Moving To Clayton, County Ga/ HELP (Atlanta, Smyrna: mortgage, house, neighborhoods)

[dmj2007]

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.

I just have one word for you "regentrification". In about 10 years, all of the people saying negative things about Clayton County will either be living here again, trying to buy property here, or recommending it to all of their family and friends.

[TKH]

I have lived in Jonesboro since 1986. We moved here because the schools were highly respected and the neighborhoods were quite and less expensive than those on the north side of Atlanta. All three of our children went to public, elementary and middle schools here. Two actually had good experiences and finished Jonesboro High before going to college. The problems started about 5-6 years ago when my youngest was a sophomore.

Gang activity in school scared her mother and myself so much, we took her out of Jonesboro High and place her in a private school. The quality of life here has gone down hill ever since.

The gang activity has exploded, 1 or 2 shooting every week. I live in Jonesboro and most any night can walk outside of my house and hear sirens and what sounds like gun shots. Screaming and yelling in the middle of the night. Rapes, murders...we have it all in abundance. We have an ineffective, racist, egomaniac for a sheriff who doesn't even seem to be able to slow it down.

Our school board has been censured twice for possible corruption and ethics violations. For the 2nd time, the county may loose its accreditation. My wife is a teacher. She has taught in Clayton county since 1987. She held on during the 1st censure and wanted to continue teaching in the country while hundreds of other teachers left because of this. Now the school board is being investigated again. My wife has finally had enough and is throwing in the towel. She will not be renewing her contract this coming year. She has dusted off her resume and has already been asked to teach in another county's school system.

To those of you who think Clayton Co is no worse than other counties, you really need to get out more. If you want to help make Clayton Co a better place to live, I congratulate you. Good luck...Go for it. But I didn't move here to help fight crime. I have no patience for country officials who can't even control their own country. I moved here to live in a peaceful community and raise my children in safety. This is not that place anymore. Thank God they are grown. I can't imagine raising my children here now. None live in Clayton County and ASAP my wife and I are leaving also. It is so sad, we so enjoyed living here but have decided to abandon this sinking ship to the ever growing number of rats who infest it. To those of you who stay...good luck, you'll need it.

[wxjay]

Originally Posted by dmj2007

I just have one word for you "regentrification". In about 10 years, all of the people saying negative things about Clayton County will either be living here again, trying to buy property here, or recommending it to all of their family and friends.

Unfortunately, this may actually be not so good for outer neighborhoods and counties.

With the influx of younger and richer (and yes, mainly white) folks back into the urban center of Atlanta (ITP), and with the rising costs of homes within that same region, the poorer folks will only be forced to go outward toward the surrounding counties. Sad, but true. This means that portions of Clayton, Henry, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and even Fulton that are now considered a little more elite may have a negative impact economically by the growth of Atlanta. It's quite an interesting thing to think about really. The "white flight" mentality left the downtown region desolate and poor. But now that folks are flocking back in, they'll be recentering the wealth and pushing the poor out more to the suburbs.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by wxjay

Unfortunately, this may actually be not so good for outer neighborhoods and counties.

With the influx of younger and richer (and yes, mainly white) folks back into the urban center of Atlanta (ITP), and with the rising costs of homes within that same region, the poorer folks will only be forced to go outward toward the surrounding counties. Sad, but true. This means that portions of Clayton, Henry, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and even Fulton that are now considered a little more elite may have a negative impact economically by the growth of Atlanta. It's quite an interesting thing to think about really. The "white flight" mentality left the downtown region desolate and poor. But now that folks are flocking back in, they'll be recentering the wealth and pushing the poor out more to the suburbs.

Very true...but the northern/central parts of Clayton County are close-in enough (from the airport/Forest Park south to Riverdale/Jonesboro) that I do think a "regentrification" will happen in northern/central Clayton County in about 10 years...a la Smyrna/Mableton/Vinings in Cobb County and what's happening now in the Tucker/Clarkston/Scottdale area of DeKalb County.

Clayton is just too close in for things not to change in the future.

For those of you who have lived here longer than a minute, you will remember that Smyrna/Mableton were totally written off by the early to mid 1990's...now look what's happening.

Other "regentrification" predictions:
-Stone Mountain
-Belvedere Park (already happening)
-Candler McAfee
-Panthersville
-Outer Clarkston
-Austell

The demographic shift back to the city will be like a richochet/boomerang effect...as the inner areas become too-high priced...the next areas out will benefit and so on.

[CATS ARE SMARTER]

The thing about Clayton County is that we have a sheriff who is trying to clean up the county. The problem with that is there is so much infighting among the different law enforcement departments in this county that one has to wonder how much good any one department can do. As for the school system--come on! Our school board has managed to put Clayton County in the spot light twice in 5 years! The last superintendent was threatened and resigned. The letter that was published in the local crappy paper was so illiterate that it wasn't hard to guess what type of person wrote it. Then there is all the infighting among BOE members. I have lived in Clayton Co for 19 years. I have seen it change. Everytime ATL cleans out a project, those people come to Clayton Co. I would not teach in Clayton Co's schools. I used to teach here. I have to agree that FAyette Co. and Henry Co are better. Even Spalding is better. Those counties have interstate access. You might try Peachtree City in Fayette Co. That one seems to be much better. There is also Fairburn off I85. Peachtree City is near I85 also. Easy access to the airport. A lot of EAstern employees used to live over there. I would not recommend East Point or College Park.

[Mrsfoot4]

I can agree with ATlien Girl...crime is every where ...Clayton has it's good and bad... If you move to Dekalb you have to worry about people shooting the police. If you move to Peachtree City- Fayette you ahve to worry about Child Predators. So it's all on how you live. Actually I'm renting out a 3 bedroom 2 bath house in Rex the other side of Clayton on the boarder line of Henry. The schools in my area are very understanding and love the kids.

[P. Goodson]

I own a 3 bedroom/2 bath Ranch home. It sits on an acre of property. The house sits back from the main road. It is located in Riverdale, GA, which is about 15 minutes from the Airport.

What are you looking to pay?

P.Goodson
404 723-6503
404 723-6508

[gottaGetOut]

Great news . . . . not.

from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Clayton's accreditation loss leaves students behind

Moderator cut: copyright-protected article removed

Clayton's accreditation loss leaves students behind | ajc.com (broken link)

[sdellep]

Originally Posted by 1899

Hey, somebody has to fill all those new houses they are building out there....right?

Seriously I would have to agree that the crime rate was bad but has been getting better under Sheriff Hills term, the school board hasn't gotten any worse than it's been for 15 yr's as I took my child out of public as soon as I saw it wasn't as it should be, lack of parent participation, high student teacher ratio, main reason that Ga. should go to the voucher program then all you parents that aren't involved can put your children in all the "best" schools & then gripe transporting them back & forth everyday. Lest I forget the Magnet schools now here. I've lived in Clayton Co. for over 35 yr.s, I'm just lucky I guess, I've not been robbed, none of my neighbors & no alarm system, oh my! Those of you whining about when the market gets better your all moving away, did you ever stop & think when the market gets here those houses will be higher too! Best to buy now, better prices & interest rates, living here this long you must have a ton of equity & you can always use the rental; income & tax write off! Regarding the person that wrote of the foreclosure rate being the highest, you must've forgotten about Henry Co. as their's is higher! The people from Atl. had to go somewhere when the big $ took all their homes & turned them into Condo's etc. All of Ga. is in a sad state of disrepair not Clayton Co. read all the facts & figures not just the ones in your backyard, so to speak...Do something, make a difference, we're all in it together & we can all make a difference, if we just try!

[thedudewiththeplan]

I would stay away from Clayton. 43 murders last year (20 per 100,000) Highest rate of any county in GA and higher that NYC Or LA. School System is about to loose accreditation, and the many businesses have moved out.