Is now the right time tomove to ATL? (school, allergies)

[MisterNY]

Originally Posted by rdhbs93

I miss NYC.

Your location says NYC, aren't you there already? Or is the location wishful thinking?

[roxyrn]

If you are wanting to move to Atlanta just because of lower priced housing, you are aware that the wages are substantially lower, too.

Have you thought of moving to Connecticut? There are towns around Danbury that are affordable and Danbury Hospital has a reputation for being very good to nurses. You are in commuting distance to NYC, White Plains, Stamford. I actually think that parts of Connecticut (not the Greenwhich/Darien/New Canaan area) are a lot like Atlanta.

[gerrynyc]

Originally Posted by MisterNY

Your location says NYC, aren't you there already? Or is the location wishful thinking?

I currently live in NYC. and I am planning/hoping to move to ATL

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by roxyrn

NYC and Atlanta are pretty much opposites (good or bad depending on your viewpoint).

Really? Opposites? Opposites like say urban vs. rural? Sure about that? Or do you mean, opposites from within the category of large urban centers? Surely that's what you mean, right?

(I live in Atlanta and just recently returned from a trip to NYC and while there are certainly considerable differences, at the end of the day they're still big cities.)

[roxyrn]

Manhattan is a vibrant city filled with a vast variety of neighborhoods, very international (as witnessed by the huge parades nearly every week from nearly every country that spans Fifth Avenue for hours), as well as iconic attractions ranging from the Empire State Building, museums, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Wall Street.....

Therefore it is a constant buzz of activity. Atlanta is a city that sprawls and spending time downtown and midtown, you have just a small taste of Manhattan. However, you don't have to suffer the winter snows and windchills.

For example, Atlanta has the very beautiful and historic Fox Theater while New York has Times Square (complete with the naked cowboy) and probably 25 theaters along with many restaurants and places such as the wax museum, Hershey Chocolate and M & M Worlds.

They are very different places and each have their own positives and negatives. Some people thrive in and love one or the other.

[gerrynyc]

I agree...Also Manhattan is very walkable at any hours of the day...I think there is some limits with Atlanta. Manhattan never sleeps..

Originally Posted by roxyrn

Manhattan is a vibrant city filled with a vast variety of neighborhoods, very international (as witnessed by the huge parades nearly every week from nearly every country that spans Fifth Avenue for hours), as well as iconic attractions ranging from the Empire State Building, museums, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Wall Street.....

Therefore it is a constant buzz of activity. Atlanta is a city that sprawls and spending time downtown and midtown, you have just a small taste of Manhattan. However, you don't have to suffer the winter snows and windchills.

For example, Atlanta has the very beautiful and historic Fox Theater while New York has Times Square (complete with the naked cowboy) and probably 25 theaters along with many restaurants and places such as the wax museum, Hershey Chocolate and M & M Worlds.

They are very different places and each have their own positives and negatives. Some people thrive in and love one or the other.

[WilliamM]

Originally Posted by roxyrn

Manhattan is a vibrant city filled with a vast variety of neighborhoods, very international (as witnessed by the huge parades nearly every week from nearly every country that spans Fifth Avenue for hours), as well as iconic attractions ranging from the Empire State Building, museums, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Wall Street.....

Therefore it is a constant buzz of activity. Atlanta is a city that sprawls and spending time downtown and midtown, you have just a small taste of Manhattan. However, you don't have to suffer the winter snows and windchills.

For example, Atlanta has the very beautiful and historic Fox Theater while New York has Times Square (complete with the naked cowboy) and probably 25 theaters along with many restaurants and places such as the wax museum, Hershey Chocolate and M & M Worlds.

They are very different places and each have their own positives and negatives. Some people thrive in and love one or the other.

Well said. Though I think I'd compare the Fox Theater to Radio City. But one thing I noticed is that you referred to "Manhattan" in talking about New York, a common tendency which illustrates one of the problems you run into when comparing cities as different as Atlanta and NYC. Of course Manhattan is only one of the 5 boroughs, not to mention representing a fraction of the region of 20+ million, but let's face it it's still what we normally think about when we talk about "New York". Still that conflation causes some skewing of perspective (in my view, to do justice to Atlanta it's important to include much more than just the city limits of Atlanta, while in the case of New York it's perfectly possible to speak accurately about it and only take Manhattan into account).

One thing that generally makes comparing New York with any other city, not just Atlanta, problematic is that New York is the paradigm for all things urban in our age (despite inroads by London to some extent). So what that means is that in addition to being just a city like any other, NYC is also serves as an ideal for a city, in the best and worst senses. It's Gotham, the Emerald City, etc. So this causes all manner of confusion.

Atlanta obviously doesn't play any such role in a national context, although it does play an analogous role within the context of an otherwise rural state and to some extent in the context of the South at large (i.e. if we exclude Texas and Florida).

In my view cities are symbols as much as real entities (embodying people's dreams, resentments and hatreds, embodying the dreams of peoples, dreams of empire, etc.) and much of the confusion when talking about cities comes from failing to make clear which level is being discussed.

[MovedfromFL]

Originally Posted by vkvidal

I am an RN in NJ and my husband works for Verizon Communications, we are also thinking about moving to Atlanta. Right now Verizon is laying off people left and right so with that we are thinking it might be a good time to move. As a nurse I feel secure that i can find work anywhere, my only concern is that I have a 19 month old and I work as a school nurse right now. It seems unlikely I will find that down there and I do not want to go back to bedside care. I did see Grady paying 33.20/hr if you take a job without benefits, and a 3.00 shif diff id you do weekends, also offering 2k in relocation costs. I don't know much about grady or the other hospitals but check them out. I would love to do agency nursing but since i too would probably be the bread winner until my husband finds something I am nervous about taking such a leap of faith, maunly because we have a young daughter and would like ot have another child. Anyway, I would love to know how you make out with everything and best of luck !

Be aware that GA is facing a major budget shortfall. The education budget will take another big hit in January when an amended budget is released. I anticipate major teacher layoffs again, as well as up to 7 more unpaid furlough days for teachers (we already had 3). Also, in the latest round of budget cuts, there was talk of cutting school nurses all together. This proposal could come back in January 2010. I would not count on getting a school nurse position at all. The powers that be want to cut all school nurses statewide.

Grady is an urban hospital in downtown ATL. It has major budget problems and has been on the brink of shutting down for years. It is the only level 1 trauma center in the region. If you take a position at Grady, you will see it all, believe me. The majority of Grady's patients are uninsured. Many are gunshot wounds, etc in the ER. You get the picture.

[roxyrn]

I would be very reluctant to send a child to a school without a school nurse if the child has any health issues including food allergies, asthma, diabetes, seizure disorder or any other underlying condition. In my experience as a school nurse this is probably 10% of the school population. And that doesn't even take into consideration broken bones, wounds requiring stitches, kids falling and having head injuries/concussions. And all of the kids requiring their daily doses of Ritalin, Adderall, Respirdal. Are the teachers going to be responsible?

[lastminutemom]

Before the nurses, it was the secretaries at most schools and I fear we could go back to that next year. Some schools get parent volunteers to man the clinics a few hours a day, but the secretaries still have to give out meds. The governor tried to cut the nurses last year (for this year) but there was a ton of push back. This year, a victory is far less certain.

Things are going to be very bleak next year for education in GA I am afraid.