Stone Mountain.. is it Safe? PLEASE someone tell me (Atlanta: houses, school districts)

[skywatcher75]

I agree all of stn mtn isnt bad, I just don't wanna live over there anymore. I got tired of my 30-45 minute commute to Smyrna.

[That_guy]

Well I haven't been to Stone Mountain in 10 years, and never plan on going back. So it's possible some of you could be right about certain pockets still being nice.

But if it's me, I'd like to live in a nice BROAD area opposed to living in a nice "pocket" with a bunch of garbage surrounding me. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

[cityhopper]

Stone Mountain is okay. There are pockets of communities/neighborhoods that are nice but there are just as many in other neighboring cities that makes it worth choosing the alternative. Rapid drops in housing prices, rentals are dumps in most areas of Stone Mountain. The majority of big box retail has been driven out of Stone Mountain in favor of Snellville/Lilburn and Tucker/Norcross on alternate sides.

However, you can find a decent price home in the area and still be in good distance of a lot of areas...but I question in what cost.

Stone Mountain appears to be continually digressing....

[DeaconJ]

I honestly don't know a lot of details about Stone Mountain and haven't been there in at least six months, but I know enough about huge, expansive areas with both attractive and unattractive neighborhoods - and I know not to condemn the entire place. We should all be capable of realizing that every town/suburb/city/county has some less desirable spots, but those spots don't represent the larger town/suburb/city/county.

Some random Ston Mountain photos...


Atlanta, Stone Mountain on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Downtown is the New Suburbs 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Downtown is the New Suburbs 3 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Downtown is the New Suburbs 4 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[SAAN]

Alot of people on this forum make Stn Mtn seem like its Detriot or Camdem NJ.

I have lived in Stone Mountain for 20 yrs and can give a good break down. Cosmetically alot of the houses are very nice, but alot of neighborhoods and now pushing 20-30yrs old and starting to show there age. When "the flight" started to Gwinnett in the early to mid 90's the area was still very nice and was always mentioned as the 2nd richest black area in the country. Then came the late 90's when alot of businesses(many which were still busy) decided close up shop and move up the 78 along with the flight to sneville. Around this time Atlanta decided to flush out its projects people to Clayton County and South East Dekalb which quickly led to the decline of the area. Too much section 8 tears an area down as we can all see now.


The main problem areas are Memorial Drive, North Hairston/Central Drive, Redan Rd/S Hairston over to Panola, and covington hwy/panola area.


Stone Mountain is a huge area
30088 (Between hairston and panola/stn mtn lithonia rd from rockbridge down to covington hwy)

30083 (Redan rd to Indian Creek, Rockbridge to Memorial Dr and Memorial Dr/North hairston Rd Area)

30087 (Stn mtn Lithonia rd from Rockbridge eastward to the mountain) NICEST AREA!!!


Most of these areas are not that bad, it is just that small 10-15% of people that bring there hood behavior and must either show and act out that they are from the projects and throw trash on the ground, graffiti, gangs, firing guns in the air, along with burglaries and robberies. THESE KIDS NEED MUCH MORE PARENTAL GUIDANCE!!!!! I wouldn’t recommend living in most apartments in Stn Mtn. These small percentages generally bring the area down since its so spread out. 30087 is the nicest of the 3 zip codes and the other 2 zips have pockets of nice areas.

[VonG FYC]

i stay right by the indiancreek station on rowland there are some bad azz kids i being one of them orgianlly from decatur Glenwood rd to be exact many people have burglarized in my hood i remeber when their was a home invasion the faimly got tighed up n threw down the stairs my advise is get a gun before comin throught the eastisde if u want to live in a place with not some many problems move to lithonia or dunwoody or the city of decatur dont come outside the city limits though RoughEastSiderDatMoundJcourt

[Dytdude]

I have lived in Stone Mountain and lived in an APARTMENT (OH NO!) In Stone Mountain. If you are white and scared of minorities its not going to be the place for you. Most people want to live by people that look like themselves, regardless of how well the housing is maintained or the incomes of the residents in that ares.

YES Stone Mountain has seedy parts..(Memorial Drive / North Hairston) however they have nice areas as well (Water's Edge / Wynbrooke / Mystery Valley / Southland / Smoke Rise) and genrally the area South of the Mountain to Panola Road and East of the Mountain 30087 zip code.

As previous posters have responded, many businesses have closed up shop and moved to Snellville and further eastward on Hwy 78, so you don't have access to certain dining establishments, gyms, spas etc. But I would even venture to say that Stone Mountain on the whole is definately not the West Side of Chicago!!!! ;-)

[Big L]

Just as with some other parts of Metro Atlanta, saying "Stone Mountain" can actually cover a lot of territory. The City of Stone Mountain itself is very small and the majority of the areas that you may know as "Stone Mountain" (both good and bad) are actually in unincorporated DeKalb County.

With that being said, I agree that there is both good and bad in the area. My girlfriend has a Stone Mountain address and we have both noticed a decline in her area and the surrounding area in just the past couple of years. We have also noticed that most of the retailers appear to be heading towards Snellville, Lilburn, and Lawrenceville (all in Gwinnett) with the exception of the area around Stonecrest Mall.

Aside from a lot of subdivisions being older, apartments are also becoming cheaper. An apartment that was $650-$750 several years ago is now going for $450-$550. That of course brings in a different element as well. Overall, I wouldn't say that the area is a war zone but there is definitely room for improvement.

[youngMichaelJackson]

Stone Mountain is not ghetto!!!!!!!!!!!!. In High School when my school played teams from that area like Redan and Stephenson we used to make fun of the kids from out there because they used to always try and act tough and hard, but when it all boils down to it they are suburb kids. Not to mention that they all "claimed" Zone 6 East Atlanta, when Stone Mountain isn't in a zone and East Atlanta is a good 10 minutes west. Basically Stone Mountain suffers from an identity complex, and the teens and young adults out there try and do ghetto things even though Stone Mountain is not a ghetto.

[Big L]

Originally Posted by youngMichaelJackson

Stone Mountain is not ghetto!!!!!!!!!!!!. In High School when my school played teams from that area like Redan and Stephenson we used to make fun of the kids from out there because they used to always try and act tough and hard, but when it all boils down to it they are suburb kids. Not to mention that they all "claimed" Zone 6 East Atlanta, when Stone Mountain isn't in a zone and East Atlanta is a good 10 minutes west. Basically Stone Mountain suffers from an identity complex, and the teens and young adults out there try and do ghetto things even though Stone Mountain is not a ghetto.

I wouldn't call Stone Mountain "ghetto", but there are better choices out there for young, professional African-Americans such as myself.

Ironically, I taught at Stephenson High briefly so I know about the kids that you spoke of. The areas around Stephenson and Redan used to be much nicer than they currently are. There are still some very nice subdivisions in the area, but the bottom line is that the professionals that were buying homes in the Redan/Stephenson area in the late-90's and the early part of this decade are now going elsewhere for various reasons. As a result, some of the more well-off kids that used to be at those schools are now being replaced.