Thinkg of moving from Atlanta (Johnson City, Kingsport: home, neighborhood, high school)

[shantygirl]

Please, if someone could help me with deciding if Kingsport-Johnson City is right for us. My fiance and I 25/35 are looking to relocate somewhere nice and laid back. We are and African American couple and we love people and having friends. We like to go out and have a great time as well as spend a quiet evening at home. We do not have children, but are planning on having them someday. Any information is greatly appreciated. He is in the IT field and I am and event rental/coordinator. Thank you!

[kamoshika]

shantygirl, I'm a white guy who grew up in Kingsport but lived in and around Atlanta for 14 years. I moved back here in '02. IMO, the biggest adjustment for y'all might be living in a place w/ such a small black population. Atlanta has a huge number of black professionals like you guys, but they're few & far between in this area. So if you're accustomed to having black friends from similar socioeconomic backgrounds, you might find it difficult to find them here. OTOH, if you're both friendly and you don't mind hanging out w/ a bunch of white folks, you'll likely have no trouble making friends.

The cultural adjustment might also take some getting used to. Atlanta is fairly progressive and obviously offers numerous social outlets and entertainment options, along w/ museums, international cuisine, etc. Kingsport and JC are growing but slower-paced, mostly conservative communities w/ limited "night out on the town" possibilities. We're not a cultural backwater by any means, but we clearly can't match what a big city like Atlanta has to offer in some areas. If you really are looking for quiet and "laid back," you'll find it here! Kingsport in particular, though, is really doing some neat things that you can read more about in some older threads.

I don't know what the market is like locally for event coordinating jobs, but your fiance could probably find an IT job at a place like Saratoga Technologies, Eastman Chemical, Wellmont, Mountain States Health Alliance or ETSU.

If you have any specific questions to pose, feel free to ask!

[jabogitlu]

My humble opinion would be to come, stay for a weekend or longer, and see what you think. Kamoshika is right in that African Americans are a very small minority here, and urban-professional people as a whole are also a small minority; when you combine them, the minority is even smaller!

[williboy]

If you do decide to move to the area, let me be the first to welcome you. My wife and I are bit older than you and your husbund (52 & 50), but we love making new friends and would be glad to meet and greet you upon coming so feel free to contact us at any time if we could help. A nice young African American couple would be a nice addition to our tired old white neighborhood, though all of our neighbors are very nice people.

[dcommander]

Hi Shantygirl,

My family and I left the Tri-Cities area in 2001 and moved to the metro Atlanta area (Fayetteville). I couldn't wait to get back to the mountains! While there were some great things about Atlanta (still love to visit), I missed the beauty and people of this area. And of course, there is the traffic!!!! I laugh when people around here talk about how bad the traffic is becoming. They really should try Atlanta at rush hour!! Luckily, we moved back to the Tri-Cities in 2005 and hopefully are here to stay.

One important consideration is salary. Jobs do not pay nearly as well here as they do in the Atlanta area (especially if you are inside the perimeter). I was working as a paralegal and my salary was almost cut in half when I moved back.

As the others have said, you should come up and visit and see for yourself!!

[veragemini]

Okay...I currently live in Atlanta as well. We are moving to the Tri-Cities as soon as we can figure out the logistics. I moved down here in 96 and 11 years later I am DYING to move back home. I just have to figure out the how/when/where of it all. I still love Atlanta, but it has become a grind. I want my life to feel like it used to...simpler. Not all this traffic & other stuff, but my hubby's family lives here so we would still visit a lot & all my friends..just the reverse of what we do now. I live in Marietta/Kennesaw area right now. I am from Kingsport/Bloomingdale is where I grew up, but we are looking at Johnson City or Gray as an option since we are both in IT. There are so few IT jobs, but we are just going to do what we can to find the closest thing we can & take the pay cut I think. Being home & happy is better than being monied & miserable. :-) I can tell you honestly one of the reason I moved away from the Tri-Cities was the lack of diversity. It has come a long way in the past decade, but there is still a ways to go. Everyone up there is very nice & there are a lot more African Americans than there were when I was living there. When I went back last month I was somewhat relieved to see that. I also said to my parents how awesome it was that they had some sort of rally & on the front of the Kingsport Times it was not all white faces for a change. There are some rural areas (well rural for there) that you may not feel as comfortable, but I went to Dobyns-Bennett High School & the reason my parents paid for me to go was so I would not be sheltered & get to meet all sorts of people. I was so glad they did because I moved to Atlanta & I just cannot imagine what my life would be like if I had not made the move, but now that I am older & have kids of my own I would like to move home to be closer to my family & I miss the country & the mountains. I feel like I am suffocating down here sometimes...lol. If you want to message me since I have lived in both places 18 years in Kingsport/Tri-cities & 11 now in Atlanta I would be happy to honestly answer anything I can. I make trips up there often. Actually last time it was hard to leave which is why we have decided to go ahead with the plan to move...just working out the details. Also I think Science Hill High is a little more ethnically diverse. i would steer clear of all of the Sullivan County schools though unless things have changed from when I was a student unless you don't mind being just a handful of African American students. I know that with Sullivan North & East it is still this way, but its just a more rural area. The city schools are a lot different. I really hope this helps. Where do you all stay in Atlanta? :-)

[veragemini]

I just looked in the year book from when I graduated DB. There is a little under 20% of African Americans by my calculations, but this was 10 years ago. I am sure you could find some statistics. The best thing to do would be to just go to visit I agree, but remember to either visit Johnson City or Kingsport City if you do. I think those would be the only areas I would consider. I hope this helps! :-) Julie

[JackSparrow85]

I don't think race is going to be an issue, I'm hispanic and lived in Johnson City for 2 years... I never felt out of place or anything. People are very nice and friendly in the Tri-Cities area.

[Tennesseestorm]

Good luck with the relocation...

Remember, Bristol is part of the Tri-Cities as well.... we have retail outlets, restaurants, super markets, two Super Wal-Marts, Malls, 6-story hospital, historic downtown, "mini-skyscrapers" (3-4 buildings 11 stories tall) nice lake, view of the mountains, freeways, schools, colleges and even running water! Personally, I do not think race would be an issue if thats a concern. I live in Bristol, TN and work in Bristol, VA and I have alot of African-American friends and there are areas of Bristol with a higher population of African-Americans here and there are no racial problems. Bristol is about 4% African-American now and about 2% Hispanic. I have Hispanic friends as well. I have a Hispanic friend from New York that I work with and I have African-American friends I work with as well.

Any reason you are not even considering Bristol? Just wondering, since Bristol is often overlooked on this forum.