Buckhead or Downtown (Atlanta: HOA fees, townhomes, buying)

[john1963]

xxman, i primarily say that to females who are unfamilar with the area. It has been my experience that after 5pm the downtown area turns into a ghost town and the only people walking the streets are the homeless hustlers. A friend of mine lived in a high rise across from the arts center station next to the 1280 west peachtree tower she mentioned, and it was unsafe at night. I constantly had people bugging me for money and asking the hustler question "where are you from". There was a BP station around the corner and i learned to not walk up there after dark cause of all the huslters and beggers. They don't take no for an answer
However, i think the piedmont park area is a lot better and possibly a nice place to live. Little five points seems ok. I am mainly referring to a female living in downtown or near georgia tech. The tech campus is very heavily patrolled by their police whereas atlantic station is not. Just look in the atlanta journal for an article last week about that 92 year old woman who got shot by police...it goes into great detail how very dangerous the area behind tech is...it was declared a "project safe neighborhood" eligible for federal help cause of all the guns, drugs and violence.
I want to live in an area where i can go walking/exercising at 10pm or 2am or 5am and not have homeless crackheads harass or rob me..that's why i moved out of buckhead/midtown and also moved from downtown nashville where the problem was much worse. I live in port orange fla now and it is one of the safest cities in florida...almost no crime...and i love it...not being harassed 5 times a day for crack money.
But living downtown might be ok for a male who can deal with all the hassles.

[xxman777]

Originally Posted by john1963

xxman, i primarily say that to females who are unfamilar with the area. It has been my experience that after 5pm the downtown area turns into a ghost town and the only people walking the streets are the homeless hustlers. A friend of mine lived in a high rise across from the arts center station next to the 1280 west peachtree tower she mentioned, and it was unsafe at night. I constantly had people bugging me for money and asking the hustler question "where are you from". There was a BP station around the corner and i learned to not walk up there after dark cause of all the huslters and beggers. They don't take no for an answer
However, i think the piedmont park area is a lot better and possibly a nice place to live. Little five points seems ok. I am mainly referring to a female living in downtown or near georgia tech. The tech campus is very heavily patrolled by their police whereas atlantic station is not. Just look in the atlanta journal for an article last week about that 92 year old woman who got shot by police...it goes into great detail how very dangerous the area behind tech is...it was declared a "project safe neighborhood" eligible for federal help cause of all the guns, drugs and violence.
I want to live in an area where i can go walking/exercising at 10pm or 2am or 5am and not have homeless crackheads harass or rob me..that's why i moved out of buckhead/midtown and also moved from downtown nashville where the problem was much worse. I live in port orange fla now and it is one of the safest cities in florida...almost no crime...and i love it...not being harassed 5 times a day for crack money.
But living downtown might be ok for a male who can deal with all the hassles.

I'm not sure when you last lived here but Atlanta has changed tremendously in the last few years. Midtown has become pretty safe (remember its still a city but if you want to live in an urban area Midtown is fine), I see women out at night walking or jogging all the time. Apparently they feel safe enough. The area about a mile southwest of the Tech campus is one of the worst areas in Atlanta but the crime doesn't spread to the campus. I know many people who live in the areas near the campus and I only know one who has been the victim of a crime. She had her car stolen, most likely by professionals who wanted to strip it. Cars get stolen everywhere, everyday, its just something you have to live with. Sure there are a lot of homeless walking around and they are certainly annoying but crimes are rarely caused by the homeless, usually they are caused by drug addicts or delinquents. I've never had a problem blowing off a homeless person who was begging for money, and I've had a lot of people ask me for money.

There are certainly parts of Downtown and Midtown which I wouldn't recommend but to say that anybody who has anything good to say about downtown has a personal financial stake is insulting to those of us who love and use the intown Atlanta neighborhoods daily.

[sweettea1]

I'm sorry to say that Midtown is not as safe as you suggest. I lived in New York City for 13 years and I would never walk alone in Midtown after dark. I actually just moved from there to Vinings where I feel a lot safer. Yes, Atlanta has changed tremendously but it still clears out after dark. I love midtown, I lived there for two years, but I wouldn't suggest walking alone (especially a female) after dark. That shouldn't necessarily deter you from living there, but just be cautious, as you would anywhere.

[john1963]

I last lived in buckhead/midtown 4 years ago...i was there for 5 years the last time and have lived there several times before.
yes, i admit i was wrong to make a broad statement, i should of said "some or many people may have some ulterior motive for recommending midtown/downtown to a female that's new in town"
I know many people come here to help, but there is also a lot of people who come here trying to rent their condos etc...and i see this all the time at tripadvisor.com...there are many condo owners who visit the daytona beach forum everyday trying to steer people away from hotels to their website of condo rentals.

Anyway, it's all about opinion, and my opinion is that i would not let my girlfriend live anywhere near ga. tech or downtown or midtown cause it is very unsafe at night. Who wants to live somewhere where you have to hide in your apartment after dark or drive 10 miles to a safe area just to exercise? That's my opinion.

[john1963]

http://www.atlantapd.org/index.asp?nav=CrimeMapping

the atlanta police have an interactive crime map which shows the locations and types of crimes during the last 2 weeks. They are unoffical stats but much better than my opinion.

The city is divided into 6 "zones" and each zone is divided into 10 or so mini-zones. If you use the city wide map, you can keep clicking to zoom in until you see the street names.
Downtown/midtown is zone 5...zone 502 is near the arts center station, and just south zone 503 is around north avenue across from ga. tech.

If anyone wants facts rather than my bias opinion, then use the above maps and you will see which areas are "lit up" with crime dots from the last two weeks.
Not trying to bash downtown atlanta as crime happens everywhere.

[jxu66]

In my opinion, midtown is definitely much more safer than ten years ago or even five years ago as Atlanta demolish more and more housing projects. But how safe? That's up to individual's opinion. It is definitely not as safe as northern suburbs but northern suburbs are so boring for most single and young couples. Life is about tradeoff. For some, it does not worth the tradeoff so they move to suburbs while many other thinks that it worths the tradeoff and stay.

There are a lot of high risers in midtown and there will be more coming. Even Donald Trump plans to build two towers in midtown. If crime is completely of out of control, why anybody wants to buy those condos? Also, Demographic in Atlanta is definitely changing as more wealthy singles, young couples and empty nest folks more into the city as poor folks move to inner suburbs.

http://www.atlantamagazine.com/article.php?id=332 (broken link)

P.S. Downtown is so much behind midtown in term of development and crime. There is just not comparsion between the two.
Those are two complete animals.

[john1963]

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/05/04/0504metatlantic.html (broken link)

"Man shot in robbery near atlantic station, plasma tv found in bushes"
These were brand new townhomes next door to atlantic station...several tech students heard the robbery according to video posted on the atlanta journal website may 6.

I also looked at the atlanta pd crime map, there was another 2 previous robberies in the atlantic station complex in the preceding 2 weeks.

That place sounds like the wild west, that's why i would not live near the arts center or atlantic station.

1278 barnes street NW zip 30318 that is

[xxman777]

Originally Posted by john1963

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/05/04/0504metatlantic.html (broken link)

"Man shot in robbery near atlantic station, plasma tv found in bushes"
These were brand new townhomes next door to atlantic station...several tech students heard the robbery according to video posted on the atlanta journal website may 6.

I also looked at the atlanta pd crime map, there was another 2 previous robberies in the atlantic station complex in the preceding 2 weeks.

That place sounds like the wild west, that's why i would not live near the arts center or atlantic station.

1278 barnes street NW zip 30318 that is

You are right crime can happen in the city. It can also happen in the suburbs. Criminals have cars and know how to use them. The key is to make yourself less of a target and then you are less likely to be a victim. Obviously you are not interested in living in intown neighborhoods but the property values and rent levels of the intown neighborhoods show that many people are. I think you have made your point there is crime in the city and I think it is important for anybody considering intown Atlanta to remember that it is a city and crime will happen. Crime happens in every major city. There are also many more opportunities and amenities that are associated with living in the city. Should crime be a reason for somebody to not move here? Maybe, maybe not, it depends on the person. Its hasn't been a good enough reason for me and thousands of other new Atlanta residents not to move here, but then again, I've never been a victim of a crime.

[rdcypher]

I agree xxman. For me, the amenities of city living outweigh living in fear away from everything interesting about a city. Admittedly I'm not very familiar with Atlanta but as American cities go there are always a group who would just prefer to live in the suburbs no matter what. In my hometown, people are under the impression crime doesn't happen anywhere except within the city (which of course is not true). As a single woman, I recognize the need for taking precautions but I also realize that crime is a reality in most cities.

[jxu66]

Here is an update on atlantic station crime from ajc

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2007/05/14/0515metrobbery.html (broken link)