Black Family Considering Moving to Lawrenceville (Atlanta, Roswell: crime rates, new home, employment)

[SunshineAndUnicorns]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

The Lawrenceville area is a good place to target for a family looking to live in an ultra-diverse suburban environment with good schools and a large and robust black population.

The only problem is that the commute between the Lawrenceville area and your husband's office in Alpharetta would not be the most convenient in an Atlanta metropolitan area/region where newcomers are often very strongly encouraged to live as close to their jobs as might be possible because of the very severe traffic congestion that much of the Atlanta metro area often experiences.

If your husband will be frequently commuting to and from his job in Alpharetta (which is an extremely diverse community with excellent schools and loads and loads of amenities in its own right), you would probably be very well-advised to look for housing in an area that are convenient as possible to your husband's job in Alpharetta and North Fulton County like AtlJan advised.

Alpharetta and North Fulton County features a vastly different housing market than an area like Lawrenceville and Central Gwinnett County that you have originally targeted.

Detached single-family homes are very tough to come by within your preferred price range of $250k and under in Alpharetta and North Fulton County (which is an area that has emerged as a major jobs/employment and activity hub for the greater Atlanta metro area/region)… So you will have very little choice but to include multi-family dwellings (townhomes, condominiums and apartments) as part of your housing search, if you elect to look for housing near your husband's job in the Alpharetta/North Fulton area as you are strongly advised to do because of the very severe traffic congestion that is a feature of life on the heavily-developed and heavily-populated Northside of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Alpharetta is a good area to target because of a crime rate that is very low (particularly by metro Atlanta/Georgia/Southeastern U.S. standards), an excellent school system in the North Fulton portion of the Fulton County Schools system, loads and loads of amenities (including much high-end and high-quality retail amenities) and an increasingly diverse population.

If you decide to look for housing in the Alpharetta/North Fulton area (as you are very strongly advised to do because of North metro Atlanta's very severe traffic congestion issues), start your search for housing in the cluster of the Fulton County Schools system anchored by the extremely highly-rated and highly-regarded Alpharetta High School.

If you cannot find anything you like in the cluster of schools anchored by Alpharetta High School (while keeping in mind that multi-family dwellings like townhomes, condominiums and apartments will have to be part of your housing search in this area where multi-family dwellings make up a significant part of a very competitive North Fulton County housing market), expand your search to the neighboring clusters of schools anchored by Chattahoochee and Centennial high schools where the populations are very diverse and black communities are well-represented.

The clusters of schools anchored by Northview, Johns Creek and Roswell high schools are also good options, but Northview High School has a reputation for being fiercely academically competitive (maybe too academically competitive and too singularly focused on academics at the expense of social development in some cases), Johns Creek High School has a reputation for being kind of socially competitive in some circles, and Roswell High School (which is an excellent school in its own right) often gets overlooked because it is geographically located directly between two clusters of some of the absolute highest-rated public schools in the Southeastern U.S. in North Fulton and East Cobb counties.

Uhmmm... I think you're suggesting that we move to Alpharetta! LOL! This gave me a chuckle, and a ton of info. Thank you. I'll have him take a look at anything that is in our price range when he goes back out for work. My major concern with Alpharetta (aside from the cost of living) is that its demographics look to be similar to where we live now, which makes me a bit nervous. I'm hoping we can become a part of a large black community to make our lives a bit easier than they are now.

[Otakumaster]

Originally Posted by SunshineAndUnicorns

Uhmmm... I think you're suggesting that we move to Alpharetta! LOL! This gave me a chuckle, and a ton of info. Thank you. I'll have him take a look at anything that is in our price range when he goes back out for work. My major concern with Alpharetta (aside from the cost of living) is that its demographics look to be similar to where we live now, which makes me a bit nervous. I'm hoping we can become a part of a large black community to make our lives a bit easier than they are now.

Hardly anywhere in the core 5 metro counties is going to be as white as the PNW. North Fulton isn't known for having tons of black people but there are going to be more there than the PNW as well as everything else.

You can also opt to move to somewhere further west in Gwinnett like Duluth, Peachtree Corners, Norcross or Suwanee for cheaper housing and more black people. All of which have good - great schools and are much better commutes to Alpharetta than Lawrenceville.

[SAAN]

Best way to handle traffic in metro is a 10-7 or 11-8 shift, especially between Alpharetta and Lawrenceville. Maybe 7-3 also.



Working 8-4 or 5 or 9-6 will have you hating life.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by SunshineAndUnicorns

Uhmmm... I think you're suggesting that we move to Alpharetta! LOL! This gave me a chuckle, and a ton of info. Thank you. I'll have him take a look at anything that is in our price range when he goes back out for work. My major concern with Alpharetta (aside from the cost of living) is that its demographics look to be similar to where we live now, which makes me a bit nervous. I'm hoping we can become a part of a large black community to make our lives a bit easier than they are now.

LOL @ anywhere in Metro Atlanta being as ‘white’ as the PNW. Just move to SW Atlanta. Your concerns are very bizarre btw.

[Tarzanman]

Originally Posted by SunshineAndUnicorns

Hello out there,


My family currently lives in Portland, OR, and the makeup and history of the city has us seriously considering moving to GA. Portland is the whitest major city in the nation, and its history has created not just extremely traumatized minority populations, but a weirdness that I have never experienced anywhere else.

What is it about the history of the city that makes you want to leave? I was looking at Portland as one of my potential targets for employment opportunities because I have had such a hard time finding work here.

Priorities Are (in order):
- Living in a thriving community of black folks who celebrate and love themselves where my kids can feel like they belong.

This is going to vary greatly. As with any group of people, the good comes with the bad. While there is certainly a community of educated, ambitious and successful people of color here, there are also members of the minority group who are content to check off just about every negative aspect on the list of stereotypes. Your kids might have to deal with a different type of identity crisis.

- A diverse population (black, latino, native, asian) with white folks being the overall minority in the city/town/county.

I haven't done much research in a while, but this will be hard to come by in the best performing schools in the area, with the possible exception of the schoos that are plurality asian. As a general trend, school quality correlates with household income and asians top the list, followed by caucasians and then pacific islanders (news flash, not many of them here in Atlanta) and then hispanics, etc etc with african americans at the bottom of the list).

- A decent school system.

If I were you, I would rank a decent school system above a diverse population. The metro is diverse enough where you'll encounter all sorts of folks just walking about.

- An hour or less for an office commute.

Then you'll need to line up a job before moving here unless you happen to be a hot shot programmer.

- Lower Crime Rates.

Crime is not bad compared to basically every large city in the USA. Portland has less, but if you've ever lived in and around a large city then you should already know which habits will lessen the probability of being victimized by property crime or violent crime. The suburbs here are largely safe.
[/quote]

My husband currently works from home, but his office is based in Alpharetta--thus the reason why GA is top of the list to move to. Budget is limited, but around $1600-ish for a rental and if the area works out, would like to keep any potential home purchase to less than $250k.

Alpharetta, Roswell, or Johns Creek will probably tick most of your boxes except for wanting to move somewhere were whites are in the minority. There's really not anywhere like that in the northern metro except perhaps for unincorporated Norcross (hispanic) and tiny swaths of Duluth (korean) Check the racial dot map. $250k won't be enough with current housing prices, though unless you get something older.

The internets are telling me that Gwinnett county and particularly Lawrenceville tick a lot of our priority list. Can anyone weigh in and tell us if we are on track? What is life like for a youngish family with elementary-aged kids in Lawrenceville? What about access to amenities (grocery stores, big-box stores, restaurants, nightlife/cultural events, family activities)? How welcoming is the community? What is the typical reaction to interracial families? What about schools: are they open to cultural celebrations? Does the environment generally and typically feel hostile for brown and black folks? How has the current political environment impacted the city, if at all (more liberal? more conservative? In between?)? Curious minds would love to know. The husband is heading out for a business trip soon and I would love to steer him towards the right areas to check out.

Gwinnett county and Fulton County are large and he wont' have enough time to explore. I think your best bet is the area southeast of GA400 and northwest of I-85... particularly northeast of HWY92 (Holcomb Br rd).

Originally Posted by SunshineAndUnicorns

Uhmmm... I think you're suggesting that we move to Alpharetta! LOL! This gave me a chuckle, and a ton of info. Thank you. I'll have him take a look at anything that is in our price range when he goes back out for work. My major concern with Alpharetta (aside from the cost of living) is that its demographics look to be similar to where we live now, which makes me a bit nervous. I'm hoping we can become a part of a large black community to make our lives a bit easier than they are now.

Alpharetta/Johns Creek is a good suggestion. Probably Johns Creek moreso. If you are really itching for a few more percentage points of diversity than that then look along the 141/Peachtree Industrial corridor around Berkeley Lake

[ATLTJL]

If you move somewhere with an awful commute, I promise you: your husband isn't going to care of everyone else is a green Martian.

Get over it and intermingle. That's what we all do.

[sedimenjerry]

How about a school like Peachtree Ridge? 25 % Asian, 27% black, 17% Hispanic, 27% white. Hard to get much more balanced than that.

And I'm confused, so your husband will be able to work from home? Commuting to Alpharetta is just as needed?

[SunshineAndUnicorns]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

This is your commute to Alpharetta from Lawrenceville...



How long does it take you?


...ask me how I know.

Wow! How do you know? No really--thank you for the pics. It gives us a much better idea of what that commute will be like. I'm hoping he won't need to do it more than twice a week, but it's still going to be a challenge.

[SunshineAndUnicorns]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

How about a school like Peachtree Ridge? 25 % Asian, 27% black, 17% Hispanic, 27% white. Hard to get much more balanced than that.

And I'm confused, so your husband will be able to work from home? Commuting to Alpharetta is just as needed?

Yes...he will not need to commute every day. He will keep the same job and just be able to be in the office for the more important meetings as needed, and continue to work from home the rest of the time. He might also be able to work off hours to combat that commute.

[SunshineAndUnicorns]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

If you move somewhere with an awful commute, I promise you: your husband isn't going to care of everyone else is a green Martian.

Get over it and intermingle. That's what we all do.

You will say that until you've had to intermingle in the PNW--particularly Portland--as a black person. It's different here. Might be a valid point for the East coast though, so thank you for the reminder. And he won't have to do that commute every day, or even during peak hours. He's the one who really wants to move, and he knows he will probably be sitting in traffic if we do.