Why The Hate on the Suburbs? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: transplants, condo, house)

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by testa50

Bingo. Atlanta is large enough to have a large difference in culture between the center city and the suburbs, just like NYC/SF/LA/Paris/etc (although the a lesser extent than those places). When this happens, there is always going to be some animosity between the two areas.

One thing about Atlanta is that the city limits and "the city" are not the same. Most people wouldn't refer to someone who lives in College Park or Decatur as "living in the suburbs". The number of people who would generally be considered to live intown is probably closer to a million.

Honestly, I think mostly people who live in those ITP suburbs are the ones who generally consider themselves to live in the city.

As a city resident, I don't consider them to be city residents and it has nothing to do with me viewing them negatively, it is just because Decatur and College Park and East Point and other ITP burbs are totally different cities than Atlanta and in some of them, especially Decatur, and Hapeville is another - one can tell that they aren't in Atlanta anymore when you go to them.

To me, this is the same as when I was young, people in Southfield, MI saying they were from Detroit, or people from Evansville, IL or Oak Park saying they are from Chicago. People who live in the cities know those places aren't the city. The ones who live in the burbs claim the city because it is just easier to say - as a Decatur resident to someone that they live in "Atlanta" as then they don't have to answer any additional questions about where their particular suburban community is located. I had this issue when I lived in Mableton over 10 years ago. People had never heard of Mableton. So I just told them I lived in "the Atlanta metro."

[AnsleyPark]

It's interesting - I don't see any reason for either set of folks to have a holier-than-thou attitude about where others choose to live. I lived in Midtown for 20+ years and loved it. I now live in S. Forsyth County. In Midtown, I still drove to the grocery store, to the bank, to the pharmacy, etc., just like I do in suburbia. My kids didn't walk to school, they carpooled.

I have to say, other than the occasional trips back into the city proper, I find it much easier getting around the suburbs than getting around in the city proper. The kids' schools are less than 10 minutes away, the grocery and pharmacy are a 5 minute drive. Lots of good restaurants within 15 minutes. Heck, it sometimes took 30 - 45 minutes to drive from Ansley Park to the Lennox area. The whole "walkability" argument just is not valid for most people.

When I first moved to Atlanta, I, too, had the inexplicable attitude that I was somehow living a better life than suburbanites. I had an air of superiority. Now, having raised a family intown, having lived in what I consider a very top-end neighborhood in a very urban district and having had a 10 minute commute max, I can honestly say that the suburbs are just fine, and in some ways, as good or better than intown living - FOR ME AND MY FAMILY.

Do I miss the skyline just outside my backyard? Yep. Do I miss walking my dogs in Piedmont Park? Yep. Do I miss being able to walk to the Botanical Gardens on a nice summer afternoon? Yep. But now, I can walk to very nice neighborhood tennis courts. I can walk to a very nice neighborhood swimming pool. And, I don't have to worry about crossing streets full of traffic. I don't have to worry about the dogs getting hit if they escape the yard. I don't have to worry about my younger children walking a few blocks to visit friends. I don't have to pay a king's ransom to send my children to private school for a stellar education. I don't have to pay tens of thousands in property tax for mediocre at best services. In the suburb where I live, my children can attend stellar public schools and my property tax a fraction of what they were and the services I receive for them far better.

Were I young, single and social, would I want to live where I do now? Absolutely not. But at this phase of life, all I really want to do is stay home with my family, cook in my kitchen and curl up with a good book on my sofa with my wife and dogs. Now, when I was twenty-something I would not have appreciated that.

Can the suburbs be improved? Absolutely. Can the city be improved? Absolutely. But that is no reason for anyone to speak with disdain and criticism about either.

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

But I am also single.

Biggest reason NOT to live in the suburbs right there.

I enjoy living really close to Atlanta, but I am younger, and don't have kids. I hope by the time I do have kids things improve where I can live in a relatively affordable house and send my kids to public school. If not, Ill have to retreat to the suburbs

IMO
Kids = suburbs or rich ITP
Childless = living it up intown

Sometimes I think I just don't want kids

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Biggest reason NOT to live in the suburbs right there.

I enjoy living really close to Atlanta, but I am younger, and don't have kids. I hope by the time I do have kids things improve where I can live in a relatively affordable house and send my kids to public school. If not, Ill have to retreat to the suburbs

IMO
Kids = suburbs or rich ITP
Childless = living it up intown

Sometimes I think I just don't want kids

I'm not rich and I managed to move in town into nice areas with my daughter and send her to good schools. Granted I'm a renter and not a homeowner.

It can be done but then it becomes a question of whether or not someone wants a house or an apartment. I had considered buying a house in the suburbs but I decided I'd rather rent an apartment in town than have a house in the suburbs because suburban Atlanta is just not where I want to live, children or not.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

It's interesting - I don't see any reason for either set of folks to have a holier-than-thou attitude about where others choose to live. I lived in Midtown for 20+ years and loved it. I now live in S. Forsyth County. In Midtown, I still drove to the grocery store, to the bank, to the pharmacy, etc., just like I do in suburbia. My kids didn't walk to school, they carpooled.

I have to say, other than the occasional trips back into the city proper, I find it much easier getting around the suburbs than getting around in the city proper. The kids' schools are less than 10 minutes away, the grocery and pharmacy are a 5 minute drive. Lots of good restaurants within 15 minutes. Heck, it sometimes took 30 - 45 minutes to drive from Ansley Park to the Lennox area. The whole "walkability" argument just is not valid for most people.

When I first moved to Atlanta, I, too, had the inexplicable attitude that I was somehow living a better life than suburbanites. I had an air of superiority. Now, having raised a family intown, having lived in what I consider a very top-end neighborhood in a very urban district and having had a 10 minute commute max, I can honestly say that the suburbs are just fine, and in some ways, as good or better than intown living - FOR ME AND MY FAMILY.

Do I miss the skyline just outside my backyard? Yep. Do I miss walking my dogs in Piedmont Park? Yep. Do I miss being able to walk to the Botanical Gardens on a nice summer afternoon? Yep. But now, I can walk to very nice neighborhood tennis courts. I can walk to a very nice neighborhood swimming pool. And, I don't have to worry about crossing streets full of traffic. I don't have to worry about the dogs getting hit if they escape the yard. I don't have to worry about my younger children walking a few blocks to visit friends. I don't have to pay a king's ransom to send my children to private school for a stellar education. I don't have to pay tens of thousands in property tax for mediocre at best services. In the suburb where I live, my children can attend stellar public schools and my property tax a fraction of what they were and the services I receive for them far better.

Were I young, single and social, would I want to live where I do now? Absolutely not. But at this phase of life, all I really want to do is stay home with my family, cook in my kitchen and curl up with a good book on my sofa with my wife and dogs. Now, when I was twenty-something I would not have appreciated that.

Can the suburbs be improved? Absolutely. Can the city be improved? Absolutely. But that is no reason for anyone to speak with disdain and criticism about either.

That pretty much hits the nail on the head, Ansley.

[Tarzanman]

Both the OTP and ITP people should be ashamed of themselves for living in such horrible places.

I live ATP That's right. I live at the Perimeter on the medians, underpasses, overpasses shoulders of I-285 and it is WAY BETTER than living ITP or OTP. When I need to go somewhere I have immediate access to all highways and access roads. I do not know why anyone would want to live anywhere else.

[JoeP]

Again, it's the city that is most often bashed here, not the burbs.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Again, it's the city that is most often bashed here, not the burbs.

You are right about that, but those are generally in conversations other than ITP-OTP conversations.

[WanderingImport]

Originally Posted by Atlanta_BD

I don't speak for everyone (everyone likes or dislikes things for different reasons) so I'll give my opinion as to why I don't like Atlanta's suburbs.

I don't like Atlanta suburbs because I feel that they are boring and horribly planned and designed--I'm not a fan of subdivision living at all and that's mostly what Atlanta's suburbs are. I like The City of Decatur but the rest, you can have. I lived in the suburbs when I first moved to Atlanta and lived there for many years. I came to the conclusion that Atlanta's suburbs weren't for me so I moved. They weren't conducive to my lifestyle or the lifestyle I wanted to live. But I am also single.

I had lived in suburbs before I moved to Atlanta, but the suburbs where I came from were different. They were on a grid system, had sidewalks, transit and had lots of places to eat and socialize that weren't in strip malls. Everything you needed was right there and you didn't have to drive miles up the road to get to basic places like the grocery store, the bank or the library. Everything was in walking distance. The same can't be said for Atlanta's suburbs. Their infrastructure is horrible, subdivisions feel isolated, and they aren't walkable. Again, this is just my opinion and why I personally don't like Atlanta's suburbs.

See this thread.

This.

The suburbs, for the most part, were not planned and developers had all the power. Thus, we're left with a bunch of once rural windy roads being overly congested with new subdivisions and strip malls. End result? A huge traffic mess.

This really is a result of poor leadership and division. A problem that still clearly is a problem today.

All that said, this problem is definitely not non-existent inside the perimeter. If anything, the only real grid Atlanta has is downtown and midtown with a few other exceptions.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by WanderingImport

All that said, this problem is definitely not non-existent inside the perimeter. If anything, the only real grid Atlanta has is downtown and midtown with a few other exceptions.

Very true.

I live in Buckhead and it's not completely walkable unless you are on Piedmont, Peachtree or Roswell roads. Trying to navigate through the actual neighborhood side streets on foot? Forget about it. You may as well be in the burbs.