Atlanta or Raleigh? (Sandy Springs, Roswell, Marietta: transplants, high crime, house)

[gisturala]

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We are from New Jersey and we are debating whether to relocate to Raleigh or suburban Atlanta. We have two small children, our oldest will start kindergarden. We like that Raleigh is growing a lot and will present a lot of opportunities, but we feel that it is boring. Atlanta has more things to do. We want a place that is good to raise kids, but also have some big city ammenities. We wouldn't want to live in Atlanta, because it is too busy there, but we would like to live near a city.
We want a place that is also not too religious, and our perception was that Raleigh is a little more religious than Atlanta. We don't care about peoples beliefs, we just don't want to feel weird because we don't frequent a church or because our children are half jewish.
If anybody has any opinion about either place or relocated to one of those places, please let us know. We have being to both places, but a tourist view is always different than a resident view.

[bbuch]

well, I've lived in Atlanta for the last 4-5 years and I like it a lot. Plenty to do in-town and a 45 minute drive north will put you in the mountains. The schools in Georgia are notorious for being poor, however, if you live in the right area of town there are some public schools that compete with the best in the country. My wife and I don't have kids yet I think this would be a good place to raise them. My wife has been a teacher for the last 6+ years and could give you some info on schools should you get more serious about moving here.

How far from the city do you want to be? A good rule of thumb when looking for good areas is to stay on the North or East side of town. Marrietta is nice and Smyrna is really growing now. Alpharetta and Roswell are also great places to live and have some of the better schools. Sandy Springs and Dunwoody are nice as well but can be pricey. On the East side, I would recommend looking in Decatur. Its more "artsy" out there if you like that kind of environment. I would stay away from Gwinett county. It is one of the fastest growing counties in the country, but thats only because of the gang population moving in. Let me know if you have any further questions!!

B

[backfist]

How far from the city do you want to be? A good rule of thumb when looking for good areas is to stay on the North or East side of town.

My family and I are also considering metro Atlanta. Why are the north and east sides a good rule of thumb?

[bbuch]

They are the best areas of town. If you head south and west then you are likely in high crime, poor school, relatively not well developed areas.

If you put one end of a string in the center of Atl and extended it towards Smyrna. Start sweeping that string clockwise until you hit I-20. Those are the areas I would concentrate on. I say rule of thumb because there are always exceptions. For example, Powder springs and Austell are growing nicely, and there are certain areas of Gwinett I would stay away from.

[gisturala]

Thank you so much for your help. I have visited Alpharetta and I liked there, but people tell me that the traffic to Atlanta is terrible and a half hour drive takes up to 1 hour and 15 min. A friend of mine told me good things about Marietta and Smyrna, saying that those places look like Alpharetta but the traffic is better. Are there any bad areas in those towns ( Marietta, Smyrna, Alpharetta)? Thanks for your help.

[bbuch]

The traffic down 400 from Alpharetta is probably one of the worst commutes in town. My wife and I bought a house in Smyrna 2 years ago and we are really happy with our choice. We live just on the outskirts of the vinings which has some great shopping and restaurants. They are also in the process of redoing Cumberland Mall and building a performing arts center in Cobb County. The growth in "Smynings" is insane right now. My wife and I moved here because of what we expect the area to look like in the next 5 to 10 years. Also, my commute into the city from my house is 20min. during rush hour. I can get home in 12 when there is no traffic. Marietta is further out than Smyrna if commute is a big deal, but still not as bad as Alpharetta.

I guess every town has its parts, but the three you mentioned are definitely heading in the right direction. When you get a chance to visit again, drive around a bit and you will quickly know which parts are nice and not so nice.

Just read your first post again and saw that you have a child entering kindergarten. My wife has been teaching 8th grade for the past 4 years and will be transferring to Kindergarten this year. If you need advice on schools let me know and I will put you in touch with her. Feel free to PM me any time.

B

[staryful7]

I live 45 from Raleigh now and they is not the place I would want my family. Raleigh is having so many problems with their schools. Raleigh's population is growing to fast the schools can not keep up with the overpopulated schools. They just made most of the lower grades schools to all year, but not the high schools. The schools also do not have enough quality teachers to deal with all the diverse population of Raleigh. I would keep going on all the bad things, but you should look up the Wake County school system in North Carolina and you will see what I am talking. We are going to move to Atlanta and I am so glad. North Carolina is in serious trouble.

[Carolina_native]

Originally Posted by staryful7

I live 45 from Raleigh now and they is not the place I would want my family. Raleigh is having so many problems with their schools. Raleigh's population is growing to fast the schools can not keep up with the overpopulated schools. They just made most of the lower grades schools to all year, but not the high schools. The schools also do not have enough quality teachers to deal with all the diverse population of Raleigh. I would keep going on all the bad things, but you should look up the Wake County school system in North Carolina and you will see what I am talking. We are going to move to Atlanta and I am so glad. North Carolina is in serious trouble.

NC is in trouble because of all the growth that is taking place in only certain areas (particulary Raleigh and Charlotte suburbs) and it is nonstop. They arent gangs or anything. Mostly good people with families but it is "too much of a good thing" The citys (not just Raleigh) cannot keep up with the population and the roads are not improved. Greedy city councils approve development after development and the infrastructure stays the same, hence overcrowding on schools, traffic, etc.

[atlantagreg30127]

Ok, I hate to drop this on you, and I mean no personal offense to anyone in here if this applies to you - however, if you want to avoid an "overly religious" atmosphere as well as various other problems, you do not want to move to the South... anywhere.

Let me be more specific: If you move INSIDE the city of Atlanta, you won't see a lot of this. Most Atlanta residents are from tons of different and diverse places in the world, so you don't tend to see any one particular religion "taking over the mentality" so to speak. However, by moving into the city, what you GAIN is high crime (Atlanta has been ranked up to the 4th most dangerous city per capita by some studies), a horrible public school system, poor air quality, and so on. In other words, "typical big city crap".

Ok, so you move out to the suburbs to get away from the worst of the big city problems, right? Well, you gain others. Go to Alpharetta and as was mentioned above by someone else, the traffic and commute is horrible. Sliding over east a bit to Gwinett County (where so many transplants seem to move), and you gain traffic that is almost as bad as that on GA400 (Alpharetta) - the school system in Gwinnett is overburdoned with so many students many go to classes in portable trailers, and teachers struggle to keep up with so many immigrant students that up to 30 native languages are spoken in some schools.

Go south of the city? Crime. West, perhaps? Well, "Smyrna" is rapidly gaining a Latino population and traffic problems of its own. Further still to Powder Springs, Dallas, or Hiram, and some might say "redneckish", and you will then start to find that "very strong religious attitude". Once you go far enough into the suburbs in pretty much any direction, you find much less diversity, and much more of the religious stuff - but not diverse religious stuff - "Southern Baptist" (the most strict and some would say most uptight of all). Sorry to sound like I'm knocking one particular denomination, but Southern Baptists DO tend to have that "witch hunt" mentality... (if they don't like something, they do their best to get rid of it), etc.

In short - Atlanta still for whatever reason has the reputation as "The place" to move to, in short due to the number of available jobs and growth. Quality of life however, doesn't seem to be rated by those who suggest the move, and it's wrongfully ASSUMED by many, that the growth/job market also equals a healthy quality of life. It does not. I moved to Atlanta in 1984 and back then it was a much nicer city. Since that time, literally every single person I knew in that first ten years (about 25+ people) has left the Atlanta area completely. All of them. They've moved to other cities thoughout the country and in each case, wind up calling me saying, "Oh my god, it's SO much nicer here than Atlanta....". The crime, traffic, and smog in Atlanta have increased to such an extent during that time that even I have moved about 25+ miles outside the city, and plan in the next year or two to just completely leave Georgia, as the growth and problems spread out too rapidly to keep up with moving outward still yet again every few years.

There are some folks who just love it here. I can only say I do not, and I have known those many people who left after living in the area for a while. There are small pockets of nice suburbia throughout the area, but I'm personally not content to live in a "pocket" that is surrounded by problems that are only growing at a rate of around 65,000 new residents per year (average metro area growth). If you have no specific jobs lined up and are literally "starting over fresh" with a relocation, you may want to consider places like Spokane or Bellevue Washington, Portland Maine, Portland Oregon, Wheeling West Virginia - all of which get high ratings for "best places to live".

A google search on the web for "best places to live" will help find results, and a neat little site called "removed" will actually give you a detailed test of questions, and then give you a list of best areas that fit what you're looking for. I've tried various answers, and trust me, Atlanta never shows up on those lists.

Anyway - wherever you move - good luck with it.

[gottaGetOut]

Henrico County, VA has a great school system.