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. Stop hating on Atlanta and move on with your life in cow-town!
There really is nothing about Atlanta worth hating on. I was never a victim of crime until I moved to Atlanta. My apartment got shot into in the suburbs of Atlanta. Nothing like that ever happened to me on the south side of Chicago. Call Dallas cowtown all you want, but at least Dallas-Fort Worth has a much better economy, while Atlanta has the worst income disparity and upward mobility in the nation--literally. At least Dallas-Fort Worth has a cultural identity, while Atlanta is still trying to find one. Atlanta never knows which city it wants to be next, with the boosters constantly comparing it world-class cities way beyond its league. Atlanta has heavily relied and thrived on brash boosterism since Reconstruction, and this is historically documented.
Dallas is a WAY better city than Atlanta with more opportunities for blacks than Atlantans know about or want to admit to. I have accomplished way more in Dallas in the three months that I've lived in here than I accomplished after many years of living in Atlanta (because the opportunities and resources just weren't there). No exaggeration at all. I didn't even want to move to Dallas at first, but I'm glad I came here.
I truly wish had moved to Dallas after leaving Chicago instead of Atlanta. But hey, if Atlanta works best for you and yours, whatever floats your boat, sir (or ma'am). You have been placed on ignore.
Last edited by Atlanta_BD; 05-29-2014 at 09:59 PM..
And then there's that old line--"there are lies, damn lies, and statistics"
Any one can distort any set of figures to make any kind of statement.
Maybe Chicago has a crime problem, but Atlanta has problems too, as the numbers indicate..
The thing about it is, if certain people live their whole lives in bad hoods on Chicago's south and west sides and never saw anything else until they left the state, then yeah, I can see why they'd think the city is bad. I also find that the people who say they are natives and moved to Atlanta who claim Chicago is bad because of the south and west sides are from the bad areas and never ventured much out of their neighborhoods when they lived in Chicago--so that's all they know. As Memphis would often point out, a lot of blacks in Chicago often never leave the block. Sad but true.
This has been my own observation: Every black Chicagoan I have met in Atlanta who hates Chicago and loves Atlanta quite frankly grew up in the ghetto, while the blacks I know from Chicago who were well-paid blue collar or middle/upper middle class who moved to Atlanta hated it and left. Every single one of them left.
For all this talk about the south and west side of Chicago, most of Atlanta's crimes also occur on that city's south and west sides. And all these folks claiming Atlanta's safety, I'm willing to bet money they don't live in the SWATS (Southwest Atlanta) and aren't trying to live there either.
I am by no stretch of the imagination saying that Chicago is perfect and doesn't have major issues. But I guess my experience of Chicago is different. I'm not from the ghetto. I'm from Beverly, and I've lived in Hyde Park and Evanston. I also loved it when I lived on South Shore Drive because it was clean, quiet, affordable, I never had any problems, and I loved walking out of my back door and being on the lake. And even though I spent most of my time living on the south side, I made it a point to always venture out to other parts of the city.
As the poster claims he's lost people to violence in Chicago, so have I. But I know an equal number of people who were killed victims of the exact same crimes in Atlanta and all kinds of crazy stuff. Hell, just before I moved to Dallas, my Atlanta best friend came to help me pack and told me that her boyfriend's best friend's sister was just bludgeoned to death in the suburbs of Atlanta by her own husband in front of their children.
Also what people fail to realize is that Atlanta has more crimes per 100k than Chicago, yet has way less people, so as you say, the numbers still indicate that Atlanta has more crime.
I guess when I said ATL feels like a 3rd world country I didn't mean crime. I just meant it's a weird vibe where there are a lot of "enclaves" where rich people live, and you can drive around and there will be an empty lot with a jungle growing in it, even though you are technically in the "city" of Atlanta. Everything costs money to do, there is relatively little public space or free stuff to do like you find in NYC or Minneapolis or SF or european cities. Pay to play is a very 3rd world kind of thing. My hipster friends lived in places like Cabbagetown and EAV, and to me EAV felt like the country and Cabbagetown felt like a shantytown. Downtown definitely felt like a 3rd world downtown, it is hard to describe the vibe but this photo series does a good job of capturing it: Untitled Document
Not to diss ATL too hard but it just seemed really weird to me and I haven't really been anywhere else in the USA that is like it.
I guess when I said ATL feels like a 3rd world country I didn't mean crime. I just meant it's a weird vibe where there are a lot of "enclaves" where rich people live, and you can drive around and there will be an empty lot with a jungle growing in it, even though you are technically in the "city" of Atlanta. Everything costs money to do, there is relatively little public space or free stuff to do like you find in NYC or Minneapolis or SF or european cities. Pay to play is a very 3rd world kind of thing. My hipster friends lived in places like Cabbagetown and EAV, and to me EAV felt like the country and Cabbagetown felt like a shantytown. Downtown definitely felt like a 3rd world downtown, it is hard to describe the vibe but this photo series does a good job of capturing it: Untitled Document
Not to diss ATL too hard but it just seemed really weird to me and I haven't really been anywhere else in the USA that is like it.
You description is perfect and I felt it was 3rd world too not because of the crime but just because of the way it is there, especially with the poor infrastructure and constant power outages and stuff like that. And yes downtown Atlanta should not be what it is for Atlanta to be a so-called world class city. And it does look third world because of the high number of vagrants and homeless people down there; and the many of the neighborhoods close to it are still very run down. One of the biggest complaints of new visitors to Atlanta is that there is nothing to do downtown. There's not even any decent shopping there outside of tacky urban shops, Rainbow and Payless. They couldn't even keep Macy's down there, as it closed over ten years ago; and for a long time they were trying to figure out what to do with the building. They finally turned it into an event space some years back.
There really is nothing about Atlanta worth hating on. I was never a victim of crime until I moved to Atlanta. My apartment got shot into in the suburbs of Atlanta. Nothing like that ever happened to me on the south side of Chicago. Call Dallas cowtown all you want, but at least Dallas-Fort Worth has a much better economy, while Atlanta has the worst income disparity and upward mobility in the nation--literally. At least Dallas-Fort Worth has a cultural identity, while Atlanta is still trying to find one. Atlanta never knows which city it wants to be next, with the boosters constantly comparing it world-class cities way beyond its league. Atlanta has heavily relied and thrived on brash boosterism since Reconstruction, and this is historically documented.
Dallas is a WAY better city than Atlanta with more opportunities for blacks than Atlantans know about or want to admit to. I have accomplished way more in Dallas in the three months that I've lived in here than I accomplished after many years of living in Atlanta (because the opportunities and resources just weren't there). No exaggeration at all. I didn't even want to move to Dallas at first, but I'm glad I came here.
I truly wish had moved to Dallas after leaving Chicago instead of Atlanta. But hey, if Atlanta works best for you and yours, whatever floats your boat, sir (or ma'am). You have been placed on ignore.
I've done quite well for myself in Atlanta and so has my inner circle. You're an Atlanta hater and will bash it every chance you get. You go as far as saying that Dallas has more culture than Atlanta "Really"! Dallas has a better economy than Atlanta but don't see where you get this culture conclusion from. What is Dallas known for and what is there to do in Dallas that you can't do in Atlanta? If you think Dallas is a better city that is your purgative and more power to you.
Now back to Chicago it's my hometown and love the city and if it was just me I would love to live there but wouldn't want to raise kids there (no way jose!!) The gang activity is way out of control and spills out into the burbs. Know I didn't live in the hood my entire time in Chicago and witnessed gang activity spill into the burbs. Chicago is a great city but at this point I could never move back.
I've done quite well for myself in Atlanta and so has my inner circle. You're an Atlanta hater and will bash it every chance you get. You go as far as saying that Dallas has more culture than Atlanta "Really"! Dallas has a better economy than Atlanta but don't see where you get this culture conclusion from. What is Dallas known for and what is there to do in Dallas that you can't do in Atlanta? If you think Dallas is a better city that is your purgative and more power to you.
Now back to Chicago it's my hometown and love the city and if it was just me I would love to live there but wouldn't want to raise kids there (no way jose!!) The gang activity is way out of control and spills out into the burbs. Know I didn't live in the hood my entire time Chicago and witness gang activity spill into the burbs. Chicago is a great city but at this point I could never move back. Get your popcorn!
Why? Because Chicago is less dangerous? Again I'm not following. I try not to judge, but that's some wacky ****.
I've done quite well for myself in Atlanta and so has my inner circle. You're an Atlanta hater and will bash it every chance you get.
I don't "hate" on Atlanta just to hate on it or bash it. I lived there for nearly 20 years and it's just not that great of a city in my opinion, I don't care what you try to convince me of. It's just not all that to me like everyone claims. It typically ranks No. 1 or in the top 10 for all things bad, including crime. I just found all the boosting in Atlanta around me so odd because all the stuff people hyped it up over, I found it to be either exaggerated, lies or just plain lame. All this hype was just hype, I wasn't seeing it, and trust me when I say I tried to find it.
Go back and read sir. I didn't say that Atlanta has no culture, I said it has no cultural identity because it's too busy trying to claim it's like other cities it doesn't remotely resemble. First, Reconstruction area boosters with financial interests tried to attract people to Atlanta by claiming it was The New York of the South. That didn't fly so they started calling it The Chicago of the South. This was in the late 1800's. Even back then the boosters knew that New York and Chicago were much better cities they needed to try to imitate, or at least try to claim that Atlanta was on the level of these cities to outsiders who didn't know any better.
Case in point :
Now it's the Los Angeles of the South.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATUMRE75
You go as far as saying that Dallas has more culture than Atlanta "Really"! Dallas has a better economy than Atlanta but don't see where you get this culture conclusion from. What is Dallas known for and what is there to do in Dallas that you can't do in Atlanta? If you think Dallas is a better city that is your purgative and more power to you.
I wasn't making that sort of comparison. Again. Go back and read what I wrote. I didn't come to Dallas for what it was known for (well I did go get some brisket soon as I got here. Man, good stuff!). I came here to find a job, as finding one in Atlanta was like searching for the yeti. Outside of Virginia-Highland, the Civil Rights Movement, DragonCon and TommorrWorld, Atlanta just doesn't impress me, I'm sorry.
But since you want to know, here are the things so far that I notice that the Dallas area has that the Atlanta area doesn't:
1. Less crime
2. Jobs
3. A lot more sidewalks
4. Streets with a grid system
5. Cheap car registration (none of that lame, expensive ad velorum tax like Georgia that can be as high as $1000 and has to be paid every single year!).
5. Cheaper car insurance
6. Two airports (Atlantans are weirdly obsessed with their airport)
7. A commuter rail in addition to the transit system
8. Jobs
9. A cleaner downtown
10. Jobs
This is not an exhaustive list as there is a lot here I haven't seen or done yet.
I've never seen anything like Texas pride outside of (Chicagoans or New Yorkers), and yes this area, particularly Fort Worth, has it's own cultural identity. And I don't hear Dallasites talk about how Dallas is so much like *insert other city here.*
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATUMRE75
Now back to Chicago it's my hometown and love the city and if it was just me I would love to live there but wouldn't want to raise kids there (no way jose!!) The gang activity is way out of control and spills out into the burbs. Know I didn't live in the hood my entire time in Chicago and witnessed gang activity spill into the burbs. Chicago is a great city but at this point I could never move back. Get your popcorn!
I know lots of blacks who raise their kids there just fine and are very happy living in Chicago. But again, they don't live in the hood. The gang activity sucks in Chicago,that much we do know. But crime spills into the wealthy hoods in Atlanta to and it's not even gang-related. Just people going there and robbing folks, often shooting them on the street or kidnapping people to rob them. You can avoid Chicago's bad neighborhoods. You are probably more likely to be a victim of a home invasion or get kidnapped and robbed in Atlanta, especially if you live some place like Buckhead; or your house constantly broken into if you live in East Atlanta or Kirkwood--and yuppies and hipsters live in those areas.
It's good that you didn't live your entire time in the hood in Chicago. But clearly you did. I've never lived in the hood in Chicago at all. In fact, the street I grew up on in Beverly, my sister still lives there and it's just as pristine and quiet as it's always been--even more so because many homes have either been renovated or newly built, and it's nothing but African-American blue collar workers living there. Beverly is one of the safest neighborhoods in the city.
Lets just agree that we've had different experiences as natives in Chicago.
Last edited by Atlanta_BD; 05-30-2014 at 07:32 AM..
Why? Because Chicago is less dangerous? Again I'm not following. I try not to judge, but that's some wacky ****.
I would like to pose this question to ATUMRE75:
If Chicago is so much more dangerous than Atlanta, and Atlanta is over all a much safer city than Chicago, would you live in the SWATS? Would you live in College Park, Riverdale or East Point? Would you live in Bankhead or the west side of Atlanta? Would you live in Clayton County? Clayton and DeKalb Counties are suburban areas where a lot of blacks live. Both Clayton and DeKalb Counties have failing schools districts, both of which have either lost their accreditation or have been threatened with the revocation of it. Though there are some good schools in it that my daughter went to, Atlanta Public Schools had a scandal in which officials fudged standardized test numbers so that they could get more funding and bonuses and threatened anyone who would out them before they got caught. Do you gladly send your children to schools in the failing districts since the Atlanta area is a much better place to raise a family?
I also forgot to mention this:
Did you know that Hartsfield-Jackson is the number one airport where employee theft of passenger luggage occurs?
The thing about it is, if certain people live their whole lives in bad hoods on Chicago's south and west sides and never saw anything else until they left the state, then yeah, I can see why they'd think the city is bad. You could have stopped writing after this sentence. So spot on! I also find that the people who say they are natives and moved to Atlanta who claim Chicago is bad because of the south and west sides are from the bad areas and never ventured much out of their neighborhoods when they lived in Chicago--so that's all they know. As Memphis would often point out, a lot of blacks in Chicago often never leave the block. Sad but true.
This has been my own observation: Every black Chicagoan I have met in Atlanta who hates Chicago and loves Atlanta quite frankly grew up in the ghetto, while the blacks I know from Chicago who were well-paid blue collar or middle/upper middle class who moved to Atlanta hated it and left. Every single one of them left.
For all this talk about the south and west side of Chicago, most of Atlanta's crimes also occur on that city's south and west sides. And all these folks claiming Atlanta's safety, I'm willing to bet money they don't live in the SWATS (Southwest Atlanta) and aren't trying to live there either. I'm willing to bet that they don't live in Atlanta!
I am by no stretch of the imagination saying that Chicago is perfect and doesn't have major issues. But I guess my experience of Chicago is different. I'm not from the ghetto. I'm from Beverly, and I've lived in Hyde Park and Evanston. I also loved it when I lived on South Shore Drive because it was clean, quiet, affordable, I never had any problems, and I loved walking out of my back door and being on the lake. And even though I spent most of my time living on the south side, I made it a point to always venture out to other parts of the city.
As the poster claims he's lost people to violence in Chicago, so have I. But I know an equal number of people who were killed victims of the exact same crimes in Atlanta and all kinds of crazy stuff. Hell, just before I moved to Dallas, my Atlanta best friend came to help me pack and told me that her boyfriend's best friend's sister was just bludgeoned to death in the suburbs of Atlanta by her own husband in front of their children. Not that I suggest it. However, if you want to get the gist of how bad things are, talk to Grady (Grady is the level one trauma hospital) physicians and nurses.
Also what people fail to realize is that Atlanta has more crimes per 100k than Chicago, yet has way less people, so as you say, the numbers still indicate that Atlanta has more crime.
This is spot on! It's a crying shame that all too many Black folk in Chicago are so self segregating. You'd think that there is an invisible electric fence that prevents guys from leaving. Not to live somewhere else. Simply to go some place else. Or doing something else, other than hood crap! There is so much to do, see, and learn.
Chicago is a WONDERFUL city! It was my wife that showed me the Chicago that I convinced myself not to go to. Now that I have children; I don't ever want them to be tethered by mental shackles.
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