Poverty moves fast to suburbs (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: section 8, apartment complexes, crime)

[ericsonga]

Poverty moves fast 
to suburbs *| ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/news/poverty-moves-fast-to-286703.html - broken link)

Living in Gwinnett, I can see this. The question to me, is how to stop it. I think that the US is going to a more European city, where the inner city is wealthy, surrounded by a ring of lesser suburbs, and then another ring of wealthier exurbs. Really interesting article though.

[ATLHRLGUY]

That is definitely the trend, in the past things have been cyclical, but I see more of a permanence with this shift.

[KevK]

That is because Atlanta is shutting down all the projects and giving the residents Section 8 vouchers to find housing elsewhere and many of them are taking them to the suburbs. It is really becoming a problem because they are tending to concentrate in places like Clayton, south Cobb and south Gwinnett instead of being more widely dispersed throughout the region. Poor people generally do better when they are surrounded by middle class people. Their kids usually adopt middle class ways and values because that is who their friends are. The opposite is true when they live around other poor people. They get negative values reinforced on them. I am for helping the poor but we need a law that would ban more than X number of Section 8 vouchers within a given area.
Another thing as the article points out- lots of these folks are unemployed. When the economy recovers, that should become less of a problem.

[cityrover]

Originally Posted by KevK

That is because Atlanta is shutting down all the projects and giving the residents Section 8 vouchers to find housing elsewhere and many of them are taking them to the suburbs. It is really becoming a problem because they are tending to concentrate in places like Clayton, south Cobb and south Gwinnett instead of being more widely dispersed throughout the region. Poor people generally do better when they are surrounded by middle class people. Their kids usually adopt middle class ways and values because that is who their friends are. The opposite is true when they live around other poor people. They get negative values reinforced on them. I am for helping the poor but we need a law that would ban more than X number of Section 8 vouchers within a given area.
Another thing as the article points out- lots of these folks are unemployed. When the economy recovers, that should become less of a problem.

Actually they bring their negative values with them and drag the whole place down... been broke myself living in crap areas back in my day. But thanks for the pep talk. Feel free to house some of them yourself if it will be such an elevating experience for them

[noah]

Section 8 may play a part but I don't thing that fully explains it. Cities are generally more expensive and people would rather choose the burbs where its cheaper and in theory easier to get by on less.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by noah

Section 8 may play a part but I don't thing that fully explains it. Cities are generally more expensive and people would rather choose the burbs where its cheaper and in theory easier to get by on less.

I agree...there has definitely been a shift (or maybe a complete reversal) in values from 50 years ago. At that time, our upwardly mobile parents would have used their newfound affluence to move further out of the city. The emphasis was on 'newer' and 'bigger'. I remember that when my own parents were starting out, a popular 'starter' neighborhood for their newlywed peers was (now very tony) Garden Hills; as the bank account began to grow, they would build their dream houses out in West Buckhead, Sandy Springs, Oak Grove or Stone Mountain. Funny to think that now the average $ per sq ft in Garden Hills is probably twice that of any of the other neighborhoods.

[mike7586]

If the suburbs of Atlanta want to remain viable and appealing, they need to stop hating the city of Atlanta and realize they are all part of ONE region and they need to work TOGETHER as a REGION. They need to become pro-transit and allow MARTA rail or another form of commuter rail to expand into their counties. Hopefully this will finally shut the anti-transit people up who use the "crime and poverty" excuse which is the biggest load of **** excuse ever (ex - "We don't want MARTA or rail from Atlanta coming into our communities because it will bring undesireables, crime, and poverty").

[BringBackCobain]

they have actually done studies and atlanta is not turning into a so-called donut city with a wealthy core and poor suburbs, b/c not every suburb is making the transition, specifically the northern ones. it actually resembles more of a pizza slice, with a slice of wealth surrounded by poverty. the slice is just expanding to include the city of atlanta. ill try to find these maps that shows atlanta in comparison to other donut cities like paris.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by mike7586

If the suburbs of Atlanta want to remain viable and appealing, they need to stop hating the city of Atlanta and realize they are all part of ONE region and they need to work TOGETHER as a REGION. They need to become pro-transit and allow MARTA rail or another form of commuter rail to expand into their counties. Hopefully this will finally shut the anti-transit people up who use the "crime and poverty" excuse which is the biggest load of **** excuse ever (ex - "We don't want MARTA or rail from Atlanta coming into our communities because it will bring undesireables, crime, and poverty").

I agree with that. Atlanta's problems are caused by either an inability or unwillingness to police effectively. You see all the seedy characters and panhandlers hanging around the Five Points station downtown and you think "gosh is MARTA comes to Cobb they will all be hanging around Market Village (Smyrna)" and so you have a natural aversion to it because you don't realize that the reason they hang around there is because the APD does not tell them to go the hell elsewhere. You notice that a few blocks away they do not hang around Centennial Park because the GWCC Police patrol there and run them off.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by mike7586

Hopefully this will finally shut the anti-transit people up who use the "crime and poverty" excuse which is the biggest load of **** excuse ever (ex - "We don't want MARTA or rail from Atlanta coming into our communities because it will bring undesireables, crime, and poverty").

It should be apparent to them by now that an expressway just as easily facilitates an undesirable element as does MARTA. They came out to the suburbs anyway.
I would cite a large presence of cheap, quickly thrown together apartment complexes and subdivisions as a bigger factor in the overall decline of a neighborhood over time.