Just What Smyrna Needs- ANOTHER Vacant Dump Lot! (Atlanta, Roswell: to rent, high crime) - City-Data Forum

KevK · 07-30-2009, 05:50 PM

I think it is past time to raise a bit of HELL with Mayor Bacon about all the vacant lots all over the place. Now today, they announced that they are going to raze the long empty eye sore known as Belmont Hills Shopping Plaza and replace it with.... another empty vacant lot which as we all know will soon be overgrown with weeds and become a dump for furniture and old appliances.
We already have an abandoned townhouse construction site on Roswell Rd and a huge abandoned project which was supposed to be a Publix store at Atlanta Rd and Spring Rd- right across the damn street from the centre of town!
The city needs to tell these developers to either get to work or to sell the property to somebody else who will develop it. These things are making the city look horrible to say the least!

techugagrad · 07-30-2009, 08:12 PM

Don't forget the Crossings shopping center at Four Corners. At least a school is going into the old Rich's at Cobb Center.

There's not much the City can do though, short of condemning it and taking it over. If only the recession had waited a couple of years....

KevK · 07-31-2009, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by techugagrad

Don't forget the Crossings shopping center at Four Corners. At least a school is going into the old Rich's at Cobb Center.

There's not much the City can do though, short of condemning it and taking it over. If only the recession had waited a couple of years....

Well the city needs to so something about it because it is going to effect everybody that lives here. If the area looks unsafe or dumpy, people are not going to want to shop, eat or live here. When you drive down Windy Hill or Atlanta Rd you should not feel like you are driving through Detroit!

BobKovacs · 07-31-2009, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KevK

The city needs to tell these developers to either get to work or to sell the property to somebody else who will develop it. These things are making the city look horrible to say the least!

Umm, yeah....because there are tons of other developers standing in line with money falling out of their pockets, just looking for someplace to build. Ohh, and there's a long line of tenants behind the developers waiting to buy/rent, too.............

If there were banks willing to provide financing, and tenants looking to rent/buy, there wouldn't be any vacant pieces. Did you forget that there's a slight economic depression at the moment?

KevK · 07-31-2009, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

Umm, yeah....because there are tons of other developers standing in line with money falling out of their pockets, just looking for someplace to build. Ohh, and there's a long line of tenants behind the developers waiting to buy/rent, too.............

If there were banks willing to provide financing, and tenants looking to rent/buy, there wouldn't be any vacant pieces. Did you forget that there's a slight economic depression at the moment?

We are in a recession and suposedly all the projects were financed and planned before the recession. We cannot allow developers to ruin the community by using a recession as an excuse. If they have to build maybe SMALLER houses to attract buyers at LESS than before than they should do so. As for the Publix vacant lot, people still need groceries and there is not other store even near that corner. Let's get er done!

runningncircles1 · 07-31-2009, 10:21 AM

KevK, there are more important things to finance during this recession than cosmetics of an area. Things like, you know, getting people employed so they can actually shop at these retailers when (if) they open. I mean, what's the point of opening these stores if they're going to be closed within a few months anyway?

Quote:

If they have to build maybe SMALLER houses to attract buyers at LESS than before than they should do so.

You don't understand... NO ONE is buying because there is no credit, even for those with high credit scores. Even if the homes are smaller, no one can afford them because they can't get a loan.

Quote:

We are in a recession and suposedly all the projects were financed and planned before the recession.

Money runs out. Projects go over budget. Sorry, but Smyrna will have to go back to being a ****pie again for a while.

KevK · 07-31-2009, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runningncircles1

KevK, there are more important things to finance during this recession than cosmetics of an area. Things like, you know, getting people employed so they can actually shop at these retailers when (if) they open. I mean, what's the point of opening these stores if they're going to be closed within a few months anyway?

You don't understand... NO ONE is buying because there is no credit, even for those with high credit scores. Even if the homes are smaller, no one can afford them because they can't get a loan.

Money runs out. Projects go over budget. Sorry, but Smyrna will have to go back to being a ****pie again for a while.

Well I don't know what to say. Lots of people came to this community and sacrified alot to make it into a place worth calling home. And now it seems to be going back to the "bad old days" again. It is really funny to me but when I drove through Buckhead a few weeks ago, it is like the recession never even happened. No vacant buildings there and cranes busy in the sky. And although we might not be rich out here we should not sit idle and watch the city become a damn dump of weed filled lots and half built projects. Maybe the city should issue bonds and buy some of the vacant land and turn it into parks until the economy gets better in a few years and then sell it back to the private developers. They might even make a profit on it! In the meantime we will have a few nice parks for the citizens to enjoy on nice summer days instead of vacant eyesores that detract from the city and its appearance. I don't think Smyrna wants to go from Jonquil City to "Weed City" with vacant lots all over the place.

ostriches · 06-08-2010, 12:39 PM

I agree w/ you 100% Kevin! Have you gone to city council meetings & publicly complained & offered suggestions? I have! And all it got me was arrested, to silence me! It's time for more Smyrna residents to speak out about the 3rd world conditions!
And you are also right about other parts of town! You should see all the new shops & resturants in Roswell, Decatur, Inman Park,.. Brookhave! Smyrna is poor, because the mayor likes it this way!

wxjay · 06-08-2010, 12:42 PM

^LOL. Yes, Smyrna, that 3rd world suburb of Atlanta.

Zone2flyboy · 06-08-2010, 12:48 PM

Maybe its just me but Smryna, Mabelton and pretty much South Cobb as a whole was never that nice to me. Ive seen threads on here about people up in arms about the decline of the area, but IMO I always kind of looked at that area as just so-so. I mean it wasn't ghetto or anything with high crime, but it always just reminded me of a place like Ft. Worth Texas, just a slow, lower middle class southern town/city. I always thought South Cobb was kind of cheesy and country when I was growing up, it wasn't until Vinings got cool I guess that people tried to turn it into some uber-posh inner ring suburb.