Columbia's Future "ghettos"? (Forest Acres, Arcadia Lakes: relocating, landscaping, zoning)

[wise advisor]

Originally Posted by waccamatt

According to your profile you don't even live in Columbia. I think those of us who live here know what it's like.

I just moved to Atlanta, I stayed in Columbia, my whole life born and raised, I from areas that I know no one else on here is from, and Im just giving yall a peak in to the mind of people u dont know.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by wise advisor

I see a lot of people on here sugar coating.

Obviously you have a different life experience than others. And that's understandable, since everyone is different.

Question: do you actually live in the city of Atlanta, or one of the suburbs? That can make all the difference in the world when it comes to your perception of crime in Atlanta vs. Columbia.

[wise advisor]

I stay on donell lee hollowell bka bankhead hwy, its nothin suburban about this area.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by wise advisor

I stay on donell lee hollowell bka bankhead hwy, its nothin suburban about this area.

Depends on your definition/perception of "suburban." I consider anything outside of downtown, Midtown, and maybe Buckhead as suburban. Either way, it sounds as though that area is in the heart of the 'hood--and Columbia's hoods don't have anything on Atlanta's. This I know for a fact.

[wise advisor]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

Depends on your definition/perception of "suburban." I consider anything outside of downtown, Midtown, and maybe Buckhead as suburban. Either way, it sounds as though that area is in the heart of the 'hood--and Columbia's hoods don't have anything on Atlanta's. This I know for a fact.

I live across the street from Bowen Homes, enough said

[Noire]

The perceptions of most individuals come from their experiences. Personally, I am not scared for my life in Columbia. Not hardly. The majority of crime victims are violated by people they know. Yes, there is random crime but at a much lower rate. I was born and raised in NY. We had a horrible crime rate for several years. However, I was never the victim of any crime. Now, if I associated myself with that type of element. . . I'm sure it would increase my chances of being victimized.

I would agree that anything outside of the city of Atlanta is suburban. And uh, there are suburban ghettos, there are rural ghettos. Ghetto is not synonymous with urban.

[Woodlands]

The presence of gangs in Columbia has been an interesting phenomenon. In the late 80s early 90s many teachers, students, and residents felt that Columbia had a gang problem then, but it was dismissed by many City Leaders (though acknowledge by the County and the Sheriff) that there were gangs in the community. Many attributed it to "wannabes" and the rise of movies like Boys N Da Hood and rap music from the West Coast and simply as copy cat behavior. Fast foward to today, do not know if they are finally acknowledging what always has been or if gangs have just recently become an issue within the last several years. Most of the major crimes in the 80s -90s appeared to be concentrated in certain neighborhoods, at several nightclubs or restaurants where people went after the nightclubs and if you avoided those venues, you were fine. These areas in addition to Columbia Place (then Columbia Mall) were often the locations where incidentsoccurred and the focus of media coverage. The City today does feel safe.. thought "safe" or "safer" is still subjective.

It is amazing how crime events do linger.. some of you may remember the famous Sports A Rama that used to bring together football teams from throughout the Midlands to square off in a quarter of football. It was also an opportunity for many of the Richland One schools to get together. The majority of the time things went well but after several incidents including the infamous fight at McDonald's that led to the "Broad River Rd Drive by" that involved several Eau Claire students versus several CA Johnson students, changed how the Richland One did business. Following that incident in 1990, the graduation venues of both schools were separated, Sports A Rama began to bring in schools from outside of Richland County to face off against Richland One Schools. Not sure if Sports A Rama still exists today or not, but the separate graduation venues for Eau Claire and CA Johnson extended for several years beyond the incident. The incident was proven not to be gang related,(domestic over a woman) but I think it gave some community leaders, in during the course of the investigation, a peek at the some of the early warning signs and behaviors that were giving rise to gangs in the community.

[Woodlands]

Here is an interesting article posted in another forum on the topic of the high cost of energy and the creation of decaying suburban neighborhoods as people consider moving back into cities. Columbia is much smaller than the cities listed but some aspects may still be applicable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/bu...=1&oref=slogin

[Captain Worley]

I really don't think Columbia is big enough for that to apply. Pretty much every suburb is within an easy 30 minutes of downtown. Shoot, downtown Sumter is just an hour away.

[Chi2Midlands]

Originally Posted by Captain Worley

I really don't think Columbia is big enough for that to apply. Pretty much every suburb is within an easy 30 minutes of downtown. Shoot, downtown Sumter is just an hour away.

I agree. Columbia's "exurbs" - Chapin, Blythewood, Lugoff, Red Bank, etc. are all about 20-25 miles away from downtown and no more than 45 minutes in traffic. As a metropolitan area we don't have large swaths of "super commuter belts" like Atlanta or DC - we don't have significant numbers of people commuting 40+ miles or 60+ minutes each way. That's why until very recently, the metropolitan area was definied as just Richland & Lexington counties. The Census Bureau added Kershaw, Calhoun, Saluda, and Fairfield Counties to the MSA in 2003. I only see Kershaw as a significant, burgeoning commuter generator (mainly because it's the only county outside the 2-county core with decent public schools and potential for development). And even then it's basically the West Wateree area along the Elgin-Lugoff-Camden corridor, not the entire county. While I see a small, temporary dip in home values in new exurban subvisions that aren't built-out, in the long run I think Columbia will continue it's steady, stable growth path.