Why suburbia sucks (Atlanta: restaurants, suburbs, horse)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Grocery Stores are better? How do you figure? Groceries stock items based off what sells best at their local store.
Atlanta not focused on kids? Look at the number of splash pads (free to use) and public pools. As well as Zoo Atlanta, aquarium, childern's museum, places like Catch Air, etc.

The grocery stores tend to be bigger while they squeeze things into smaller spaces to deal with zoning regulations and real estate costs. Also, more kids as a proportion of the population.

When your kids get to elementary age you'll understand. And then again, maybe not. You may not know any better. Houston had the kids stuff (shopping-clothes & toys, places like the trampoline place-forget the name, etc.) "Inside the Loop" as much as in the burbs. In contrast to Atlanta, the good restaurants were almost exclusively "Inside the Loop" or just outside. In Atlanta there really are a lot of good restaurants OTL. Look at any of the top 50, top 100 restaurant lists and see how many are Alpharetta, Marietta, etc.

[Forhall]

Originally Posted by bu2

The grocery stores tend to be bigger while they squeeze things into smaller spaces to deal with zoning regulations and real estate costs. Also, more kids as a proportion of the population.

When your kids get to elementary age you'll understand. And then again, maybe not. You may not know any better. Houston had the kids stuff (shopping-clothes & toys, places like the trampoline place-forget the name, etc.) "Inside the Loop" as much as in the burbs. In contrast to Atlanta, the good restaurants were almost exclusively "Inside the Loop" or just outside. In Atlanta there really are a lot of good restaurants OTL. Look at any of the top 50, top 100 restaurant lists and see how many are Alpharetta, Marietta, etc.

https://www.zagat.com/best-restaurants/atlanta

I counted 6 out of 50 that are in the suburbs. None of them in Alpharetta. I guess maybe if you use Tripadvisor some are in the suburbs, but Tripadvisor also lists Maggiano's Little Italy as #21 out of 3,000 Atlanta restaurants so I'm not sure they are geared towards the same clientele as Zagat's Guide.

Anyway, your comments about grocery stores and percentage of kids, etc is because you are looking at Atlanta as a whole. Each neighborhood is almost like it's own city, and some of the most desirable ones certainly have everything you say exists in the suburbs (lots of kids, amenities, grocery stores, and safety).

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Uh ... WHAT?!

First off, the cost of housing adjacent to Piedmont Park makes living there an impossibility to probably 90 percent or more of the population.

Second, if "the great outdoors" is what you enjoy and desire, then living in the suburbs is where you want to be -- NOT Midtown! You're much more likely to know your neighbors and do things with them on a regular basis (like backyard cookouts) in the suburbs. Also, can you please tell me ONE INTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD where kids ride their bikes in the streets, build forts in the woods or sell lemonade to passers by on a hot summer day?

Thirdly ... have you ever actually BEEN to the Atlanta suburbs? Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton all have BIG park systems, especially Clayton and Gwinnett (two of the most widely dissed suburban counties on this forum). And in case you haven't heard, Peachtree City has a paved path system that's nearly 100 miles long, for bikers, walkers, joggers, cart drivers. You can literally go ANYWHERE in Peachtree City (stores, schools, churches, work) without ever getting in a car. And PTC's path system is linked to the paths in Fayetteville, Fayette County and Senoia ... meaning you can take a path 13 miles from downtown Fayetteville to downtown Senoia!

Frankly my boy ... you really don't have a clue about any of this.

Kirkwood has kids ride bikes along the bike lanes, dead end streets, and PATH trails. TBH, never seen a kid build a fort in the woods, without adult supervision, but Bessie Branham Park does offer Atlanta's only urban-treehouse. Many weekends kids will sell lemonade on their street and their parents post it to the neighborhood Facebook and NextDoor sites, of course you must bring your own liquor but we make due.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by bu2

The grocery stores tend to be bigger while they squeeze things into smaller spaces to deal with zoning regulations and real estate costs. Also, more kids as a proportion of the population.

When your kids get to elementary age you'll understand. And then again, maybe not. You may not know any better. Houston had the kids stuff (shopping-clothes & toys, places like the trampoline place-forget the name, etc.) "Inside the Loop" as much as in the burbs. In contrast to Atlanta, the good restaurants were almost exclusively "Inside the Loop" or just outside. In Atlanta there really are a lot of good restaurants OTL. Look at any of the top 50, top 100 restaurant lists and see how many are Alpharetta, Marietta, etc.

You mean like the yuge Kroger being built at Glennwood Place or the finished one on DeKalb Industrial?

[Forhall]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Uh ... WHAT?!

First off, the cost of housing adjacent to Piedmont Park makes living there an impossibility to probably 90 percent or more of the population.

Second, if "the great outdoors" is what you enjoy and desire, then living in the suburbs is where you want to be -- NOT Midtown! You're much more likely to know your neighbors and do things with them on a regular basis (like backyard cookouts) in the suburbs. Also, can you please tell me ONE INTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD where kids ride their bikes in the streets, build forts in the woods or sell lemonade to passers by on a hot summer day?

Thirdly ... have you ever actually BEEN to the Atlanta suburbs? Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton all have BIG park systems, especially Clayton and Gwinnett (two of the most widely dissed suburban counties on this forum). And in case you haven't heard, Peachtree City has a paved path system that's nearly 100 miles long, for bikers, walkers, joggers, cart drivers. You can literally go ANYWHERE in Peachtree City (stores, schools, churches, work) without ever getting in a car. And PTC's path system is linked to the paths in Fayetteville, Fayette County and Senoia ... meaning you can take a path 13 miles from downtown Fayetteville to downtown Senoia!

Frankly my boy ... you really don't have a clue about any of this.

Morningside
Lenox Park
Buckhead
Brookhaven
Chastain
Decatur
Druid Hills
Virginia Highland

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by AnsleyPark

I thought that way, too, for many years. You, too, will get a different perspective when you are on the flip side of mid-life. Perhaps you'll choose to remain in the city, but you will better appreciate others' decision to move further out.

Heck, I still have one more to get thru high school and the tiny rural town away from suburbia that I couldn't wait to leave in HS is looking more and more attractive all the time.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Also, can you please tell me ONE INTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD where kids ride their bikes in the streets, build forts in the woods or sell lemonade to passers by on a hot summer day?

Reynoldstown. I have seen kids do all of the above. Some neighborhood kids built a fort in the woods next to the Beltline trail in the middle of the neighborhood. I don't care if people want to live in the suburbs, but I don't understand why people have to pretend like intown neighborhoods can't offer the same benefits.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Reynoldstown. I have seen kids do all of the above. Some neighborhood kids built a fort in the woods next to the Beltline trail in the middle of the neighborhood. I don't care if people want to live in the suburbs, but I don't understand why people have to pretend like intown neighborhoods can't offer them same benefits.

And the inverse is true as well in this argument. Most of the city of Atlanta is no different from the suburbs. SFH, large lots (gosh, larger than many of the new suburban lots these days), car dependent. That Atlantans think they have such a superior lifestyle... at least most of the areas outside of downtown, midtown and Lenox part of Buckhead..... is what has me SMH. It's the same thing in most cases.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

And the inverse is true as well in this argument. Most of the city of Atlanta is no different from the suburbs. SFH, large lots (gosh, larger than many of the new suburban lots these days), car dependent. That Atlantans think they have such a superior lifestyle... at least most of the areas outside of downtown, midtown and Lenox part of Buckhead..... is what has me SMH. It's the same thing in most cases.

The difference being that many of the historic, streetcar suburbs were built on the human scale and around transit. While yes they are mostly SFH on decent lots (wouldn't call my 1/4 lot yuge), there areas were built for people, not cars.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by Newsboy

Uh ... WHAT?!

First off, the cost of housing adjacent to Piedmont Park makes living there an impossibility to probably 90 percent or more of the population.

Second, if "the great outdoors" is what you enjoy and desire, then living in the suburbs is where you want to be -- NOT Midtown! You're much more likely to know your neighbors and do things with them on a regular basis (like backyard cookouts) in the suburbs. Also, can you please tell me ONE INTOWN NEIGHBORHOOD where kids ride their bikes in the streets, build forts in the woods or sell lemonade to passers by on a hot summer day?

Thirdly ... have you ever actually BEEN to the Atlanta suburbs? Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton all have BIG park systems, especially Clayton and Gwinnett (two of the most widely dissed suburban counties on this forum). And in case you haven't heard, Peachtree City has a paved path system that's nearly 100 miles long, for bikers, walkers, joggers, cart drivers. You can literally go ANYWHERE in Peachtree City (stores, schools, churches, work) without ever getting in a car. And PTC's path system is linked to the paths in Fayetteville, Fayette County and Senoia ... meaning you can take a path 13 miles from downtown Fayetteville to downtown Senoia!

Frankly my boy ... you really don't have a clue about any of this.

Lol. Name one intown neighborhood where that doesn't happen? You only highlight how the problems in neighborhoods both urban and suburban are centered around giving up our streets to cars over people.

But yeah, PTC is a good place for those that want that lifestyle.