Clayton County/DeKalb County/South Fulton County - These are my choices; now what? (Atlanta: high crime, neighborhood)

[adio]

ok so today i finally made it up to sandtown and niskey lake. with boat rock road to the east and north, camp creek parkway to the west and campbellton road to the south...... i was in the whole area. if you look on google maps i drove on every street you see within those borders. that section on sandtown is dreamy!!!! very very very picturesque (sp). i dont think we could afford that area. if we could, i would move over there in 1/2 a heartbeat. the subdivions i cruised through were cambridge commons, sandtown center and regency hills. i came out on stonecastle pass way, made a left on boat rock road and made a right on bruce place.

i drove into a subdivision called montclaire estates on montcalm road. the houses over here are great and they seem a little bit more affordable. the only thing i didnt like was there was 1 way in and one way out via montcalm road . i saw 1 house for sale at 120 colonade avenue
came out of there got back onto bruce place and then went inside another subdivision that i didnt get the name of. i missed going through there the 1st time. i weaved through sandrock lane, lakerock way, lake boat way and sandtown center blvd.

came back out bruce place again and made a left onto new hope road to go to niskey lake. i was excited as hell! made a right on heatherland drive and a left onto niskey lake road. it was so damn woody down there. i made a right onto ryland trail and i arrived. the lake is much much smaller than what i thought it would be!!!! boooo!! at least the road was nice......... black top that looks like cars drive on it maybe once a month. when i first drove in there, i saw a mansion with a waterfall and benches in its backyard otherwise, the house are so-so. anybody looking to live around there........ save you're money. the only reason to do it just to tell people that you live on niskey lake and you hope they gasp.

i made a left on niskey cove road and another left onto lake cove drive. this subdivision is called niskey lake cove. it is mega quiet over here, except for 2 boys riding their bikes around. i found 2 houses for sale in this area at 1851 and 1881 lake cove dive . i made a left onto niskey overlook and a right onto niskey lake road

i then drove the intersection of niskey lake road and lanark drive and made a left onto lanark. i then made a left on tartan lane and a right on orkney lane. a right onto loch lomond trail. drove all the way through it ( which is called loch lomond estates).

i left loch lomond and somehow got back onto boat rock road and headed north. i drove up to cascade hills lane and boat rock rd where i made a right into a subdivison called marion woods. the houses over here are average. i'm hoping they're average price also. i weaved through out the subdivision and left.

so i got on cascade rd and drove down to kimberly rd, made a right and took it alllllllll the way down to campbellton road. went to fairburn road and took that down to redwine parkway where i made a left on it. took it down to camp creek market place and to barnes and noble.

all in all, i was very very impressed with what i saw. i would love to move to sandtown. i think i saw a total of 3 white people also

next adventure is to cascade heights, collier heights, peyton forest, audobon forest, and mangum manor.

use google maps to follow adio's adventures!!!!!

[diarymarie]

Has anything changed on this subject over the years?? I don't see any resent posts.

[adio]

nope, i was the last.........

[Larry X]

Originally Posted by adio

nope, i was the last.........

Read you post about Sandtown, my wife and I love it over there too very nice & quiet. We've already joined the Camp Creek Church of Christ on Merk rd. We will be looking for an apt soon and hopefully buying a home a few years after. Boat Rock rd is nice with it's 80's 90's homes on big yards with trees in them, we also like Canaans Glen.
We are going to check out some of the other areas you mentioned in your post like Niskey Lake, as a matter of fact, we are going to take the same ride you did, just to see what else 30331 has to offer.

[Tryska]

Originally Posted by neverbored

Examples of things I’d like to know: Where you go to shop if the shopping in your area is lacking? What type of measures do you take to prevent your home from being burglarized or to protect yourself from a home invasion? If you live in an area where your home is affordable, but your commute is awful, how early do you leave to avoid getting snarled in traffic and still make it to work on time? Do you only go out at night on certain days because Friday and Saturday nights are crazy in your neighborhood? Do you own a gun? Do you prefer multiple guns? Do you carry on your person or do you use it as home defense only? What intersections do you consider sketchy and therefore warn people to avoid. Are there certain gas stations that you go to because they’re safer than others? What stores do you avoid because they have bad reputation? Did you set up a town watch program to keep your neighborhood safe? Do you find it is better to socialize with your neighbors or stay to yourself and maintain a low profile? The list of things that could be helpful for a newcomer to know is endless.

Well I live in East Point.

I have lived here for 4 years, and I own my own home and bit of yard, in a quiet neighborhood. I am deeply civically engaged, and have served on a few City boards and committees, and recently worked on a successful election campaign.

To answer your questions:

1. I do my shopping at a combination of publix by my job or at camp creek, kroger on metropolitan, and the Super H Asian market in Riverdale. That's for groceries and I'm picky about brands - so I probably would do the same no matter where I lived. Everything else I pretty much go to Camp Creek for. (Until Wal-Mart opens up on Cleveland, and the CVS downtown). I will probably wind up using those for a lot of needs, simply because of proximity. Clothes I would still go to Camp Creek though. Oh and I leverage my Amazon Prime account as much as possible.

2. I lock my doors and that's about it. I don't leave fancy things in my car. I'm not terribly concerned about a home invasion/burglary (I live in a quiet neighborhood in an average house). I keep my car keys near me when I sleep and intend to hit the panic button if something were ever to happen where I needed emergency assistance, and my neighbors are aware of this.

3. My commute is to midtown. I can take the train and be there in about 30 minutes. I do that when I have enough time in the am to walk to the train station. (a mile away). My job is pretty flexible - I just have to be to work by 10am. If I am running late - I usually will get in my car around 9:30 and be to work by about 9:45-9:50 (barring any lane shutdowns). I can take the highway, or I can take surface roads. (lee, metropolitan and northside)

4. I go out when I damn well feel like it. 9 times out of 10 any crazy neighborhood activities is a bbq - and I just might be there.

5. I do not own a gun. nor do I own several guns. If I were to own a gun - I'd probably go with a shotgun. Great for close quarters, and I can fill it with rocksalt to pelt my mortal enemies - the squirrels. For now I rely on my elite enforcement squad of tabby cats.

6. I don't warn people about intersections. I suppose if I were pressed, I would say don't hang out at the Valero on the corner of Cleveland Ave and Norman Berry. But I don't really hang out with folks that would be hanging out at gas stations, so there's that.

7. I don't know about safer than others - because I consider panhandlers more of an annoyance than a threat, but I prefer the Otter in Hapeville - because they don't truck with panhandling. And also they have a buffet sometimes and locally made baked goods.

8. I don't know that I avoid stores based on their reputation - I usually avoid them because they don't carry what I am looking for. Well I suppose I would avoid the Valero based on it's reputation but that's about it. Oh also Chik-fil-A because they hate the gays. (sometimes)

9. I have not personally set up a neighborhood watch - but they exist in our neighborhoods. When I did have sketchy neighbors, my neighbors and I, version of neighborhood watch was sitting on the porch, drinking and calling the cops if something sketchy happened. Except for the one night - we saw the fireworks someone was shooting off and everyone else in the hood called PD because of gunshots. That night we flagged down PD and told them what actually happenned.

10. Sometimes I socialize with my neighbors, sometimes I keep to myself. Honestly the socializing with my neighbors and townsfolk at large (meaning not in my specific neighborhood but also living in East Point) is a new thing to me. I lived in apartments in Smyrna for 13 years, and never once spoke to a neighbor there, or socialized with people who lived in proximity to me.


Now that I've answered your questions - I will sum up with this. Either you are a city person or you are not. Some of your questions lead me to believe you think urban living is kind of like a war zone where you have to hole up in your house and prepare to be killed. Folks who approach life in that way (or perhaps haven't been exposed to high density living) tend not to enjoy the experience of living down here. You have to be streetsmart and aware of your surroundings (this applies to everywhere inside the perimeter), when you look for a house - pay attention to the surroundings of that house - notice the foot traffic patterns - see if there is easy access for people to walk down your street - clusters of people hanging out on corners that sort of thing. High traffic areas. Don't choose those houses. (This applies everywhere intown).

When you do buy your house - light your surroundings up - don't have dark driveways or backyards - the first thing I did when I moved in was place a motion-detecting floodlight in my driveway (I don't have a garage). I keep my front and back porch lights on all night, and the front porch light has a 200W CFL bulb.

The worst thing that has ever happened to me (knock wood) is the one time I left my car unlocked someone creeped it and left a pair of jeans neatly folded in the back. I had no idea where the jeans came from, until I realized an acquaintance had left a travel bag, and they had gone through it looking for change or what have you.

And that about sums up my life in the hood. Not terribly exciting, unfortunately.

[LynnHarris]

@Tryska... Great post...

[mangolover]

This is a great thread!

[Larry X]

I would say S.Fulton is definitely the best, check out the 30331 area code (Atlanta) its nice, quite, and has a country look and feel (hope you don't mind nature) but its not far away from amenities (Camp Creek, close to 20 &285) Most of the people are upper middle class blacks, with good jobs, and many of them live in the near by mansions. I don't have kids so I don't know about the schools but the high schools are Westlake and I think Tri Cities both aren't the best but aren't bad I hear.

[mangolover]

Do you think the residents of Sandtown would be accepting of an interracial family (Caribbean female and Chinese male) with one child? Are there any interracial couples living there? How have they been received? We lived in Buckhead from 2003-2006 before moving to MA. We would like to move back but don't want to live in Buckhead.

[RNGAnderson]

There no difference between bad neighborhood and good neighborhood. Example In North ATL Metro has very nice housing less crime there like Alpharetta, North Fulton, and Marietta, GA, and the North ATL Metro has lots of white, and very good education. Now in South ATL Metro including South Dekalb has nice housing too, like Princeton Lakes, Atlanta, GA, Redan, GA, Stockbridge, GA, and Lithonia, GA it does have high crime there, there education is OK, but not Clayton Education it the worst, and South Atlanta has lots of blacks. So overall Atlanta Metro is pretty good balance little bit. That why Fulton County has 44% of African American, and 40% of White, and most of the white is in the North Fulton. This is my opinion. But is your guys decision where you want to go in Atlanta Metro.