Stone Mountain.. is it Safe? PLEASE someone tell me (Atlanta: section 8, rentals)

[LovinDecatur]

Originally Posted by FatElvisForever

And I'm a product of the Dekalb schools... and when my family moved to Charlotte NC I had to be held back a year (6th grade) because I was so far behind the kids at my new elementary (a feeder school to top-ranked Myers Park, #30 or so on the Newsweek list). This was 1983...

And lest you think this is race-driven.... Smoke Rise Elementary at the time was well over 90% white and Selwyn was 50/50 white/black. Dekalb Schools were bad in the 70's, and they are worse now. Looking back at the teachers, it was pretty pathetic.

Thus, as I consider a move back to Atlanta (for career reasons) I'm staying as far away from Dekalb as I can. The rub with Atlanta is the Georgia school system, and I know first-hand. I was lucky to attend Myers Park and live in Charlotte... a much better city all-around than Atlanta.

Walton or Riverwood seem pretty good... but shouldn't a metro area of 5mm+ have at least one school in the top 100?

Highly inaccurate...in the 60's and 70's, DeKalb's school system was considered one of the best in the country...and I, too, am a product of that system.
Having said that, I agree that that system has very serious issues now.

[KevK]

STone Mountain is very ghetto and very dangerous. If you value your life and posessions, move to the other side of the mountain (Gwinnett).

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by KevK

STone Mountain is very ghetto and very dangerous. If you value your life and posessions, move to the other side of the mountain (Gwinnett).

Rush Limbaugh is that you?

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by KevK

STone Mountain is very ghetto and very dangerous. If you value your life and posessions, move to the other side of the mountain (Gwinnett).

Stone Mountain addresses cover a HUGE area of the east side suburbs...some areas are affluent, some are nice, some are decent, some are okay, some are not so good. I hope anyone with a brain understands that and knows not to listen to someone who makes crazy comments like the one above.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Highly inaccurate...in the 60's and 70's, DeKalb's school system was considered one of the best in the country...and I, too, am a product of that system.
Having said that, I agree that that system has very serious issues now.

I've heard people make that assertion for years...

"When our family moved to ______(fill in with any town or city), we found out that my old school was a year ahead of __________(fill in with any school system), so I was bored with school for a whole year" - or any of a number of variations of that statement.

I would love to know how someone knows that one school is "ahead" of another school. The objectives may be slightly different from one state to another, and a single subject may be taught in 3rd Grade instead of 4th Grade, but nowhere is a school system a year behind or ahead of another school system. That's just arrogance talking.

[That_guy]

To answer the original posters question, some have hit the nail on the head here. Stone Mountain was a great place to live 20 years ago. I know, I used to live there. However as the minorities piled in, the crime went through the roof. My neighborhood went from a quiet peaceful neighborhood to having helicopters flying over twice a week in what seemed like overnight. It was ridiculous. I used to live off a street called Ridge Forrest Drive.

I wouldn't tell my worst enemy to move into ANYWHERE in Stone Mountain. All the good people from there fled to Snellville long ago, and are now having to flee Snellville for the same exact reasons because Stn Mtn/Memorial drive is now ran out of room to tear things up so they're moving up HWY 78.

Just facts ladies and gents. Sorry if they hurt.

[DeaconJ]

Originally Posted by That_guy

To answer the original posters question, some have hit the nail on the head here. Stone Mountain was a great place to live 20 years ago. I know, I used to live there. However as the minorities piled in, the crime went through the roof. My neighborhood went from a quiet peaceful neighborhood to having helicopters flying over twice a week in what seemed like overnight. It was ridiculous. I used to live off a street called Ridge Forrest Drive.

I wouldn't tell my worst enemy to move into ANYWHERE in Stone Mountain. All the good people from there fled to Snellville long ago, and are now having to flee Snellville for the same exact reasons because Stn Mtn/Memorial drive is now ran out of room to tear things up so they're moving up HWY 78.

Just facts ladies and gents. Sorry if they hurt.

The FACTS are...Stone Mountain is a large area with varying levels of crime. If someone paints the whole area with one broad stroke, then it obviously isn't factual.

Note his reason for his "facts"...all the minorities began to move and all the "good people" moved to Snellville. That should tell the OP what he needs to know about this person's credibility.

[That_guy]

Deacon, statistics don't lie and Stone Mountain wasn't ruined because white people started moving in. It's because minorities moved in, and whites moved out.

When my Stone Mountain neighborhood was all white, nobody was getting shot or raped and there weren't any helicopters flying over my house looking for a murderer on the run. Take a wild guess who moved in when this all started going on.

The same exact cycle happened with Snellville. 15 years ago the biggest thing you heard about in Snellville was somebody getting caught stealing at Wal Mart. Now Snellville is 65% minority, and the and crime is up almost 80%.

I'm not making these things up. I'm telling people what I have seen happen over the last 20 years of living here. They are rude and cold, but they are still FACTS. Just take a drive through Stone Mountain one day and you tell me who lives there. Who you see standing on the street corners, and out in front of all the gas stations/bus stops/etc....Point proven.

I'm done here.

[jdubvjt]

My wife and I (both white) moved to a nice neighborhood in Stone Mountain in 2006 so that proves you don't know what you're talking about, That-Guy. The location is a great value for its proximity to the Emory/CDC corridor where many of us work, and just across the street from Tucker where we shop and eat. The minorities on our street are great friends and neighbors; I do not recall them shooting or raping us.

It might be fair to say that Memorial Drive and the crappy tract house duplexes you used to live in 20 years ago may have gone downhill, but you can't speak for all 4 Stone Mountain zip codes spanning 2 counties. Some of the areas of Stone Mountain are real gems like the ones bizchick mentioned a few posts back, and obviously around Smoke Rise and Waters Edge.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by jdubvjt

My wife and I (both white) moved to a nice neighborhood in Stone Mountain in 2006 so that proves you don't know what you're talking about, That-Guy. The location is a great value for its proximity to the Emory/CDC corridor where many of us work, and just across the street from Tucker where we shop and eat. The minorities on our street are great friends and neighbors; I do not recall them shooting or raping us.

It might be fair to say that Memorial Drive and the crappy tract house duplexes you used to live in 20 years ago may have gone downhill, but you can't speak for all 4 Stone Mountain zip codes spanning 2 counties. Some of the areas of Stone Mountain are real gems like the ones bizchick mentioned a few posts back, and obviously around Smoke Rise and Waters Edge.

Amen.