LaVista Park Petitioning For Brookhaven Annexation (Atlanta, Rome: middle schools, pros and cons, incomes)

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Imagine being a resident of Atlanta-in-DeKalb

So what on a practical level is different for an Atlanta in DeKalb resident than an Atlanta in Fulton resident? All services and school district is COA, right? Do you get to vote in countywide DeKalb elections? Do the courts follow county lines? Courts is the only thing I can think of. Any others?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

So what on a practical level is different for an Atlanta in DeKalb resident than an Atlanta in Fulton resident? All services and school district is COA, right? Do you get to vote in countywide DeKalb elections? Do the courts follow county lines? Courts is the only thing I can think of. Any others?

Unless things have changed, DeKalb is still responsible for infrastructure maintenance and improvements in A-I-D. I had a friend that lived on Zimmer Drive in Morningside; the street is bisected by the DeKalb/Fulton line but is wholly within the COA. My friend was on the DeKalb side.
When it came time for the street to be repaved, COA took on the western end, DeKalb the eastern. It took COA two weeks to complete their end. It took DeKalb six months.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

Unless things have changed, DeKalb is still responsible for infrastructure maintenance and improvements in A-I-D. I had a friend that lived on Zimmer Drive in Morningside; the street is bisected by the DeKalb/Fulton line but is wholly within the COA. My friend was on the DeKalb side.
When it came time for the street to be repaved, COA took on the western end, DeKalb the eastern. It took COA two weeks to complete their end. It took DeKalb six months.

Chalk up another point on the side of the COA being on the up and up over DeKalb....

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

Unless things have changed, DeKalb is still responsible for infrastructure maintenance and improvements in A-I-D. I had a friend that lived on Zimmer Drive in Morningside; the street is bisected by the DeKalb/Fulton line but is wholly within the COA. My friend was on the DeKalb side.
When it came time for the street to be repaved, COA took on the western end, DeKalb the eastern. It took COA two weeks to complete their end. It took DeKalb six months.

City of Atlanta is responsible for street, water, sewer, and stormwater infrastructure inside City Limits.

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

So what on a practical level is different for an Atlanta in DeKalb resident than an Atlanta in Fulton resident? All services and school district is COA, right? Do you get to vote in countywide DeKalb elections? Do the courts follow county lines? Courts is the only thing I can think of. Any others?

The issues with living Atlanta-in-DeKalb are that the City of Atlanta ignores you because 90% of the city is in Fulton so they tend to forget about us. DeKalb Co ignores us because we are inside City Limits.

[arjay57]

DeKalb is mixed bag. Parts of it are booming, other areas are still lagging. The gummint and the schools out there used to be first rate.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

DeKalb is mixed bag. Parts of it are booming, other areas are still lagging. The gummint and the schools out there used to be first rate.

What happened? White flight to further out places?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by cqholt

What happened? White flight to further out places?

Basically, Emory and COD acted as a buffer in the 1970's to protect the northern areas of the county from white flight. White residents of the lower 2/3rds of DeKalb refugeed to Gwinnett, Cobb and north Fulton.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

Basically, Emory and COD acted as a buffer in the 1970's to protect the northern areas of the county from white flight. White residents of the lower 2/3rds of DeKalb refugeed to Gwinnett, Cobb and north Fulton.

You're right, but I would say the dividing line was a little further south - in the City of Decatur. The north side of Decatur never experienced white flight and that extended to the areas around Agnes Scott College as well as Avondale Estates. The whites in Decatur never left even when they weren't the majority in the City Schools. Now, they are the majority and gentrification has occurred going south from Decatur towards Eastlake.


The DeKalb County of the past some are posting about are the times when Leanna Levitan and Manuel Maloof were the leaders of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners. They were elected by a different voting demographic - one in which there were a large number of white middle class voters in Stone Mountain as well as South DeKalb. At the same time, there was a significant black population, but the Hispanic and Asian populations in the Chamblee area were not many in number. In fact, the Chamblee and Doraville of the 1970's were pretty working class - The group Atlanta Rhythm Section reflected that reality with their song, "Doraville, A little bit of country in the city". Dunwoody was originally a very middle class area with lots of split level, "Brady Bunch" homes. There was a JC Penny at Perimeter Mall.


Today, the county tends to be a little more economically polarized with high incomes in the north and central areas (and Decatur) and lower incomes in the south.


The ARC (Atlanta Regional Commission) had a map showing the Census Tracts which were in the top 20% income level in the late 1960's and compared it to present day. The most significant change occurred in South DeKalb. The Census Tract just west of Candler Rd. was in the top 20% income group (of the Metro Atlanta area)in the late 1960's and now is in the bottom 20%. No Census Tract has experienced such a significant change. Seeing the income figures for the late 1960's, it is understandable why the South DeKalb Mall was constructed. Also, speaking of malls - DeKalb was a mecca for malls in the 1970's when the county had South DeKalb Mall. Avondale Mall/Columbia Mall (anchored by Davidson's and Sears), Belvedere Plaza (anchored by Rich's and also on the south side of Decatur), North DeKalb Mall, Northlake Mall and Perimeter Mall. There were a large number of middle class shoppers to support all of that retail.

[jeoff]

Originally Posted by cqholt

What happened? White flight to further out places?

Mostly—the school system was under court order to integrate for decades—and it wasn’t done well (though I am not sure if there was a good way to do it at the time), M to M programs were a brain drain for majority black schools—guaranteeing they got worse (many of the best black students opted for majority white schools), and some whites fled, and others just stop moving into Dekalb, opting for places that a court order did not influence every single decision being made in the school system.
Contrast that with Gwinnett, which has integrated, but has not had to destroy the existing infrastructure to do it.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by David1502

You're right, but I would say the dividing line was a little further south - in the City of Decatur. The north side of Decatur never experienced white flight and that extended to the areas around Agnes Scott College as well as Avondale Estates. The whites in Decatur never left even when they weren't the majority in the City Schools. Now, they are the majority and gentrification has occurred going south from Decatur towards Eastlake.


The DeKalb County of the past some are posting about are the times when Leanna Levitan and Manuel Maloof were the leaders of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners. They were elected by a different voting demographic - one in which there were a large number of white middle class voters in Stone Mountain as well as South DeKalb. At the same time, there was a significant black population, but the Hispanic and Asian populations in the Chamblee area were not many in number. In fact, the Chamblee and Doraville of the 1970's were pretty working class - The group Atlanta Rhythm Section reflected that reality with their song, "Doraville, A little bit of country in the city". Dunwoody was originally a very middle class area with lots of split level, "Brady Bunch" homes. There was a JC Penny at Perimeter Mall.


Today, the county tends to be a little more economically polarized with high incomes in the north and central areas (and Decatur) and lower incomes in the south.


The ARC (Atlanta Regional Commission) had a map showing the Census Tracts which were in the top 20% income level in the late 1960's and compared it to present day. The most significant change occurred in South DeKalb. The Census Tract just west of Candler Rd. was in the top 20% income group (of the Metro Atlanta area)in the late 1960's and now is in the bottom 20%. No Census Tract has experienced such a significant change. Seeing the income figures for the late 1960's, it is understandable why the South DeKalb Mall was constructed. Also, speaking of malls - DeKalb was a mecca for malls in the 1970's when the county had South DeKalb Mall. Avondale Mall/Columbia Mall (anchored by Davidson's and Sears), Belvedere Plaza (anchored by Rich's and also on the south side of Decatur), North DeKalb Mall, Northlake Mall and Perimeter Mall. There were a large number of middle class shoppers to support all of that retail.

Yes, the true 'buffer' was Ponce de Leon and the RR track; there was some black encroachment into south CoD neighborhoods like Oakhurst.