Truth Be Told: The Real Reason for Atlanta's Unwarranted Negative Perception (Woodstock: violent crime, house)

[R1070]

Atlanta is not anymore ghetto than any other city and is actually a lot more clean than a lot of other cities.

When people from other places refer to Atlanta as ghetto they are pointing out the rampant chronic homelessness, the sense of no neighborhood particularly feels safe (crime is more spread out there rather than in pocketed areas) and the rap/hip hop scene really hurt Atlanta's image just as much as it propelled it into the limelight. People associate rap and hip hop with drugs, prostitution, gangs, crime, degradation of women, etc. And Atlanta was running around claiming to be the Hip Hop capital of the world with lots of pride behind that statement so people hear that, see the crime stats and homelessness and form an opinion.

[MikeandIke27]

Originally Posted by gladt

As another outsider, reading many posts/articles about Atlanta, here is what I conclude.

1. Many natives no longer like Atlanta becuase it grew too fast is totally different place than the one they grew up with (LA and Phoenix suffer from the same love/hate native problem)

2. The racial aspect does play a role in Atlanta sometimes negative perception

3. It being in the South. Period. I may love many parts of the South, but some regions of the country despise it, and every city within it--just cause it's in the South. Many ignore how far the South region has come and to telll the truth, some from the rust-belt are very jealous of the growth, massive migration and companies which have relocated to the New South cities. It really bothers some people.

4. In light of what I just said about the jealousy factor, folks from the old, rusted or has-been cities hate what many Atlanta boosters have been prone to do in the past (though it's changing), which is to rub thier achievements other cities faces. Therefore, because of some Atlantan's extreme boosterism, some make it a point to seek out and highlight Atlanta's flaws--instead of praise its accomplishments. For instance, some will be quick to point out the amount of homeless in DT Atlanta. But NY, Philly, Baltimore, and even lil' ol' Providence, RI, and many other cities have LOTs of homeless folks walking around downtown. Homelessness and panhandlers are by no means unique to Atlanta.

Another point: Some say that there are too many Ghetto areas around Atlanta, but I can name you 25 cities in rapid succession where there are ghettos, as bad or far worse that Atlanta's.

In conclusion, Atlanta only has a "negative perception" in the eyes certain groups of people. But in the view of others, Atlanta is great success story. A vibrant, thriving business and cultural center that has much to offer many, but at the same time a turnoff to others.
Now, take out Atlanta and put in most other large cities and one can make the same points, postive or negative, for each.

Exactly Atlanta has been everything I expected it to be I didnt come here with this huge perception that it was the land of Milk and honey. I so enjoy Atlanta much more than Alot of places I visit. Especially cities in the south

[cityfilms]

unwarranted? I took a cruise downtown a week ago and there was a crackhead running after and shouting at one of those horse drawn carriages with a group of tourists. I don't know what the hell they call that thing, "tour of the crackheads"?

In the rare instances I go on Marta trains it seems the stations and trains both are filled with people during the daytime with no job. Literally 99% of them clearly have no job or place to go. I've riden marta from the airport and have seen out of towners scared for their life!

I've seen groups of people and families RUNNING from the marta stop to their hotel on several occasions, LOL. Can you blame them? There typically isn't a single cop for several blocks downtown.

I think that Atlanta, for just a top 30 city in the US, is definitely boostered up and people who live in the top 5 cities get tired of it real fast.

I think that that you should just take the criticism, it is well deserved. Far from unwarranted. If anything I think people are TOO nice.

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by cityfilms

unwarranted? I took a cruise downtown a week ago and there was a crackhead running after and shouting at one of those horse drawn carriages with a group of tourists. I don't know what the hell they call that thing, "tour of the crackheads"?

In the rare instances I go on Marta trains it seems the stations and trains both are filled with people during the daytime with no job. Literally 99% of them clearly have no job or place to go. I've riden marta from the airport and have seen out of towners scared for their life!

I've seen groups of people and families RUNNING from the marta stop to their hotel on several occasions, LOL. Can you blame them? There typically isn't a single cop for several blocks downtown.

I think that Atlanta, for just a top 30 city in the US, is definitely boostered up and people who live in the top 5 cities get tired of it real fast.

I think that that you should just take the criticism, it is well deserved. Far from unwarranted. If anything I think people are TOO nice.

Most of the out of towners that are afraid of the things you mentioned are probably from small towns or either they aren't used to being in a city with as high a black presence and it scares them. Certainly if they are from one of the top five cities most things they see in Atlanta are not going to Alarm them. People in those cities are used to constant "interesting things" like the crackhead you mentioned.

That being said, I do think the Hotel districts Downtown need to be more heavily policed as do some other areas. That would go a long way towards making things feel safer in a lot of areas.

[billl]

Originally Posted by readyset

As an outsider looking in, at least on these forums, I've never seen a city or metro area with so many negative comments pouring in from people from other cities and states,

...

Truth be told, Atlanta has achieved a lot in a very short amount of time. These accomplishments have been overshadowed with an inundation of negativity which are distorting the truth and causing confusion.

But there seems to be an underlying tone, when sound factual evidence can't be held responsible for shortcomings. Everything seems to point to the fact that Atlanta.....

Up until this point I was sure I knew where the OP was going with his post. He was going to say "...the fact that Atlanta is in the South".

Then I kept reading and realized it was "another post about race."

But, truthfully, it's the same thing.

[po-boy]

Several good points in this thread. Atlanta is just very different from the "ideal" big city in America. The standard for big cities in the US is New York, with other Bos-Wash cities reinforcing that idea. When people think of a classical big city here it is usually a dense, northeastern (plus Chicago), fairly diverse city with a nice waterfront.

Atlanta, on the other hand is more sprawled out, is southern, is majority black (city proper, though this will change shortly) and has no major body of water. And I do agree that in Atlanta the local media tends to sensationalize the crime in the city ("if it bleeds, it leads") so it seems more dangerous than it really is.

Atlanta in some ways is caught in-between two ideals. A lot of old-timers/southern traditionalists don't care for the city b/c they think it grew too fast, lost its southern character and is a rat-race. Urbanists don't care for it b/c it is too sprawly and as I described in my other paragraphs doesn't fit the classical idea of a big, dense city.

[RoslynHolcomb]

And I do agree that in Atlanta the local media tends to sensationalize the crime in the city ("if it bleeds, it leads") so it seems more dangerous than it really is.

What is the deal with this? It drives me absolutely insane. We turn the TV on in the morning to check traffic before my husband heads out, and we have to listen to ten minutes of who got shot last night. Why is this news? Also, houses catching on fire, why do they have to have a helicopter hovering over like this is important to anyone except the unfortunate person who got burned out? A house fire is only of significance in that specific neighborhood and presumably if a house caught fire in your neighborhood you'll know about it.

As for shootings and such, same thing. Does it really warrant the breathless gavel to gavel coverage they're given in this town? Fortunately we've discovered Georgia Navigator and no longer need to check the traffic, and I don't watch any of the local stations anymore.

[RoslynHolcomb]

Therefore, because of some Atlantan's extreme boosterism, some make it a point to seek out and highlight Atlanta's flaws--instead of praise its accomplishments.

I know this is the situation in my case. I'm no newbie on the Atlanta scene and I don't come from the Rust Belt. I grew up next door in north Alabama, and yes, the extreme boostering got on my ever last living nerve. To my mind Atlanta is pretty much par for the course of any large city, but to hear some folks tell it, especially in the 90s it was some type of Nirvana on the Plain. I was skeptical and amused because coming from next door, I've known Atlanta all my life and I knew most of the stuff folk were saying simply didn't apply--unless of course you came from the northeast or California. Otherwise you were liable to go broke trying to live the big-city lifestyle. Atlanta got its reputation the old-fashioned way, it pretty much earned it: It IS home of the blinged out lifestyle. It DOES somehow manage to be bourgie and ghetto at the same time. (No, I have no IDEA how that's possible, but Atlanta manages it.) It IS too sprawled out a fact that makes living here very difficult. For instance, getting home from my kid's soccer game took me an hour on Saturday. Yes, I know they're working on 285, but the alternate routes were backed up to the gills as well. Nobody bothered to plan this city's growth and it shows in myriad ways. Maybe the recession will give the city a chance to catch its breath and rectify some of it's mistakes--but I doubt it. It's not like people are making stuff up.

And yes, I knew all this before I moved here, but I would imagine for someone not intimately familiar it would be a disappointment.

[brownhornet]

Originally Posted by cityfilms

unwarranted? I took a cruise downtown a week ago and there was a crackhead running after and shouting at one of those horse drawn carriages with a group of tourists. I don't know what the hell they call that thing, "tour of the crackheads"?

In the rare instances I go on Marta trains it seems the stations and trains both are filled with people during the daytime with no job. Literally 99% of them clearly have no job or place to go. I've riden marta from the airport and have seen out of towners scared for their life!

I've seen groups of people and families RUNNING from the marta stop to their hotel on several occasions, LOL. Can you blame them? There typically isn't a single cop for several blocks downtown.

I think that Atlanta, for just a top 30 city in the US, is definitely boostered up and people who live in the top 5 cities get tired of it real fast.

I think that that you should just take the criticism, it is well deserved. Far from unwarranted. If anything I think people are TOO nice.

[ATLHRLGUY]

People like to bash because it makes them feel better about themselves and the life choices they have made even when it comes to picking a place to live. Everyone thinks their neck of the woods is better and will defend their position until the cows come home. No one wants to feel as though they are ever wrong or capable of making a bad decision-logic, facts and common sense be damned-Some take this irrational approach when talking about "their" city. It's as if no other city is as livable as theirs and thus they resort to criticizing other cities.