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Downtown Louisville is ok during the day but a no-no at night especially the west-end where it is not safe for certain people at any time of the day and this is just plain fact. To get a sample of what I am talking about just watch channel 3, 11, 32 or 41 to see what the top story is. Shootings are the norm in the west-end so sight seeing is not advised.
Downtown Louisville is ok during the day but a no-no at night especially the west-end where it is not safe for certain people at any time of the day and this is just plain fact. To get a sample of what I am talking about just watch channel 3, 11, 32 or 41 to see what the top story is. Shootings are the norm in the west-end so sight seeing is not advised.
The west end (west of 9th) is NOT downtown. It is a separate area as much as St Matthews is separate from Middletown. Downtown is completely safe at all hours, including at night when fourth street is very busy on weekends and some special events. In 3-5 years the activity at night will double with the new arena and double the amount of upscale condos occupied downtown. Main and Market street also offer alot to do.
I don't agree,Atlanta has a lot of nice restaurants and nightlife, it is the number 1 convention city in the south,so there is a lot happening in HOTLANTA. It has the first or second busiest airport in this country. There is a lot more density than Louisville as far as buildings go,the thing that makes Louisville better is that it has a riverfront,whereas Atlanta is landlkocked
Ok, I'm going to chime in on this one because I LIVE in Atlanta (and have visited Louisville). For the record I moved to Atlanta in 1984 when the metro population was only 2 million - and now it's 5.1 million, so I've seen the explosive growth and what it brings here.
Downtown Atlanta until the Olympics was literally just a couple of blocks of activity. No real stores other than the large Macy's (now closed), and a small area of hotels and a few restaurants. Then came the remodel of "Underground Atlanta" (an underground mall, basically), and things looked a little bright.
That bright light dimmed however, because over the years Atlanta's main downtown area called "Five Points" has become so ghettoized and dirty that only a few brave souls venture there as tourists or conventioneers. The problem with vagrants is so severe now that on average, you are asked for money 8 times on a 5 block walk. (maybe more, and maybe by less than docile bums). Near the park at Five Points, you will at any given time of day or night, see up to 3 dozen or more vagrants asleep on the grass, on the benches, and on the sidewalks surrounding the park.
A multi-million dollar fountain built for the Olympics? Oh - here it is today... no tourists enjoy it as it is surrounded by drug addicts being preached to by street preachers, and people peeing in it...
By contrast, when passing through Louisville, I think I saw ONE person I would I.D. as a vagrant downtown.
Atlanta is not a walkable city. There is far too much distance between downtown, Midtown, and "Buckhead" (higher end district) for you to walk from one to the other. Within each area there are tiny pockets of areas where you might find a few restaurants or clubs, then you have to get back into your car and drive miles to the next pocket. You cannot walk for blocks and blocks here and constantly be in contact with entertainment options, unless again, you consider watching people pee on the sidewalk entertainment. In other words, the nightlife and eateries are spread out, and in some cases, spread out FAR between each other. Conventions are great for tax revenue, but they add nothing to entertainment value for residents, by the way.
As far as comments about skylines and how many buildings a city has - who cares?? Are you going to live on top of one of those shiney glass buildings? Make babies on it? Hang naked from it all day? They're just buildings where people do business and nothing more, and have ZIPPO to do with how nice a city is or the quality of life there. If they did, we'd all be flocking to Dubia or Singapore. Stop nerding-out over skyscrapers - this isn't the skyscraper page forums.
Sorry - didn't mean to distract from the main topic of this thread. But while I only spent a very small amount of time in Louisville, I thought that for a city of it's size , it had plenty going for it. And I sure don't think that people should comment on how it should be "more like Atlanta", either - trust me - you do NOT want that.
I'm finished.
Last edited by atlantagreg30127; 07-10-2008 at 09:50 AM..
Ok, I'm going to chime in on this one because I LIVE in Atlanta (and have visited Louisville). For the record I moved to Atlanta in 1984 when the metro population was only 2 million - and now it's 5.1 million, so I've seen the explosive growth and what it brings here.
Downtown Atlanta until the Olympics was literally just a couple of blocks of activity. No real stores other than the large Macy's (now closed), and a small area of hotels and a few restaurants. Then came the remodel of "Underground Atlanta" (an underground mall, basically), and things looked a little bright.
That bright light dimmed however, because over the years Atlanta's main downtown area called "Five Points" has become so ghettoized and dirty that only a few brave souls venture there as tourists or conventioneers. The problem with vagrants is so severe now that on average, you are asked for money 8 times on a 5 block walk. (maybe more, and maybe by len thss than docile bums). Near the park at Five Points, you will at any given time of day or night, see up to 3 dozen or more vagrants asleep on the grass, on the benches, and on the sidewalks surrounding the park.
A multi-million dollar fountain built for the Olympics? Oh - here it is today... no tourists enjoy it as it is surrounded by drug addicts being preached to by street preachers, and people peeing in it...
By contrast, when passing through Louisville, I think I saw ONE person I would I.D. as a vagrant downtown.
Atlanta is not a walkable city. There is far too much distance between downtown, Midtown, and "Buckhead" (higher end district) for you to walk from one to the other. Within each area there are tiny pockets of areas where you might find a few restaurants or clubs, then you have to get back into your car and drive miles to the next pocket. You cannot walk for blocks and blocks here and constantly be in contact with entertainment options, unless again, you consider watching people pee on the sidewalk entertainment. In other words, the nightlife and eateries are spread out, and in some cases, spread out FAR between each other. Conventions are great for tax revenue, but they add nothing to entertainment value for residents, by the way.
As far as comments about skylines and how many buildings a city has - who cares?? Are you going to live on top of one of those shiney glass buildings? Make babies on it? Hang naked from it all day? They're just buildings where people do business and nothing more, and have ZIPPO to do with how nice a city is or the quality of life there. If they did, we'd all be flocking to Dubia or Singapore. Stop nerding-out over skyscrapers - this isn't the skyscraper page forums.
Sorry - didn't mean to distract from the main topic of this thread. But while I only spent a very small amount of time in Louisville, I thought that for a city of it's size , it had plenty going for it. And I sure don't think that people should comment on how it should be "more like Atlanta", either - trust me - you do NOT want that.
I'm finished.
Excellent post. This was exactly the point I was trying to make when the above poster chimed in. Bottown line: downtown Louisville is much safer, cleaner, and nicer with more fun things to do at night than downtown ATL. Pound for pound, Louisville beats ATL IMO, and FOR A CITY ITS SIZE, Louisville is a greta place.
That said, Louisville is 4 times smaller than ATL so of course ATL has much more of everythng from arts, to restaurants to museums, especially in the up and coming and very trendy Midtown as well as Buckhead and Virginia Highland. Although these areas are miles a part and full of traffic, it IS an advantage to have MARTA connecting them. However, in the few short months I lived in ATL I often noticed I was the only one not in the very lowest of the low as far as socioeconomic classes. I would get panhandled daily by homeless men who actually sleep on MARTA! Often times it would be only me and a homeless looking guy or two in a whole car! This never happened on the CTA in Chicago or any other public transit I have ridden.
However, in the few short months I lived in ATL I often noticed I was the only one not in the very lowest of the low as far as socioeconomic classes. I would get panhandled daily by homeless men who actually sleep on MARTA! Often times it would be only me and a homeless looking guy or two in a whole car! This never happened on the CTA in Chicago or any other public transit I have ridden.
That's because MARTA only charges $1.75 to ride (not zone based) and their police presence is almost nonexistent. A bum can get on board, and ride, sleep, pee, and everything else until 1am, and once the train makes it's final stop at the end of the line for the night, a MARTA officer MIGHT (big "might") find the guy and kick him off at that point.
Case in point, and It's a big off topic so I apologize, but it makes a point when comparing the two cities: Here is a link to a youtube video of a crazy girl that was riding a MARTA train here a couple of months ago. Complete nut job. You will note that it's a long video (warning-language), and it was condensed from a longer one by the poster. During this entire ride and a stop at least at one station, there are no officers present to do anything about her. If she had weapons? Hmmm (link: YouTube - ATL Hoodrat aka SOULJA GIRL goes crazy on the Marta! ).
My point in posting that is that I have a feeling that you would probably NOT see anyone get away with that in Louisville, if you had a rail or light rail system up there - or even anyone acting like that in public. I felt from my brief exposure up there that the citizens would step in if they had to and stop something like this from happening. Here in Atlanta, this is all too common, and as you can see from the other riders in the video, no one does a thing about it.
So sure - we have more museums and restaurants and clubs scattered around here and there than Louisville does, but the grass isn't always greener in a new city folks - look (above) at what we put up with in return for more places to eat.
That's because MARTA only charges $1.75 to ride (not zone based) and their police presence is almost nonexistent. A bum can get on board, and ride, sleep, pee, and everything else until 1am, and once the train makes it's final stop at the end of the line for the night, a MARTA officer MIGHT (big "might") find the guy and kick him off at that point.
Case in point, and It's a big off topic so I apologize, but it makes a point when comparing the two cities: Here is a link to a youtube video of a crazy girl that was riding a MARTA train here a couple of months ago. Complete nut job. You will note that it's a long video (warning-language), and it was condensed from a longer one by the poster. During this entire ride and a stop at least at one station, there are no officers present to do anything about her. If she had weapons? Hmmm (link: YouTube - ATL Hoodrat aka SOULJA GIRL goes crazy on the Marta! ).
My point in posting that is that I have a feeling that you would probably NOT see anyone get away with that in Louisville, if you had a rail or light rail system up there - or even anyone acting like that in public. I felt from my brief exposure up there that the citizens would step in if they had to and stop something like this from happening. Here in Atlanta, this is all too common, and as you can see from the other riders in the video, no one does a thing about it.
So sure - we have more museums and restaurants and clubs scattered around here and there than Louisville does, but the grass isn't always greener in a new city folks - look (above) at what we put up with in return for more places to eat.
All I can say is Bless her heart
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