Moving To Clayton, County Ga/ HELP (Atlanta, Lawrenceville: salon, for rent, loan)

[sdellep]

Someone should check their facts before they hit that send button! Also make sure that when you check out Clayton that there is a definite difference in the city of Clayton and Clayton County, Ga. I said it before and I'll say it again, the children will never do well with such a lack of parental participation in the school system. Where are the parents? No parental guidance in the homes either, lest you wonder why there are gangs and over crowded group homes juvenile/detention centers and court system'. When children are allowed to raise themselves, by way of what they watch on T.V. or video games, running the streets with no supervision, yes I see them hanging around the mall, bus stops, convenience store everywhere......smoking, raising heck, etc. I've raised mine and quite a few others in Clayton Co. you can bet none of mine did this! So when all of you that keep casting stones start taking responsibility then perhaps you may be happy to be in Clayton County Ga. again. The gangs, murderers, rapist etc. didn't give birth to themselves, perhaps they just raised themselves, were preyed upon as no-one watched over them with all the latch key kids today, and how they educated themselves. Yes, often public school are lacking as I said in my previous post which is why you can/should pursue vouchers for private school. Private education you say you can't afford it, how can you afford not to!??! This is your children and our future leaders we're talking about. I couldn't afford it either, but you have to decide what's important to you, my kid's are/were to me, and not just mine by birth. All I raised by virtue of birth or placement of the county or family members that couldn't handle the job. It's not cheap, but worth every penny and everything else we sacrificed for to pay for it.

[thedudewiththeplan]

One of the big problems is since the mid 90's, many housing projects in Atlanta have been torn down and since Clayton County has the cheapest housing prices in the Atlanta area, many former residents of the projects have moved to Clayton. That and the govt. in the county has some serious corruption going on.

[babylove]

Originally Posted by k. bart

Of all the counties in Georgia, why would you choose Clayton County to settle? Clayton County is the laughing stock of Metro Atlanta! Why is Clayton County a joke? Let me count the ways! (Forewarned is fore-armed)

The schools are the very worst in the Metro area. The teachers are jumping ship at an alarming rate do to the current school board (which is a joke!) The crime rate is horrendous! Clayton County has the highest rate of home mortgage defaults. The economy is terrible! The crime rate is terrible! The traffic is terrible both north and south I-75.

We've lived in Clayton County since 1968. (Morrow) It used to be a wonderful place to live. We own two houses here and as soon as the time is right, I am out of here. (We may have to practically give the houses away to make our escape) I wish I had jumped ship at least 10 years ago, but I just could not foresee the demise of the area so rapidly. Do some research on the area and decide if this area is an area that you want to raise your children in. I'd suggest you look further south if you are searching for a rural area...maybe McDonough in Henry County.

I am sorry, but I just can't think of one good thing to say about Clayton County!

We have lived in Clayton County for 13 years now. Yes, it has made some changes for the worst. What county hasn’t? As far as it being a laughing stock? Of course, and it is due to us electing an incompetent school board! All of the other issues fall under the fact that our schools are under scrutiny and the issue with our accreditation being in jeopardy; economy, crime rate, mortgage defaults, etc. Education is the foundation of any community. As far as traffic, have you ever driven up in Alpharetta, Norcross, N. Atlanta, etc.? You suggest McDonough? Now that is hilarious! That traffic is horrendous! Clayton County is one of the few counties that schools do NOT have a deficient. I feel most of the things that are going on might be true, but a lot are exaggerated and all are due to money and greed. I suggest hold on moving, until the accreditation issues are resolved, but do not look down on Clayton County because the media has ripped it to spreads and this whole state; country is in a mess right now!
Here is a few good things to say about Clayton County; Close to Atlanta, lower housing, less traffic than most counties, and closer to your job at the Airport. The airport is why it is so much more reasonable here.

[babylove]

Originally Posted by sdellep

Someone should check their facts before they hit that send button! Also make sure that when you check out Clayton that there is a definite difference in the city of Clayton and Clayton County, Ga. I said it before and I'll say it again, the children will never do well with such a lack of parental participation in the school system. Where are the parents? No parental guidance in the homes either, lest you wonder why there are gangs and over crowded group homes juvenile/detention centers and court system'. When children are allowed to raise themselves, by way of what they watch on T.V. or video games, running the streets with no supervision, yes I see them hanging around the mall, bus stops, convenience store everywhere......smoking, raising heck, etc. I've raised mine and quite a few others in Clayton Co. you can bet none of mine did this! So when all of you that keep casting stones start taking responsibility then perhaps you may be happy to be in Clayton County Ga. again. The gangs, murderers, rapist etc. didn't give birth to themselves, perhaps they just raised themselves, were preyed upon as no-one watched over them with all the latch key kids today, and how they educated themselves. Yes, often public school are lacking as I said in my previous post which is why you can/should pursue vouchers for private school. Private education you say you can't afford it, how can you afford not to!??! This is your children and our future leaders we're talking about. I couldn't afford it either, but you have to decide what's important to you, my kid's are/were to me, and not just mine by birth. All I raised by virtue of birth or placement of the county or family members that couldn't handle the job. It's not cheap, but worth every penny and everything else we sacrificed for to pay for it.

You really believe all that hype you see on the news? I attended the meeting with hundreds of educated, concerned parents and we face our school board. Do you know who your school board is? Do you know their backgrounds? If so, did you know PRIOR to the dimise of our school board? As citizens of this country, we all have a right to have EQUAL education in the public sector. With this economy, most having trouble getting gas to go to work, feed children and as you can see by the foreclosure rate shelter our families. NO, we can not afford private schools! Barely, afford food!

[j0ja]

Not sure if people here who post here and there are aware of the age of this thread.

Considering the age of this thread (from 2006), the original poster has definitely figured out what he/she was planning to do.

IMHO, this was one of the most informative recent posts:

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

Clayton county is problematic right now for people who have school age children. The elderly fear crime. I think from neighborhood to neighborhood it can vary quite a bit, however. I know about Clayton County myself first hand as I reside here myself. I fear crime as some others do, but my particular neighborhood is somewhat close knit. That matters.

There is an active neighborhood watch that a long time resident keeps active. They have monthly meetings with the local police. A few years ago, my house was broken into by neighborhood teens. Vigilant neighbor recognized them. They were caught and served time. I went through a very difficult time in dealing with this. I plan on leaving for many reasons. I will sell my house at a loss. I am accepting of that. It goes back to people in their neighborhoods giving a darn about where they live and their schools. Parents are largely uninvolved in the schools in my area.

Despite my own experiences, I think that in time, the areas of Forest Park, Riverdale, Jonesboro and so on will have a resurgence in property values. It is hard to know when that will happen but it will.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by Thomas

We've been living in Clayton County for the last 15 years or so.
Jonesboro, but closer to Lovejoy>

It has gone down in every way.

If we could sell our house and move WE WOULD IN A HEART BEAT

Been victim of crime more then three times.
Armed robbery, was shot at, and beaten, purps were never found arrested or anything. That was in Riverdale.
The street my husband has a small business in Jonesboro, had numerous armed robberies in daylight, one ended with a man got shot in head. In the radius of 10 miles where we move, business, shopping etc. there were numerous armed robberies that ended in murder, we stopped counting. It's a daily accurance now.

I carry a gun now. Our neighborhood went from average calm middle class, to crime ridden in the last 5 years. We check our doors at night before going to bed numerous times. Especially since my neighbor chased off 5 guys that happen to come up our drive toward the front door late 1 AM at night. My neighbor happened to come outside for some reason and saw the guys walking the street and then coming up to our door. When he called out to them, they ran off.

We called 911 one night, when we had lots of screaming outside at 1 AM one night (one of many) women creaming at least 20+ people in the street cars coming and going.

We called from our cell phone because we did not want a police car drive up our drive way, to let the criminals on the street know who called the police. We told the operator what was going on and to send a cruiser to check it out, after all it was all going on in the middle of a public street.

She told us we have to give our name or she would not send a cruiser. We ask her to just have someone come and check it out it's been going all for hours and it's going on for weeks.

She said she would not send a cruiser unless we give our name, THEN SHE HUNG UP ......

A week later shots were fired in the street in front of our house, we learned later from other neighbors there was crack dealing going on.

That about wraps up the kind of county Clayton County has turned in to.

Crime that is out of control, concerned citizens that being given the cold shoulder and corruption and an ego manic government.

If you move here you'll' be sorry soon.

Concerned citizens of Clayton County.

People act like they couldn't see it coming, considering the changing demographics.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by 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.

Oh please. White people have had their areas inundated with non-whites for as long as I can remember. In the 60s, it was areas of south Atlanta (Cascade) and areas near Gresham Park. In the 70s, it was South Decatur and East Point. In the 80s, it was College Park, the Buford Highway Corridor, and parts of Union City. In the 90s, it was Lithonia, Stone Mountain, Clarkston, the rest of Union City, Clayton County, parts of Fairburn, the very southern tip of Cobb County, and ethnic barrios from north Smyrna to pockets within Gwinnett. This decade, it has been a considerable portion (perhaps not half, but close) of the southern half of Cobb County, Northern point (Rex/Ellenwood) of Henry County, a lot of Rockdale County, and increasingly Newton County. Gwinnett County has also seen most of the area on the west side of I-85 south of Duluth become mostly non-white. Increasingly, the Centerville and southern Snellville areas are changing. Even much of eastern Douglas County, parts of Douglasville, and pockets within Kennesaw and Acworth are undergoing change.

Your talk of "oh, poor black areas may be overtaken by whites" falls on its face, considering that so few areas undergo gentrification by whites, as opposed to the multitude of white areas that become non-white.

White countries are dying off, from immigration and low birth rates, and you're acting like "ol' whitey stands to benefit". Pitiful.

Where's your concern for the white people who lived in these nice communities, invested their savings into a home, only to see a "gang banger" move next door, to start stealing from them, and to see the crime, graffiti, and destruction of the community spiral out of control? Oh, I forget, it's politically correct (Marxist) to care about the concerns of non-whites, but it is "racist" to care about the desires, concerns, or dreams of whites.

[Scraper Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by aries4118

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.

I grew up in Mableton, and only the northeastern quadrant of the town has improved. Everywhere else has gone downhill and continues to do so. Smyrna has improved a lot, and has seen much more improvement than Mableton.

[bubbazinetti]

have lived here all my life 43 yrs, now leaving and going out west clayton county stinks.and we all know what and where the problems stem from. had home broken into,and the police act like they could care less.enough is enough.gone in aug.had radio in car stolen and they,wouldnt even come out and make a report,thats just plain sorry.so i too now,carry a gun and its a crying shame.i would not recomend you move here.hope that helped you.

[sdellep]

Originally Posted by babylove

You really believe all that hype you see on the news? I attended the meeting with hundreds of educated, concerned parents and we face our school board. Do you know who your school board is? Do you know their backgrounds? If so, did you know PRIOR to the dimise of our school board? As citizens of this country, we all have a right to have EQUAL education in the public sector. With this economy, most having trouble getting gas to go to work, feed children and as you can see by the foreclosure rate shelter our families. NO, we can not afford private schools! Barely, afford food!

Duh me again, I only believe what I know, not what the news wants us to believe. I have met, spoke with & faced much more than the C.C. board so I know them as I know each of the C.C. commissioners, as long as I pay taxes here they will all know me. If you understood the voucher system you'd know it would cost the same [zero] no matter where any child goes to school. If you think public is equal & rights mean you get any you may want to rethink that. Trouble getting gas? You pay, you pump, simple. If 1 jobs not enough, then 2 or whatever it takes legally & morally to take care of our families. What I see is a lot of entitlement mentality & not a lot of doing. This is merely the calm before the storm, 6 more months then tell me how you feel about the economic situation, if you think I can handle it. I wish you all the best in these hard times, it's gonna be a hard ride for us all.