Seattle to Atlanta/Alpharetta (Sandy Springs, Roswell: live in, move, deal)

[BeyondInfinity]

Originally Posted by beenhereandthere

My parents live in Alpharetta, I actually like the area.....
don't really care for the Southeast though......
Atlanta is cool.....but if you had Seattle like qualities in Atlanta, you'd probably have 8 million living there....not 5.

Then why does Seattle not have 8 million citizens, let alone 5?

[BaconBurgerTaco10]

Originally Posted by BeyondInfinity

Then why does Seattle not have 8 million citizens, let alone 5?

Let alone 1. But I think he was referring to the state population which is 6.7 mil.

[beenhereandthere]

Originally Posted by BeyondInfinity

Then why does Seattle not have 8 million citizens, let alone 5?

While weather has a little bit to do with that.....
1 reason, is somewhat simple....most of the country lives east of the rockies and 1/4 live in the Northeast, they want to stay warm (or at least be warmer) and roughtly 1k miles from their family and roots....Atlanta offers them the chance to do that......
If most of the country lived on the West Coast and the Rockies....LA would be as big as NYC, the Bay Area as big as Chicago, ....Seattle would maybe not have 8 million, but more than 4..etc, etc.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by Seattlephil

Wow, best post ever? I'll tell you what I like to do and maybe that will help. I'm an outdoors person. I love to walk, ride a bike, hike, and play sports outside. I would like a neighbhorood where I wouldn't necessairly have to drive everywhere. I would also want to be in a co-rec soccer team but age doesn't matter. There has to be a group of people in Atlanta that like soccer right? As far as restaurants and bars, I don't really care. As long as it's a place where I can be fairly active without having to drive and isn't too conservative, I'm in.

Let me know! Thanks a lot.

just a fair warning: i think this forum may be composed of a lot of people who know a lot of data about cities but may have not lived there... i'm new to this forum so i'm not sure.

moving on— as cool as our subway system is, it's not that big yet and currently it's expensive. it was first built in the 70s but since then they've been having a hard time adding onto it since the government in atlanta is fragmented— for example the city limits of atlanta don't even cover the entire area where there are skyscrapers, and the metro area covers something like 50 counties now. we have super small counties so it's hard to get them to all cooperate together to get something done.

however, there are a couple of good transportation projects that will help you get around— first is an expansion of the subway system that will occur if the t-splost (transportation something-something sales tax) gets passed (in i think february). this will help you "get around" inside the immediate metro area, but isn't going to be extended out to alpharetta for a while.

the second thing, which is already occuring, is something called the BeltLine. the BeltLine is basically a loop around the downtown and midtown areas, i guess the radius would be about 3 miles, so you're always around 3 miles outside downtown/midtown. what it used to be was a bunch of old railroad tracks, but they're now converting it into a big walking/biking/jogging trail that has a public park alongside of it every half mile or so. atlanta already has a lot of public parks, so the trail is basically connecting to a lot of them and building more of them.

you would probably want to live somewhere around the eastern side of the beltline— there are plenty of nice neighbourhoods along that side— some are fairly quiet, and some more vibrant and have more stuff going on at night. the western side of the beltline, on the other side of atlanta, is currently not a great place to be. although the home prices are cheaper, the neighbourhoods can be kind of rough, especially at night. they are also full of historic homes and will probably see more renovation once the beltline is completed.

other options closer to alpharetta include downtown roswell, which is the closest city to alpharetta, especially along canton street. there are a lot of nice shops and restaurants in old historic buildings along there, and it is becoming a hip "in-town" neighbourhood.

downtown alpharetta is working on becoming more like roswell, and we just elected a new mayor, david belle isle, and a new city councilman, donald mitchell, who campaigned on getting more stores and restaurants and restoring the downtown alpharetta area.

up until about 3 or 4 years ago, alpharetta was a place for your upper class white two and a half kids family, but as alpharetta becomes more urbanized, we have started having a farmers market downtown on saturday morning to buy food, flowers, and the like, and we now have a big street festival in the spring called 'the taste of alpharetta', which used to be kind of lame but now has local rock bands on a fairly large stage and has much more interesting international food because of the increasing muslim population here, along with more indians and pakistanis and hispanics. it is still a "family area" mostly, but is becoming more interesting.

you will have to have a car to get around even in the immediate area in roswell or alpharetta. walking to the grocery store, etc. isn't really much of an option yet. we do have marta (bus) service here, but it takes a long time to get much of anywhere.

honestly, if i were you, i would look into places within proximity of the east side of the beltline. you will probably need a car to get to work in alpharetta, but getting around the area you live in would be easier without a car.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Seattlephil

Let alone 1. But I think he was referring to the state population which is 6.7 mil.

Well, the Seattle metro is roughly 3.5 million.

[jlbunny]

Hi, I know that you have got many responses for your thread. I just want to share my experience and opinion about ATL. I moved here from San Francisco Bay Area two years ago. Before SF, I lived in Oregon for a long time. I live in the burbs close to Buckhead. I work for a leading company in the industry.

1. There are many bugs here in ATL most time of the year because of the humid warm weather. I camped everywhere in the mountains from WA to CA. I slept in the wild without a tent in summer before. I have never attacked by so many mosquitos before. I have a porch with a nice view but I cannot enjoy it when weather is nice because of the mosquitos.

2. ATL is hot and humid. I am an outdoor person but I stay inside most time since I moved here because I cannot stand the humidity and heat. My office is freezing cold in summer because we need to dress formally. Commute to work is terrible because the temperature difference between inside and outside. My AC bill is not very high because my apartment building is really new and my neighbor run their AC really hard throughout year. I lived in Oregon without AC at home and in my office, and I was perfectly fine for 360 days out of 365. Here, I think AC is the best invention that we have.

3. I am not religious but most of my colleagues are. They are all very nice and do not discriminate. However, I have to say that some of them really put their religion and strong opinion out there. I find it offensive some time. I also live close to two churches. Sunday morning traffic can be terrible so you can imagine what I mean. My friend lives in an apartment building that provides free books and book club. All they read are religious books. She eventually moved out because offering free books and book club is one of the apartment amenities and why the rent is higher than other places.

4. When I first moved here, I could not get use to the strong accent. There are many people moved from all over the country (even world) to ATL. However, you do run into native Georgian all the time. The first project that I worked on requires me work with a lady located in a different building so we frequently communicated over the phone. I could not understand what she said most of the time because of her strong accent. She got really frustrated with me and eventually I had to stop by her office every day. Now, she moved to the office next to mine and we became good friends. I understand her completely now. You do need time to get use to it. Now, I have some very nice and caring friends from ATL, when they tell me jokes with southern accent, it sounds much funnier than without accent.

Personally, I would not live here for a long time and have my permanent home here. I miss west coast a lot. I also lived in New England area before, I miss there too when I am in ATL. However, I do treasure the experience of living in the south. People here are warm and nice. I do think older generations are more conservative and some of them have racial issues. My generation (I am in my 30s) are easier to get along (at least for me). If you really prefer urban cultural or true nature, I definitely do not recommend ATL. This is a place in between. For me, ATL is a giant suburb.

Originally Posted by Seattlephil

Single 23 year old professional with ability to move to Alpharetta next year. Please give ms some reasons why or why not to do it.

I'll tell you what I heard so far. Big spiders. Snakes. Dry hot weather. Expensive AC bills. People will see if you don't go to chuch on Sunday (I'm not religous). Heavy accents. Very high car tab fee's.

That's what I've been told so far. I'm open to the idea but with what I have been told so far, I can't see myself doing it! There has to be some positives! But, if you have more negatives, please share!

[eloquent_alligator]

I was sold on you moving to Alpharetta given your (old-guy-at-heart bit) however after your comment about not wanting to drive, I can say definitively that Alpharetta is not for you. I live in Alpharetta currently (though looking to buy a house in the next 6 months so who knows where I'll be) and have been here for about 3 years (since I was 25). I love it. I also put about 20k miles a year on my car. You will have to drive if you live in Alpharetta. If you want a suburb, Dunwoody/Sandy Springs is the place to be, otherwise, get a condo in Midtown.

Curious, Seattle to Atlanta? Telecommunications? AT&T? Wasn't aware of a big T-mobile presence here...

[BaconBurgerTaco10]

Originally Posted by eloquent_alligator

I was sold on you moving to Alpharetta given your (old-guy-at-heart bit) however after your comment about not wanting to drive, I can say definitively that Alpharetta is not for you. I live in Alpharetta currently (though looking to buy a house in the next 6 months so who knows where I'll be) and have been here for about 3 years (since I was 25). I love it. I also put about 20k miles a year on my car. You will have to drive if you live in Alpharetta. If you want a suburb, Dunwoody/Sandy Springs is the place to be, otherwise, get a condo in Midtown.

Curious, Seattle to Atlanta? Telecommunications? AT&T? Wasn't aware of a big T-mobile presence here...

Thanks again to everyone who has replied. All the info and opinions are really helpful.

Yes alligator, you are correct. Our headquarters are actually in Atlanta.


As far as the driving thing.. I'm not really against driving. I wouldn't count an area out just because I have to drive, but I would prefer walking/biking. Either way, from what I have read, Alpharetta does not sound like the place for me. Right now I'm looking into Roswell but I will check out Sandy Springs/Dunwoody... Dunwoody lol... Now that's the south.

[eloquent_alligator]

Splendid. I work for AT&T as well!

What campus will you be at? The Windward location has a lease that expires in 2013 and they will likely begin moving anyone next year. 2 of the 4 buildings have already closed. That location won't be around long-term. Will you be part of a team or independent? If a team, they'll likely move to the Lenox (exit 2 - 400) or 675 (10th Street - 75/85) locations. The 675 location has easy access to MARTA, the Lenox campus not so much. Either way, you'll want to be S of Alpharetta. Roswell is nice. SS/D is better.

The other option is the North Point campus in Alpharetta, however, if you are looking to move up in the company you'll end up moving to one of the other locations referenced above, likely Lenox.

Anyhow, feel free to shoot me a PM and I'll assist where I can. :-)

[LarsMac]

I still say, check out the Buckhead area. Especially if you end up at Lenox.
And even if you would be in Windward, Biking there from Buckhead is do-able.