Possible New Metro Atlanta Cities? (Sandy Springs, Marietta: 2010, hotels, home)

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by GF72

Well East Marietta I think is a terrible name for anything that includes the Roswell Road / Johnson Ferry intersection because that is the heart of East Cobb, the phrase East Cobb is all over the area. Anyplace that includes that intersection should be called East Cobb or Mount Bethel. Likewise, the area north of that would be called Shallowford Falls or Heights.

Personally, this is how I would have Cobb County set up (all incorporated):

Marietta city limits would be expanded, including much of the Wheeler district and some of West Cobb, as well as more of the northern area. Basically the whole center of Cobb County. Marietty City schools should be merged with Cobb school system.

The whole Cumberland area should be a city called Cumberland. Vinings could be included, or the tiny historic part of Vinings could be left as the only unincorporated part of Cobb, since there are no townships in GA. Any commercial part of Cumberland that is currently in Smyrna or Marietta would be in the new Cumberland.

Smyrna, Power Springs, Mableton (which would become a city) would be expanded and fill up all of South Cobb.

West Cobb would be the whole western suburban area. Acworth would take up the whole NW corner, and Kennesaw would be expanded as well.

Sandy Plains would be east of Kennesaw and basically be Sprayberry and Kell districts (I think this whole area should be one city).

Which leaves the Walton/Pope/Lassiter area. Either this whole area could be East Cobb and be 100,000 population Roswell/Sandy Spring type area, or you could split it into the northern Shallowford area (Lassiter, half of Pope) and the southern East Cobb area (walton/half of pope).

Under this system all of Cobb County would be split up into 50,000 to 100,000 population cities.

Hey GF72...

I actually think (overall), that we are thinking the same way. I think we could definitely work out an excellent solution for incorporating Cobb County...and then the rest of of the Metro Area!

Here's my complete Cobb incorporation plan (now that I have a little more time to type):

1. Mount Bethel or Woodlawn: The Walton district (but parts of the Walton district would be rezoned to Wheeler and Sprayberry...Walton would get some Pope neighborhoods very near Walton...but this is another thread!)

2. East Marietta: The Wheeler district, plus the Robinson Road+west Sewell Mill area of Walton (rezoned to Wheeler), and the Murdock, Old Canton, and lower Holly Springs Road areas of the Pope district.

3. Sandy Plains: smaller than the other cities, still including the areas I mentioned in the other post. Would include Chestnut Springs (rezoned to Sprayberry).

4. Shallowford Heights: The rest of the Pope district, plus the Lassiter district.

5. Noonday Creek: The Kell district, and the rest of the Sprayberry district.

6. Marietta: expanded...mainly westward. Taking in most of the Cheatham Hill Elementary area and a few other areas.

7. Acworth and Kennesaw: expanded to include all of Northwest Cobb.

8. Mars Hill: the northern part of West Cobb.

9. Lost Mountain: the southern part of West Cobb and north "Macland."

10. Powder Springs: expanded...will also take in south "Macland."

11. Mableton (new city as well), Smyrna, and Austell: expanded to include most of South Cobb.

12. Vinings, Cumberland, Windy Ridge/east Windy Hill area, lower Powers Ferry, south along the river to Six Flags (and including Six Flags): annexed by the City of Atlanta.

*13. Possible creation of another South Cobb city named Milford, Hollydale, or West Smyrna.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by JPD

If the Brain Train commuter rail ever get's built, a Tucker station (and a Northlake station) are part of the plan. I agree that would be an enormously positive thing. Unfortunately, some in the Tucker cityhood movement have told me they would fight against a commuter rail station in Tucker. That's part of the reason why I see negatives in the cityhood thing in this particular case. I strongly disagree with and don't trust those who seem to be jockeying for leadership positions.

I'm really sorry to hear that. Not good.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

I sense it's more of a 'wait and see' situation than 'dead in the water'...I think that the organizers are waiting to see which way the political winds will be blowing after the next regime change.
Frankly, I think this threat was just that...firing across the bow, as it were, to get the attention of the TPTB. I would be sorry to see this actually happen.

The group that was spearheading secession conceded a couple of months back, mainly due to the fact that there is already an incorporated city named Buckhead, Georgia and the name would not be available...and no one wanted to change the name. Also, before anything could happen the idea would have had to be approved by the Atlanta delegation in the House...and of its 15 members, 14 are Democrats who don’t live in Buckhead. It wouldn't have happened for those two reasons, among others. Besides, from what I read and heard it was a small group of people...the majority of residents either didn't support secession or didn't care. Sam Massell, the "Mayor of Buckhead", made several public statements opposing any talk of secession.

It's easy to understand the anger and resentment toward Atlanta city government - neighborhood meetings all over the city have had an angry tone and have been discussing many of the same issues for months - so Buckhead's issues are not unique. But Buckhead is the only neighborhood with a secessionists group. It was a proud day for me as an Atlanta resident when headlines all over the country were screaming "White Atlanta Suburbs Push for Secession". Whether is was a race issue or not, and I'm sure for some people supporting secession it was, the rest of the country saw it that way. Let's hope it doesn't revive itself anytime soon.

The Milton County proposal has been decided as well. Instead, the focus turned to forming the new cities of Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, and Milton because the Georgia constitution limits the state to no more than 159 counties - so it was easier to incorporate as minicipalities than to change the constitution. The people in those areas are satisfied with their new autonomy...and don't really need to be a seperate county.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by GF72

Plus it would make Atlanta look even more pathetic in the encyclopedias than it does now. It would seem like a 300,000 population, poor city, with 1/3 its skyline gone.

The proposal for the city of Buckhead boundaries only had a population of 70,000...so Atlanta would have still been at 450,000 - and maybe 1/5 of its skyline gone. And there are actually people with money living in many other neighborhoods besides Buckhead...Midtown, Morningside, Virginia-Highland, West End, East Atlanta, Cascade Heights, Ansley Park, etc. The rest of the city is not poor.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

The proposal for the city of Buckhead boundaries only had a population of 70,000...so Atlanta would have still been at 450,000 - and maybe 1/5 of its skyline gone. And there are actually people with money living in many other neighborhoods besides Buckhead...Midtown, Morningside, Virginia-Highland, West End, East Atlanta, Cascade Heights, Ansley Park, etc. The rest of the city is not poor.

Yes, but Atlanta really does need Buckhead within its city limits...


as well as Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, North Atlanta, Brookhaven, Vinings, Sandtown, West Cascade, a lot of South Fulton, Briarcliff, North Druid Hills, Druid Hills, Emory, Oak Grove-Vista Grove, Scottdale, Gresham Park, Constitution-Intrenchment Creek, and Conley!

[GF72]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

The proposal for the city of Buckhead boundaries only had a population of 70,000...so Atlanta would have still been at 450,000 - and maybe 1/5 of its skyline gone. And there are actually people with money living in many other neighborhoods besides Buckhead...Midtown, Morningside, Virginia-Highland, West End, East Atlanta, Cascade Heights, Ansley Park, etc. The rest of the city is not poor.

Well Census Bureau says that Atlanta pop is currently 440,000 so losing 70,000 from Buckhead would put it at measly 370,000. Those other wealthier areas of Atlanta are very small islands of wealth. If you look at zipcode-income maps you'll see that outside Buckhead, the rest of Atlanta is indeed poor overall, below US average (similar to many major cities, like Memphis, Detroit, etc) for avg. household income and per capita income, whereas the whole ~80,000 pop. Buckhead area is several times above US average for both those figures. Actually, I'll find a map for you. This map is from GA State University's mapmaker, with data from the 2000 US census. Looking at zip code figures for the northern areas, the remaining pink areas in north Fulton are all purple now.



And almost 1/3 the skyline would indeed be gone. Buckhead has a huge portion of Atlanta's commercial office space. From 2008 reports, square footage numbers for Atlanta's 3 city skylines:

Downtown - 124 buildings; 23,696,363 sq. ft. office space
Midtown - 113 buildings; 16,824,770 sq. ft. office space
Buckhead - 105 buildings; 16,679,976 sq. ft. office space

Buckhead has more residential towers than the other two districts, which are not part of those numbers.

Just for fun:

Sandy Springs/Dunwoody: 256 buildings; 28,614,930 sq. ft. office space.

Average office building size:
Downtown: 191,099 avg sq. ft. per building
Midtown: 148,891 avg sq. ft. per building
Buckhead: 158,856 avg sq. ft. per building
Perimeter: 111,777 avg sq. ft. per building

[DeaconJ]

The 2007 population of Atlanta is 519,145...and minus 70,000 would leave a population of 449,145.

The number of buildings and amount of office space notwithstanding, just comparing the skylines of Midtown and Downtown to Buckhead easily show that Buckhead is NOT 1/3 of the skyline. Sorry.

From what I can tell by looking at the tiny pieces of your map, more of Atlanta is light blue and up (30,000 and up) than the darker blue. I don't know what you consider as low-income, but I wouldn't label "most" of the city as poor...what I would label as poor is the attitude of those wanting to secede from Atlanta. The Buckhead area may be well above average income, but that fact doesn't automatically make the rest of us poor.

But none of that even matters...the radical secessionists realized that it would be a losing battle.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by DeaconJ

The current population of Atlanta is 519,000.

Tru dat.

[BringBackCobain]

Although I totally agree that Sandy Springs, Druid Hills, Briarcliff, Brookhaven should be in Atlanta, the suburbanites living in those areas would not pass a referendum to join the city of Atlanta. The city still has a bad reputation with suburbanites as being ghetto, poor, and incompetent, even worse now due to the financial crisis. They also would probably not want to be in the APSchool system. Things have not changed too much since the 70's - in 1972 Atlanta tried to annex Sandy Springs and 95% voted "no". IF Atlanta gets its financials in order and continues to diversify, it could improve its reputation and perhaps those residents would allow annexation.

On Buckhead, it wont happen. But what those people need to realize is that if Buckhead adds a few more condo towers, it will control a huge weight in terms of mayoral elections. If they don't like the way things are going in Atlanta, they need to vote a mayor they approve of! Someone needs to start a "Vote, Buckhead!" campaign.

Also, does anyone know the status on Tucker incorporation? I have not heard anything or a while.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by BringBackCobain

Although I totally agree that Sandy Springs, Druid Hills, Briarcliff, Brookhaven should be in Atlanta, the suburbanites living in those areas would not pass a referendum to join the city of Atlanta. The city still has a bad reputation with suburbanites as being ghetto, poor, and incompetent, even worse now due to the financial crisis. They also would probably not want to be in the APSchool system. Things have not changed too much since the 70's - in 1972 Atlanta tried to annex Sandy Springs and 95% voted "no". IF Atlanta gets its financials in order and continues to diversify, it could improve its reputation and perhaps those residents would allow annexation.

On Buckhead, it wont happen. But what those people need to realize is that if Buckhead adds a few more condo towers, it will control a huge weight in terms of mayoral elections. If they don't like the way things are going in Atlanta, they need to vote a mayor they approve of! Someone needs to start a "Vote, Buckhead!" campaign.

Also, does anyone know the status on Tucker incorporation? I have not heard anything or a while.

There is also the fact that large sections of the city are becoming more middle class and neighborhoods that haven't already are quickly becoming gentrified...so the face of Atlanta has and is currently changing.