Atlanta's suburbs continue to become increasingly sophisticated (Sandy Springs, Roswell: fit in, apartment)

[RoslynHolcomb]

Georgetown is pretty crappy. I don't go anywhere near it if I can help it. Personally I'm convinced that Dunwoody doesn't want any shoppers, at least they do everything in their power to make it nearly impossible. I was all for greater greenspace, not more residential or even retail. More shops that nobody can get to is the last thing Dunwoody needs. Traffic coming off Mt. Vernon is ansolutely insane. I guess I'll keep shopping elsewhere.

[ATLTJL]

Meh. Suburban park.

This place probably stands little chance of having homeless people sleeping in the playground at night. Kids probably won't have to play around empty beer cans and needles. What's the fun in that?

There's no action. You're not likely to see crack deals going down here ever. Speaking of crack, I bet the nearest crack house is miles away instead of houses away. No diversity!

Probably the sidewalks will be concrete that kids can ride bikes on like in the picture. If they don't learn to ride on dilapidated hex pavers, how are they going to learn to weather life's bumps?

Those houses are cookie cutter. Probably they will be turn key ready and won't require tens of thousands of dollars of renovations before they are livable. No, thank you!

I bet the schools are even decent . What good is an education if it doesn't include the school of hard knocks? If children don't learn that discipline problems should take more time than education lessons, how are they to succeed later in life?

Suburban development. Who needs it?

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by neil0311

What's even more interesting is this map.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_counties.PNG

Note that Cobb, Cherokee, Forsyth, and Gwinnett are in the top 100 of income by county. Fulton and Dekalb are not.

That's median household income. In bedroom communities that often means 2 incomes. If you notice Manhattan isn't even on the list w/ all the suburbs around it listed. When you switch over to personal per-capita, it's #1 in the US. On the only version that has anything from GA (the '05 list), Fulton is the only county listed at #38.

What exactly do all these cherry picked stats mean to you all? Families in the suburbs have higher incomes than more urban areas where there's a larger concentration of the poor b/c there's more infrastructure?

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by Mishap

That's median household income. In bedroom communities that often means 2 incomes. If you notice Manhattan isn't even on the list w/ all the suburbs around it listed. When you switch over to personal per-capita, it's #1 in the US. On the only version that has anything from GA (the '05 list), Fulton is the only county listed at #38.

What exactly do all these cherry picked stats mean to you all? Families in the suburbs have higher incomes than more urban areas where there's a larger concentration of the poor b/c there's more infrastructure?

"Cherry picked stats" ....love it. Isn't it more important that more people have a higher income, rather than a few people have really, really high incomes that skew the stat?

So if 99% of the county is below the poverty line, and 1% are billionaires, you'd prefer that stat because you might be able to get a better per capita number? That's not affluence, although it makes for good statistics.

[Mishap]

It's a demographics issue vs. a true measure of affluence if all you look at is median household since if households in the suburbs are exceedingly made up of dual income married couples(many w/ kids) vs. singles. If all the single people make a median 70k but each are counted as their own household, then they're still below a married couple (potentially w/ kids) making 80k. The 70k individual has far more disposable income but based on a median household number, the 80k households are "wealthier" even if you have 3 college funds to allocate before you can save towards that midlife crisis sports car.

This stat really doesn't mean all that much b/c it's not like moving to a county has any influence on your own earning ability. It may have an impact on housing costs but the more direct route to that is to look at how much the house costs. Atlanta ITP certainly isn't some ultra-exclusive club but to claim there's culture in the burbs b/c it has a higher median income really ignores demographics since Wikipedia also says 72% of people in Forsyth are married vs. ~40% of Fulton which if you haven't noticed is a disparate chunk of Atlanta along w/ far poorer areas intermixed. It's kind of like saying everyone in the US is wealthy b/c our median income is far higher than China's. If you go down to the more granular level...almost all the wealthy in GA are concentrated in a few zip codes in Atlanta, Alpharetta, and Duluth.

[RandyWatson13]

yawn..........

[Nanosolar]

Originally Posted by arjay57

It seems like every time I glance at the news there's some cool new project going on OTP. These are not your grandpa's suburbs!

Details of the Georgetown redevelopment released - Dunwoody, GA Patch

Waste. Of. Money. I wish there was a way to ban all new residential developments OTP.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by cqholt

That would be the exurbs, like Cherokee and Forsyth Counties, not Dunwoody.

I agree! When I think of a traditional suburb I do not think mass produced and boring, but what people on CD refer to as being suburbs I do! I love how everybody in Forsyth lives in the ATL suburbs yet they would never make the commute into ATL every day! I have been making sure I refer to those areas as exurbs because I feel bad for the people who live in real suburbs(such as Dunwoody) having to be associated with those areas.

And everybody going on about the whole stupid "richest" county it is a bunch of crap. Look how Loudoun County in VA is the "richest" in America and DC area yet the "richest" people in DC live in Georgetown, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, McLean, etc.

The richest counties will always be places with less income diversity and married couples.

Think about where the true wealthy areas of Atlanta are they are in Fulton and DeKalb. Where is Buckhead, Ansley Park, Morningside-Lenox, Druid Hills, Brookhaven, Cascade Heights/Cascade? Wow they are all in City of Atlanta, Unincorporated Fulton & DeKalb. The wealthiest suburbs would be Dunwoody & Sandy Springs most likely.

And the "richest" zip code in Georgia is 30327 in Fulton (City of Atlanta & City of Sandy Springs). (and by the way I do not live in 30327, I live in 30305)

Where are all of the elite social events in Atlanta? Where do the people who are involved with the supporting the arts & charities live in Atlanta?

Also in general most cities have their metros wealthiest and poorest living in the city limits. I grew up in NYC and in Manhattan it was the wealthiest and the poorest.

[GeorgiaLakeSearch]

Originally Posted by Mishap

It's a demographics issue vs. a true measure of affluence if all you look at is median household since if households in the suburbs are exceedingly made up of dual income married couples(many w/ kids) vs. singles. If all the single people make a median 70k but each are counted as their own household, then they're still below a married couple (potentially w/ kids) making 80k. The 70k individual has far more disposable income but based on a median household number, the 80k households are "wealthier" even if you have 3 college funds to allocate before you can save towards that midlife crisis sports car.

This stat really doesn't mean all that much b/c it's not like moving to a county has any influence on your own earning ability. It may have an impact on housing costs but the more direct route to that is to look at how much the house costs. Atlanta ITP certainly isn't some ultra-exclusive club but to claim there's culture in the burbs b/c it has a higher median income really ignores demographics since Wikipedia also says 72% of people in Forsyth are married vs. ~40% of Fulton which if you haven't noticed is a disparate chunk of Atlanta along w/ far poorer areas intermixed. It's kind of like saying everyone in the US is wealthy b/c our median income is far higher than China's. If you go down to the more granular level...almost all the wealthy in GA are concentrated in a few zip codes in Atlanta, Alpharetta, and Duluth.

Somebody speaking the truth!

[ericsonga]

Originally Posted by Nanosolar

Waste. Of. Money. I wish there was a way to ban all new residential developments OTP.

What a reasonable and educated statement.