Thugs in Atlanta? Bad parenting, bad politics, what? (Marietta, Acworth: section 8, apartment)

[otoatlanta]

Ok, supposedly, "every big city" has its ugly problems. This is true, but some have way more than others. What are some theories about what is "wrong" in Atlanta? There seems to be no lack of police officers and gun carrying citizens. In any case, what's going on in Atlanta? Why are thugs allowed to destroy the place(or is this a myth)? Do well socialized citizens have no control over what happens in the city? Who are the "thugs at risk"(the babies and children) and what is the community doing to help ensure that these children(whomever they are) not turn into lawbreakers? Is there an epidemic of disrespectful/poor parenting and socializing in this little big city? If so, why?

[PKCorey]

[dejamiller]

[KevK]

Atlanta is the cultural centre of RAP MUSIC and it promotes that kind of culture. And Fulton and DeKalb are very liberal on crime issues.

[atlantagreg30127]

I can't wait for a couple of key people to come in here and comment on this. Be ready - we're all racists if we agree to Atlanta's problem.

Well, here's what I think. It's an under-the-table secret told to restaurant owners in the city, that if you play country music in your restaurant, the gangsta-wannabe crowd will not eat there, as it's pretty much like fingernails on a chalkboard to those who have built-up so much aggression listening to Rap for so long. If you want to run the lawless Rappers out of town, we need 121 large speakers on top of the key buildings, all playing loud Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner songs 24/7.

Poof - end of problem. Charlotte can deal with it for a while.

[cocopuffy]

I'm going to ignore the rap music comments because they gloss over the real issues of poverty in this city ...

I think that Atlanta has been severely affected by 2 issues: the cycle of young parents that don't try or don't know how to raise their children because they are children themselves and DRUGS!!!!
Just as Atlanta attracts young professionals and college graduates it also attracts people who aren't so educated and want to make a new life for themselves but just don't make it. They quickly hook up with the wrong people and turn to drugs and/or prostitution. Its the same stories for many of them...they moved here from a worse place just to end up in similar circumstances. Of course...Atlanta is full of establish criminals waiting to take advantage. (this is what I hear from the people that my boss 'employs' to do random tasks around our office property.)

The city is doing its best to 'ignore' the problem. There is no real public program for treating the large number of drug addicts that are in the city-they move them around and tell them they can't panhandle but they just move somewhere else. It doesn't help that virtually ALL of the soup kitchens/homeless shelters (that are mostly privately funded) are located on downtown. I mean seriously...if you were homeless would you LEAVE downtown and go anywhere else? And it should be noted that many of these places don't provide treatment and don't ask for documentation either so a lot of criminals hide out at the Peachtree-Pine Street shelter Face-off over homeless shelter - Atlanta Business Chronicle:
http://www.midtownponce.org/news/PPineDigest.pdf

I think the city leader's are afraid to make 'real' changes or policies because of the criticism that will happen because any such move will undoubted affect a disproportionate amount of African Americans. So nobody does anything...
It saddens me because as a young black female who loves living in Atlanta is a shame to see so many Black people ruining their own lives and the lives of other innocent people. (and I'm going to be real for a moment...most of the people who see loitering around downtown ARE black) Its awful that the city isn't doing enough solve these problems and help current residents to make their community safer. The answer isn't blasting freaking country music to run out the rappers (good grief!) or giving some homeless guy a dollar because because you feel guilty either.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by cocopuffy

I'm going to ignore the rap music comments because they gloss over the real issues of poverty in this city ...

Its awful that the city isn't doing enough solve these problems and help current residents to make their community safer.

To address a couple of these then, "being real"...

First of all, poverty can't be blamed for any of these problems. I posted this elsewhere once, but I'll repeat it here. I grew up in West Virginia - literally THE poorest state in the country. My entire area, not just one neighborhood, was filled with families who ate potatoes several nights a week because they couldn't afford much else, and who had to shop at Goodwill for their children's clothes, or, make the clothes. Getting a cheap metal truck for Xmas was a big deal, forget video games or computers. Yet, you don't go up to that area and see it filled with carjackers, drug dealers, hookers, home invaders, or just literal vagrants in general. The people have too much pride and respect for themselves for that. Poverty does not create crime. Lifestyles create crime, and the lifestyles in Atlanta area obviously not the same, breeding criminal behavior generation after generation. No amount of counciling is going to help I'm afraid. Birth control, maybe, but what should you do - put it in the water supply in the projects to prevent future generations of criminals? OH yeah, that'll go over well.

As far as the city "not doing anything": I'm not sure how long you've been here, but they HAVE tried to do things numerous times. There are shelters as well as services available to people who want it. At one time they passed out cards to the vagrants and addicts downtown telling them where they could go to get free counciling and rehab help. First, almost none of them actually went, and then activists got riles up about it - why I have no idea, as they seem to freak out over everything. The panhandler laws are so that visitors and workers can walk in peace along the street, but again the activists raise hell over it whenever they try to enforce it. So what is the city to do? Drive unmarked vans and burn rubber up to the vagrants, throw them inside, and force them to get help before anyone can protest it? How long do you think it would take Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to organize a few thousand to march on that one?

The city is deadlocked. They've tried. They can't do anything so long as people protest when they try to help as well as enforce the laws. Word over the years has got out about Atlanta's inability to do anything, so it attracts even MORE vagrant and addicts to the streets.

Just be glad you're not in Charleston, SC. If someone dares to panhandle in the historic district, the police put them in the back of a police car and drive them about 50 miles outside of the city and dump them along the highway. Yes, really. How many panhandlers have you seen there? Oh and as far as Country music goes - how many times have you heard of a gangster rapper shooting or stabbing in Gatlinburg?

[DoveDiva]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

I can't wait for a couple of key people to come in here and comment on this. Be ready - we're all racists if we agree to Atlanta's problem.

Well, here's what I think. It's an under-the-table secret told to restaurant owners in the city, that if you play country music in your restaurant, the gangsta-wannabe crowd will not eat there, as it's pretty much like fingernails on a chalkboard to those who have built-up so much aggression listening to Rap for so long. If you want to run the lawless Rappers out of town, we need 121 large speakers on top of the key buildings, all playing loud Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner songs 24/7.

Poof - end of problem. Charlotte can deal with it for a while.

I disagree with your restaurant music theory.
Perfect example: Marietta Diner and Pasta Bella. I eat there frequently and they don't play country music....and I don't see an abundance of thugs. Personally I think the owner just isn't having it...and will throw folks out in a heartbeat.

In response to what you said about living in West Virginia...I think there's a difference between being poor in the country and being poor in the city. In the country, there are less things to get caught up in vs. the city. In addition, I think there's more of a sense of community in the country--everyone knows who your parents are and will call them in a heartbeat if you so much LOOK at someone sideways. The city is the opposite. It's more of a "I'm going to mind my own business" type of attitude. I think that's why you see more of a thug mentality in Atlanta vs. in say, Podunk, Small Town America.

[btrfly414]

I think we are focusing too much on the homeless. They are a very small part of the crime problem. Having worked for many years in the inner city many of the homeless are mentally ill while some are drug addicts. But here again they are not the mug shots you see and stories you hear on the 6:00 news. Not that the media has to tell us of our increasing crime issue. IMO the crime problem has a great deal to do with community and expected lifestyle. "I may not have a job but I'm going to rock some designer clothes and drive a nice car all while I bling like everybody else" While some may not think that the hip hop culture is a culprit, it has permeated throughout many communities as young people continously try to live the lyrics. Many disenfranchised youths see the many athletes, actors, and musicians in Atlanta and want to appear to be a part of it and may try to attain it through illegal activity. In addition, like most situations of poverty it is cyclical. If your parents have not taught you anything how will you teach your children. I will not bore you with the many bright children I have worked with that fell through the cracks to drugs, pre-teen and teen pregnancy and crime ridden lives because of trifling parents. In a city like Atlanta where businesses boom and it appears to be a "mecca" for the music industry, it will attract all sorts of people. Thus we have absorbed our own crime problem and now the problem of criminal elements from other states. As far as city govt. is concerned their idea of getting rid of crime is getting rid of high crime areas. Almost all of the public housing in the city of Atlanta has been demo'd and the residents have been section 8'd out of town. I guess the philosophy is to make them someone else's problem. After reading the above article they seem to follow the same ruse for the homeless. This is a city of protest. Some so called leaders will yell from the rooftops if a career criminal dies in a shootout with the police while at the same time remain tight-lipped about same criminal's rampage through a decent hardworking community. Shame. I would like to think that the media is just bias and doesn't show the leaders when they march against the criminal activity in the communities.

[gt6974a]

I don't alway agree with atlgreg but I'll give my 2 cents. I was from a 'White' suburb...although we're not 'White' anymore... Acworth! I live here now! I went to GT and lived downtown b/t '98 and '04. I lived in multiple area around GT. I got mugged, car-jacked, kid-knapped in Buckhead.............. I don't believe it has anything to do with homeless people.

The majority of crimes against 'us' were probably from Inner City, South West, or Lil Mexico in Cobb. We lived in one place were multiple cars were broken into. We blamed it on our proximity to Bankhead... one guy got his car stolen off of campus. From Centennial, my buddies were broken into twice from neighborhood kids (black). They saw them once b/c one guy was in the apartment when they kicked the door in. This complex shares Section 8.

I was out at the bars and two mexicans got me on my way back to my car.

You can blame it on what you want, but from my experience it's the mexicans and blacks that cause the trouble...yet I frequented several bars by blacks and whites.

When you go downtown.... just be ready for an unfortunate event