What Do You Love/Hate About Atlanta? (Smyrna, Mableton: transplants, crime rate)

[peanut33]

I'm considering a move to Atlanta and was just wondering what you love and what you hate about the city???

[Mamato3BB's]

Perspective of a 20 somethings stay at home mom of three young boys...

DISLIKE
- traffic (nothing worse than being at a stand still with a hungry, screaming toddler in the back)
- pametto bugs (aka roaches lol)

LIKE
- always something to do with or without the kids
- weather is nice (summer was humid but not terrible)
- lots of transplants, easy to make friends
- close to beaches, mountains

All I can think of at the moment. :-)

[zoonik]

Love

The weather, is awsome 9/10 of the time.
The urban forest.
The job market, (while competitive) is diverse and is relativly vibrant given nationwide economic conditions.
It is more affordable to live here than any other vibrant major metro area.
I have found people to be friendly and welcoming.


Hate

Traffic here is no joke. Interstate rush hour(s) are 6 hours of each day!

Gated communities and the "not in my backyard" policies for the ultra rich; and warzone crime in poor areas due to class segregation. (seems exacerbated more in Atlanta, than other major metro's.)

[ABM]

Originally Posted by zoonik

Hate

Traffic here is no joke. Interstate rush hour(s) are 6 hours of each day!

Depends.

I live in Mableton and travel 30 miles across town to Decatur (Panola Exit off I-20) to work each weekday morning. It takes roughly 35-40 minutes tops.

To be honest, the longer I live on the West side (I used to live in Conyers), the more I'm loving it. Smyrna/Mableton is a hot little "secret".

[sweettea1]

Like:
Weather
Ease of Life
Cost of Living
Good for kids
Friendly

Dislike:
Traffic
Lack of downtown
Can't really walk anywhere
Overall, a pretty boring city
Segregation
Did I mention traffic?

[tsdon]

Love:
1) ecomony by far best feature. I'm in IT so can't get any better for me.
2) affordability - you can buy a decent home at decent prices
3) generally friendly people and lots of educated middle class young people. A fairly young town.
4) restaurants
5) most atlantans don't travel north to the mountains - a little over an hour away. best kept secret.

Dislikes
1) traffic - everyone would agree
2) not close to the beach (someone else said close to beach - they need a geography lesson.
3) a bit too much of the blaring rap music at stop lights, spinning wheel caps, pants hanging off their butts, etc. kind of a bunch of small quality of life issues - but good news is most of the time you can distance yourself from it. I guess it's everywhere sadly.

Atlanta has been very good to me. Generally, I think it's a very good town - might be missing some character, but generally above average I would say. I want to leave just to try something different but yet hesitant to leave its generally balanced living.

[atlantagreg30127]

This question comes up from time to time, but I'll go for it again...


LIKES:

1) Geographic location - not far from mountains and a weekend trip to the ocean.

2) Trees. Lots of trees. Not completely paved over like some other larger cities.

3) Weather. Only just barely makes it into the like category because regardless of the arguments, the weather here HAS changed. I've seen it do so (in my 23 years here). Our weather is now more like North Florida was in the mid-1980s, which I'm not crazy about, but it's still better than Minnesota or Maine.

4) Retail heaven. If you want to buy something - it's here. Shopping is considered a sport in Atlanta and there's tons of reatail outlets.

5) Overall a stronger economy than many other areas at this time.


DISLIKES:

1) Very high crime rate - even in some of the suburbs.

2) Traffic. A whole book could be written about this.

3) Politics/Religion. Lots of politicians here who won't work together to make the region as a whole better. Lots of bickering. Lots of people putting personal friends into positions of power, etc. Likewise, people here (those who are native southern it seems) tend to like to try to mix religion into their politics as well. Not good (to me).

4) Public transit to the outer areas/burbs is poor. No commuter rail, no extensive suburban systems (only basic), etc. Governor does not support transit options (see #3).

5) Racial divide. The city is black. The burbs are white. All other races/nationalities are ignored. Both blame the other side for all their problems. Yeehaw.



That's my list.

[yyz]

Hate:
1) Too Many Rebel flags
2) Right wing Religous zealots
3) Fake Southern charm (Rude behind your back)
4) Did anyone mention the traffic
5) Too many Bubbas

Like:
1)Sweet iced tea

Other than that Atlanta pretty much sucks don't move here

[gt6974a]

I was born and raised in Acworth, went to Tech, dad went to UGA

I attended Acworth Elementary, Awtrey Middle School, Pine Mtn Middle School, and North Cobb High School (last year school of excellence was when I gradeuated, '96)

Dislikes: Traffic, UGA, yankee attitude (not yankees, just their attitudes), race card, cry about rail, civil war was about slavery (iit wasn't)

Likes: Braves, Tech, and HS sports.

People on this board will ***** and moan about traffic, which does suck, but it didn't just <15 years ago. They'll cry about rail, yet they haven't been here that long (except for AtlantaGreg).

Then we get the racial issue, almost every day. The civil war was not about slavery...it was about States rights (something we should be bitching aobut today). The freedom of slaves was a good thing but don't kid yourself......thousands of 'White' soldiers didn't fight in the late 1800's to free Blacks.....

But as a Southern Colony, we're still considered racist today, 100+ years later, only b/c we're from here, talk different, and wave a rebel flag.

It's a culture thing, I don't see Yankees waving their Northern flag...that's what it means down here, independence. The same that Vermont and N. Dakota are seeking now.

[Mamato3BB's]

Originally Posted by tsdon

Lo
2) not close to the beach (someone else said close to beach - they need a geography lesson. .

It was me and NO I do not need a lesson. It is certainly close enough for a weekend trip. So in my mind that is close. No need to be rude.