Don't Move to Atlanta (Marietta, College Park: high crime, movies, schools)

[tworsham22]

Given that i have read all of your post i really have a lot to think about. In regaurds to moving to Atlanta.

[50something]

Originally Posted by tworsham22

Given that i have read all of your post i really have a lot to think about. In regaurds to moving to Atlanta.

I currently live right outside of Philly in South Jersey. I lived in Atlanta for six years.
If I can help further, please DM me with any questions. I'd be happy to help.

[tworsham22]

First i don't know anything about the city and the people there? I'm taking a chance and trying something new i don't want to live in philly anymore i feel it's a black hole and nowhere to grow.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by tworsham22

First i don't know anything about the city and the people there? I'm taking a chance and trying something new i don't want to live in philly anymore i feel it's a black hole and nowhere to grow.

If you want to try something new, then eat Chinese food. Relocating to a new city without knowing anything about the place isn't trying something new - it's a big time gamble. With your future happiness and well being at stake.

I'd suggest trying to set up with someone who wouldn't mind being a guide for a couple of days or so and paying the city a visit FIRST, before deciding to move here on a whim because the grass looks greener. You want something as serious as relocation to work for you and your future by making the right choice.

[Ga.Peach]

Originally Posted by tworsham22

First i don't know anything about the city and the people there? I'm taking a chance and trying something new i don't want to live in philly anymore i feel it's a black hole and nowhere to grow.

I from Atlanta . So were many genearations of my family . It is just another 'black hole' now ,imo. It went from the most beautiful city of the south to an over crowded ghetto run by a lot or mostly racist blacks and other liberals . This is not a racist comment it is a fact from my point of view .

Also from a long line of southern fredom fighters , but now see we lost if this is what some do with freedom! People use to say there goes the neighborhood, well I have to reluctantly agree in this case and many others .

When I was a child, you could walk all over the city no matter black or white ,you were safe .Take a midnight bus home from the Lowes Grand Realto or the Fox Theatres .

I still have family there .

Every time I visit now it depresses me to see the change . I always go to the Varsity when I visit , my grandparents and mother went there when North Ave. was a dirt road and the Varisity was a outside stand . The last trip a few weeks ago I decided to drive thru instead of exit I-75 . What a pitiful site it has become . All of Atlanta was closed with burgler bars on doors and show windows . Only people out were gang looking types . Except Hard Rock Cafe on Peachtree St. had a few customers .

I can remember when the horse drawn buggy took Martin L. King's Casket down Ashby St. in West End [my other stomping grounds ] I was there , knowing the world had just lost another great man .

He had a dream that most of his people turned into a nightmare . He had his faults but was a good and brave man .He fought for freedom but his people have turned it into bondage of anther kind . Thanks to people 'imo' like jessy Jackson. Al Sharpton ,louis Farracon and other race hustlers black and white who taught vicitmhood instead of manhood .

I wouldn't live in the Atlanta area again if you paid me, but my heart will always remember my home town .

[missingny!]

I moved here from NYC in 1985. I have never felt at home here and have tried desperatly to convince my husband to move anywhere near a beach. Unfortunately, he refuses. I am soooo bored here. I live in Gwinnett County (suburbs) and it was pretty safe and nice when I moved here but now... there is conjestion (I work 12 miles away and it takes me 40 minutes to get to work), there is crime etc.
On weekends, unless you enjoy these things... there is nothing exciting to do. All there is is shopping (the mall, the strip malls, Walmart).... movies and restraurants.
It's tooo hot in the summer to enjoy the parks which by the way are pretty empty. I guess coming from NY and enjoying a park like Central Park you except Piedmont Park to be like it.. but it's so empty and boring. At least in NY on a Saturday night you could drive to the city and just walk around and people watch. Didn't need a lot of money.. just went down to Little Italy or China Town and enjoyed the view and people. Unfortunately, Atlanta is pretty diserted on weekends.. even I, a New Yorker who rode the subways at 2am in the morning feels nervous in Atlanta. Not safe at all. The museums and aquarium are really expensive if you have a family and the museum doesn't even compare.
so every weekend I go thru this long discussion with my huband about what to do... a movie, go out to eat or shop...pretty boring after a while. I am going crazy here... don't know how much more I can take. If I had to do it all over again, I would have picked a place with sidewalks that actually lead somewhere... has anyone noticed that the sidewalks in the suburbs actually just stop in the middle of nowhere. really stange. Oh well, I'm stuck in Atlanta for now.

[Natali26]

I have lived here in a NW suburb of ATL for 15 years.

My Opinion:

1. Southern Hospitality: Fake. The sad truth about Southern Hospitality is that the natives here do tend to be very clique-ish, lots of fake smiles with backstabbing judgementalism disguised by "sugar." There is a definate "culture" here where people expend copious amounts of energy hiding/repressing displays of anger and strong emotion that could be frowned upon as "socially negative." As a woman who grow up in the northeast U.S., I find it very difficult to be accepted into Southern cliques of females because my culture encourages displayes of true emotion as being REAL. Very, Very Difficult to truly discover who the REAL person is here in the South because they are EXPERTS at maintaining well-mannered MASKS. They genuinely believe that these masks are demonstrations of good Christian values defined as manners. V. difficult to chip away at the perfect facade to really get to know them and care deepley about them as true friends. Unfortunately.

2. Social Life in ATL Suburbs: Church, Church, Church. You better believe the Bible and display no outward sins or you will spend A LOT of time alone. Family, Family, Family. You better have kids and heavily involved in soccer/football/cheerleading teams. Disconnection. It's hard to maintain friends because of extremely long commutes.

3. Exceptions: African-American people here are REAL with a rich culture and lots of genuine displays of sincere emotion. Many of the black people here are HIGHLY educated with great family values and class. Unfortunately, discrimmination is still rampant here in the South, so a lot of great black people are hesitant to quickly jump into friendships with whites.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Natali26

I have lived here in a NW suburb of ATL for 15 years.

My Opinion:

1. Southern Hospitality: Fake. The sad truth about Southern Hospitality is that the natives here do tend to be very clique-ish, lots of fake smiles with backstabbing judgementalism disguised by "sugar." There is a definate "culture" here where people expend copious amounts of energy hiding/repressing displays of anger and strong emotion that could be frowned upon as "socially negative." As a woman who grow up in the northeast U.S., I find it very difficult to be accepted into Southern cliques of females because my culture encourages displayes of true emotion as being REAL. Very, Very Difficult to truly discover who the REAL person is here in the South because they are EXPERTS at maintaining well-mannered MASKS. They genuinely believe that these masks are demonstrations of good Christian values defined as manners. V. difficult to chip away at the perfect facade to really get to know them and care deepley about them as true friends. Unfortunately.

2. Social Life in ATL Suburbs: Church, Church, Church. You better believe the Bible and display no outward sins or you will spend A LOT of time alone. Family, Family, Family. You better have kids and heavily involved in soccer/football/cheerleading teams. Disconnection. It's hard to maintain friends because of extremely long commutes.

3. Exceptions: African-American people here are REAL with a rich culture and lots of genuine displays of sincere emotion. Many of the black people here are HIGHLY educated with great family values and class. Unfortunately, discrimmination is still rampant here in the South, so a lot of great black people are hesitant to quickly jump into friendships with whites.

[south-to-west]

Originally Posted by missingny!

I moved here from NYC in 1985. I have never felt at home here and have tried desperatly to convince my husband to move anywhere near a beach. Unfortunately, he refuses. I am soooo bored here. I live in Gwinnett County (suburbs) and it was pretty safe and nice when I moved here but now... there is conjestion (I work 12 miles away and it takes me 40 minutes to get to work), there is crime etc.
On weekends, unless you enjoy these things... there is nothing exciting to do. All there is is shopping (the mall, the strip malls, Walmart).... movies and restraurants.
It's tooo hot in the summer to enjoy the parks which by the way are pretty empty. I guess coming from NY and enjoying a park like Central Park you except Piedmont Park to be like it.. but it's so empty and boring. At least in NY on a Saturday night you could drive to the city and just walk around and people watch. Didn't need a lot of money.. just went down to Little Italy or China Town and enjoyed the view and people. Unfortunately, Atlanta is pretty diserted on weekends.. even I, a New Yorker who rode the subways at 2am in the morning feels nervous in Atlanta. Not safe at all. The museums and aquarium are really expensive if you have a family and the museum doesn't even compare.
so every weekend I go thru this long discussion with my huband about what to do... a movie, go out to eat or shop...pretty boring after a while. I am going crazy here... don't know how much more I can take. If I had to do it all over again, I would have picked a place with sidewalks that actually lead somewhere... has anyone noticed that the sidewalks in the suburbs actually just stop in the middle of nowhere. really stange. Oh well, I'm stuck in Atlanta for now.

No. You're actually stuck in Gwinnett. If you came into town more often and hung out in the actual neighborhoods outside of Downtown, you would see people walking and hanging out. If you go to Piedmont Park on the weekends, you would see how crowded it gets. If you took a stroll down Highland, you would see a lot of sidewalk restaurants, bars, and cafes. It's far from being NYC, but Atlanta does has its urban neighborhoods that are very active.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Natali26

2. Social Life in ATL Suburbs: Church, Church, Church. You better believe the Bible and display no outward sins or you will spend A LOT of time alone. Family, Family, Family. You better have kids and heavily involved in soccer/football/cheerleading teams. Disconnection. It's hard to maintain friends because of extremely long commutes.

Sounds like you need to connect with a different social group. Believe me, they are out there.