Relocating from Southern California To Georgia ... Help us narrow down our choices please! (Atlanta: how much, house) - City-Data Forum

julejadesmom · 11-23-2009, 06:48 AM

My husband and I will be relocating our family to Georgia by the first of the year. We have friends and relatives spread out over the state of Georgia, but we're trying to find the city that is best for our young family. The areas we are looking at at 1.Cartersville, 2.Kennesaw, 3.Carrolton, 4.Marietta, and 5.Eatonton.

We've heard good things about each of these cities, but need more info to choose where to lay down roots. We have 2 small children, both boys, ages 6 & 5. We're looking for a good school system, suburbs (not backwoods), far enough from the city to feel comfortable, but close enough for attractions (commute no more than 1.5 hrs on a bad day). We are a Black family that is used to living in a nice, quiet area. Not affluent, just hardworking (I'm a medical transcriptionist and hubby is a flooring contractor), so we'd like to live in a place where this is appreciated. *I only added what our ethnicity is because I want you to keep this in mind when giving us advice about where to live. We've been told that we still need to be aware of racism in certain areas. Since I'm not sure if that's true, it could very well be exaggerated, I would like honest advice.

Can anyone help us out with more details about these areas? Good schools and reasonable commute would be at the top of our list. We thank you for your help in advance.

K'ledgeBldr · 11-23-2009, 07:01 AM

With the criteria you mentioned, narrow your search to Marietta and Kennesaw.

CalieCat · 11-23-2009, 08:25 AM

Have you considered Woodstock (Cherokee County)?

julejadesmom · 11-23-2009, 08:27 AM

No. I hadn't heard of Woodstock. I'll check it out online.

lastminutemom · 11-23-2009, 08:40 AM

Do you have jobs? Given the difficulty of some commutes, it is very important that you figure out where you will be working (I presume your husband will be out and about), so that you can have a decent quality of life.

WilliamM · 11-23-2009, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lastminutemom

Do you have jobs? Given the difficulty of some commutes, it is very important that you figure out where you will be working (I presume your husband will be out and about), so that you can have a decent quality of life.

I second that, absolutely. Can you say two-and-a-half-hour commute? That's what you can wind up with in some cases, especially when traveling to or from areas such as Decatur that are not easily accessible from other parts of the metro area.

As a general rule of thumb, I would suggest that Atlanta generally consists of corridors that run North-South (there being some exceptions, as when traveling East to West in some of the Northern suburbs, for ex.). So as long as you're going from North to South, and vice-versa, it's usually not going to be too horrendously bad. It's when you introduce a third movement and go from North to South AND West that you can start running into some of the nastiest commutes. And I mean nasty. Just try driving from Alpharetta to Decatur during rush hour on a rainy day. Believe me, you won't want to do it again.

By the way, since you're coming from Southern California note also that Atlanta has no surface street system worth mentioning. Certainly nothing to compare to the big avenues and boulevards which can always act as a fall-back in LA. By contrast, Atlanta's meager surface streets, which in most cases are simply overgrown 2-lane country roads, zig and zag with no rhyme or reason whatsoever. A common experience here, and one of the many miseries Atlanta's brutal traffic can inflict on you, is to think you're being clever and jump off the freeway onto some apparent surface street only to find yourself sitting in hopeless gridlock, as you bang on the steering wheel wishing you were still sitting back on the creeping highway.

bayarea-girl · 11-23-2009, 10:39 AM

Ok, the poster is coming from LA so trust me GA traffic will be NOTHING for her. It will be a relief. To the OP the traffic concerns are being over exaggerated.

Anyways, it really depends on where you are going to be working for people to better direct you. Marietta & Woodstock are good options. Woodstock you will get more for your money. Please don't buy anything right away. You should probably go down to GA and check out some areas first. But coming from LA you might just prefer living in the North East section of Atlanta, Decatur City and or the Cascade area. Good luck.

bayarea-girl · 11-23-2009, 10:42 AM

Also, there is racism every where even in CA. But really people in GA are very friendly but if they have a confederate flag swinging proudly from their house then you know what they are all about. There are plenty of open minded people in GA to make up for the idiots.

WilliamM · 11-23-2009, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

Ok, the poster is coming from LA so trust me GA traffic will be NOTHING for her. It will be a relief. To the OP the traffic concerns are being over exaggerated.

I have lived in both Los Angeles and Atlanta, and I would beg to differ. In fact, in some ways traffic in Atlanta can arguably be even worse than LA (see my earlier post above).

For one thing, LA has very straight roads where Atlanta has maybe 2 or 3 roads in the entire metro that run in a straight line for more than a quarter mile (Barrett Pkwy being one of them, Peachtree Industrial another). I mention this because you'd be amazed how much more difficult it can make the driving experience, especially when Atlanta roads are almost without exception designed to impress with their shrubbery and floral brilliance, which can often make pulling out dangerous. Secondly, Atlanta has frequent inclement weather, where LA only has a handful of days per year.

johnatl · 11-23-2009, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WilliamM

I have lived in both Los Angeles and Atlanta, and I would beg to differ. In fact, in some ways traffic in Atlanta can arguably be even worse than LA (see my earlier post above).

For one thing, LA has very straight roads where Atlanta has maybe 2 or 3 roads in the entire metro that run in a straight line for more than a quarter mile (Barrett Pkwy being one of them, Peachtree Industrial another). Secondly, Atlanta has frequent inclement weather, which LA only has a handful of days per year.

Yep, I have to agree with this, WilliamM.

I know it may sound absolutely crazy, but I actually prefer the 405, 101 and 10 on the Westside to our insane 285, 85 & 75.

I my experience, I really don't think they have as many wack-jobs on their freeways as we have!

Compared to Atlanta drivers, L.A. drivers tend to use their turn signals way more, don't seem to veer across lanes as much, and generally don't drive as recklessly. Again, this is all my opinion from what I have witnessed driving out there.

I think a huge part of it may be the almost total lack of enforement we have around here on the freeway system.