Revival of old thread on Atlanta and ghetto suburbs, anyone? (houses, safest neighborhood)

[WilliamM]

A year ago I posted a comment here in a thread on Atlanta's ghetto suburbs (http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...o-suburbs.html) where I wondered if we were witnessing a "re-Europeanization of American cities", where the central cities become the playgrounds of the affluent while the lower classes find themselves stuck further out from the central cores, a reversal of the suburbanization trend that started in the 50s and 60s.

Now a fairly lengthy article has appeared in The New Republic on this very subject and sure enough, the example of Atlanta figures prominently in the essay. On glancing at the comments, it seems to have triggered a pretty spirited discussion, many of them in disagreement with this thesis. If anyone is interested, let me throw out the question that's being discussed there: is this flux of people back into the cities merely a blip on the screen or is there some sort of more fundamental transformation at work here?

[WilliamM]

O - KAY ... let's not everyone speak up at once here.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by WilliamM

O - KAY ... let's not everyone speak up at once here.

1) On a Saturday, I would doubt you can expect a ton of replies to a thread in just four hours after you post it.

2) Please post a link to that article you're talking about so it can add to the discussion.

3) If the new thread gets somewhat out of hand with comments like the old one tended to get close to doing numerous times, yes, it will be closed.

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

1) On a Saturday, I would doubt you can expect a ton of replies to a thread in just four hours after you post it.

2) Please post a link to that article you're talking about so it can add to the discussion.

3) If the new thread gets somewhat out of hand with comments like the old one tended to get close to doing numerous times, yes, it will be closed.

Thanks. You're right. I just realized my mistake when I started looking through some of the other threads and saw that many had been ongoing for months, even over a year.

I thought I did post a link, but I'll double check and see if I can revive a constructive discussion.

[WilliamM]

Correction. I did NOT post the link to the New Republic article. Here it is:

Trading Places

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by WilliamM

A year ago I posted a comment here in a thread on Atlanta's ghetto suburbs (http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlan...o-suburbs.html) where I wondered if we were witnessing a "re-Europeanization of American cities", where the central cities become the playgrounds of the affluent while the lower classes find themselves stuck further out from the central cores, a reversal of the suburbanization trend that started in the 50s and 60s.

Now a fairly lengthy article has appeared in The New Republic on this very subject and sure enough, the example of Atlanta figures prominently in the essay. On glancing at the comments, it seems to have triggered a pretty spirited discussion, many of them in disagreement with this thesis. If anyone is interested, let me throw out the question that's being discussed there: is this flux of people back into the cities merely a blip on the screen or is there some sort of more fundamental transformation at work here?

I vote fundamental transformation.

[ramblinwreck17]

Absolutely, fundamental transformation. It's basically just started.

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by ramblinwreck17

Absolutely, fundamental transformation. It's basically just started.

I think more people will continue to move back into the city (cities in general), but there will still be substantial growth in the burbs as well. There will always be some folks who don't want to live in an urban environment, and there will also be plenty who can't afford to. Let's face it- living intown isn't exactly "affordable" for many people.

The same situation plays out in pretty much every urban setting- when I lived in NJ, there were plenty of people who lived along the 78 and 80 corridors, but commuted into NYC to work every day. Many of these people had commutes that make the commutes here look like childs play (think 2-2.5 hours each way on a good day), but they either made the choice because they didn't want to live in the city, or they couldn't afford to. Sometimes it's not a cut and dried decision.

[Windu]

The race issue is a red herring.

Those moving back into central cities, especially in cities as diverse as Atlanta, will be a mixture of ethnicities and the type of people that aren't into self-segregation along racial lines (which would seem obvious, but is worth stating because it's important to state the facts about the reality of non-racial thinking among younger Americans). Those seeing it as a white takeover just have race on the brain.

[WilliamM]

Logan Square is still not the safest neighborhood in Chicago. There are armed robberies and some killings on its western fringe, and, even on the quiet residential streets, mothers tell their children to be home before dark. But that hasn't prevented Logan Square from changing dramatically again--not over the past generation, or the past decade, but in the past five years. The big stone houses built by the factory owners on Logan Boulevard are selling for nearly $1 million, despite the housing recession. The restaurant that sits on the square itself sells goat cheese quesadillas and fettuccine with octopus, and attracts long lines of customers who drive in from the suburbs on weekend evenings. To describe what has happened virtually overnight in Logan Square as gentrification is to miss the point. Chicago, like much of America, is rearranging itself, and the result is an entire metropolitan area that looks considerably different from what it looked like when this decade started. (Trading Places)

This description from the New Republic piece of Logan Square in Chicago strikes me as something that could be said about several intown Atlanta neighborhoods, most notably East Atlanta, but also Grant Park for example. The goat cheese quesadillas makes me think of Cabbagetown. Imagine the amazement if the original inhabitants of these areas could come back and see some of these neighborhoods now.