The Future of the ATL (Atlanta, Clayton: low income, apartment complexes, neighborhoods)

[Miami305Kid]

What do you think the future holds in store for Atlanta? Will Atlanta be transformed into the Southern version of New York City? Will Atlanta be struck with urban decay and fall apart? Will people contine you to move the burbs and ignore the city proper? Will all of Atlanta be gentrified and become expensive but safe? You can choose more than one

[BobKovacs]

Once could say "all of the above" (well, except the "NY of the South" bit) depending on whether we're talking about the City of Atlanta proper, or the Atlanta metro area in general.

[Miami305Kid]

Let's say wer'e just talking about thwe city proper not the metro

[masonbarge]

Currently the trend is towards gentrification of inner city neighborhoods. I'd point out Kirkwood, Midtown, Atlantic Station as more dramatic examples.

I wouldn't use New York as an example, simply because Atlanta doesn't have the hard geographical limits that drive a lot of NYC's growth patterns.

We are now seeing the odd phenomenon of ghetto suburbs. Traditionally US cities without extreme geographical restriction have grown in a "doughnut", with a ring of predominantly white suburbs and towns springing up in more or less a ring around a largely minority inner city. This is still prevalent in US cities with poorer economic health.

Atlanta, however, is prosperous. With the high degree of gentrification in central and southern city neighborhoods, however, we are currently seeing concentrations of lower-income groups driven outside the city (to the south) by land costs, into places like Clayton County. This is just the opposite of the customary doughnut seen in Detroit, for example.

It would be interesting to see maps of metro Atlanta, color coded by median income, for 1988, 1998, and 2008.

[Miami305Kid]

So you think the city of Atlanta is becoming wealthier/safer while low income families are driven out into the suburbs?

[Kofi713]

Voted for the last two. People definitely are not ignoring the city proper (to whoever voted for that). The City of Atlanta is larger than it ever has been since 1950. It is above 500,000 now with gentrification and things.

[Miami305Kid]

Originally Posted by Kofi713

Voted for the last two. People definitely are not ignoring the city proper (to whoever voted for that). The City of Atlanta is larger than it ever has been since 1950. It is above 500,000 now with gentrification and things.

That is true, most people ignore the fact that the city proper of Atlanta has more people than it ever had before.

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by Miami305Kid

So you think the city of Atlanta is becoming wealthier/safer while low income families are driven out into the suburbs?

Yes, I agree with this opinion...it's not to say that every suburb is at risk...it's my observation that suburbs with a large concentration of older, low-income apartment complexes along with low-end, tract-home subdivisions are the most susceptable to decline.

[Kofi713]

I think Atlanta will become the NYC of the South, excluding Texas and Florida. It already is actually.

[ramblinwreck17]

Our civic leaders have got to put a curb on growth for the sake of the future of the city both from a traffic/congestion perspective as well as water.