be 45 minutes from Atlanta airport because of my job. So far, I have been looking at Morrow Ga which is 15 minutes away from Atlanta & a few places in Jonesboro, Ga. Any ideas. I'm looking to be in a more rural area. I have kids, I want them to be able to go outside and run without being in a high traffic area etc. Any suggestions?

I have one suggestion. If you have kids and value their lives or your own life, DON'T move to Clayton County. Clayton has become the "dumping ground" all of Atlanta's problems. As the Atlanta Housing Authority is ripping down the last of the housing projects and replacing them with upper income housing, the people that occupied them are moving in huge numbers to Clayton or Stone Mountain since every other area is priced too high for them. And they are bringing crime, decay and gangs with them. The crime rate in Clayton is skyrocketing.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by GF72

Murders and shootings "galore" in Douglas? I don't think so. Dekalb, sure parts of Dekalb are very bad, I never said it wasn't. Parts of Gwinnett and Fulton are bad too. I never said Clayton was the only place with crime. I just said saying "crime is everywhere" is misleading because there are plenty of places in metro Atlanta with extremely little crime like Roswell and pretty much any place within 10 miles in any direction from Roswell. These are some of the safest areas in the entire country, Roswell is rated among the safest cities in America year after year. And it's not like this is only a small part of metro Atlanta... Roswell = almost 90,000 people. Alpharetta 50,000 Johns Creek 60,000 East Cobb 120,000 Sandy Springs 90,000 Dunwoody 40,000 not to mention pretty much all of Cherokee and Forsyth counties... Far more people live in the safe areas of Atlanta than the unsafe areas. I could keep listing but the point is, yes there are areas other than Clayton with a lot of crime, but you cannot pretend there are areas with extremely little crime - you just have to face it, there are places in Atlanta that are just better to live in than Clayton County. And like I said, true there are still places in Clayton County that are far better than Riverdale but on the whole, Clayton County isn't faring well nowadays, saying otherwise is just being foolish.

Just to pull out some facts since people like them, Morgan Quitno is an independent research firm which does lots of research and publishes lists of the safest and unsafest areas in the US. For 2006 Roswell was rated the 18th safest city (of population higher than 75 thousand) in the United States and Atlanta was rated the 17th unsafest. The Atlanta metro area was neither on the list of safest or unsafest metro areas (the Macon area and Charlotte metro were both on the list of unsafest metros). Even Houston was on the list of unsafest metro areas. The only reason metro Atlanta wasn't on the list, despite Atlanta being one of the most dangerous cities, is because Atlanta has plenty of suburbs that are extremely safe.

Killings in Douglas- and Cobb for that matter- are rare. We don't put up with too much crap out here and the cops reflect that attitude.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by Jimbook

I am not trying to defend Clayton County, but I think it is unfair for someone who does not live in ALL of Clayton or travel throughout all of Clayton County to trash the whole county. Riverdale is just one part of Clayton County. What about the man who was recently shot to death outside of his home in one of the up-and-coming areas in ATL? That did not happen in Clayton. The restaurant shooting? That did not happen here, either. Yes, I will agree that there are MANY areas in the metro in which I would "feel" safer, but that doesn't necessarily make them safer. (The devil is in many places and can travel. Who makes one safe is God.)

It is easy to make an unfair judgment about a place one knows little about, other than statistics and periodic visits. I have been guilty of this myself. If one would take the time to visit--not pass through--s/he might gain a different insight. Sometimes it seems that whatever has the term "Clayton" attached to it is deemed undesirable. That is just not true. Furthermore what makes or breaks an area are people, reputation and reality. We must choose what role we will play. What is important is that we teach our children and residents no matter where we live to be productive citizens. That will help all of us out tremendously, no matter where we live.

I do not "encourage" others to come here, but it is not fair to trash the whole place. There are some nice areas and wonderful, concerned citizens who live here. It's not as horrible as some portray it to be. There are also some good schools and teachers here. While it is not a totally flagship assessment, the 2007 CRCT scores will show some of our schools were not at the bottom. There were comparable schools in other metro counties who did poorly.

The problem with Clayton is that is has become a dumping ground for Atlanta's poor folks that are being displaced by gentrification and the demolition of the AHA projects.

[picsesmauve957]

Clayton County? lolwtflmaohahahaha. Seriously, that has to be one of the worst areas, why pick it?

However, I live in a cheap and kind of crummy area of Atlanta, not exactly Clayton County. If you just keep common sense I think you'll be ok.

As for home prices, leave that to a realtor.