Microsoft expansion (Atlanta, Lenox: school, colleges, income)

[Chevalier de Saint-George]

The West Side is prime anyway. I like the home rehabilitation and new build work happening in the area. I'd like to see the West Side get all that it can....It's good for the area and I don't think the leadership will discourage this from coming to fruition. New/rehabbed homes are already bringing in different people. Don't see that changing.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by TexasToGA

Atlanta needs to attract more tech companies and corporate jobs after losing out on many corporate offices over the past several years and losing major companies like SunTrust, AT&T etc.

Atlanta is doing OK in the corporate jobs department, and your examples of Suntrust and AT&T are flawed. Though a few executive jobs are located at an HQ in another city, both companies have the majority of their workforce in Atlanta. AT&T’s acquisition of Turner/CNN a couple of years ago actually expanded its footprint in Atlanta to more than 20,000.

Even before the Microsoft announcement, the expansions of Google, Facebook, Salesforce, and other tech companies were already game changers.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by ronricks

We've got massive crime in the city now and these fools are worried about neighborhoods improving?

This is the most Atlanta thing ever. I think KLB has more pressing issues than to worry about homes being rehabbed and blighted neighborhoods improved.

A few years ago, I was house hunting in DuPont Commons and felt weird considering luxury housing in what obviously was a working-class/industrial area. Some of these early Brock Built developments were obviously Columbusing the market and setting expectations in pricing to what we have now.

When outsiders change a neighborhood without any thought about how you can remain a part of it, then, yes, you have a right to speak up; especially if you own the property. Renters always get the shaft in these situations, and there’s probably not much that can be done. Rapid change like this is hard, and there don’t seem to be many other places to go ITP to find a balance between affordable and slow, but steady improvements.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by cparker73

A few years ago, I was house hunting in DuPont Commons and felt weird considering luxury housing in what obviously was a working-class/industrial area. Some of these early Brock Built developments were obviously Columbusing the market and setting expectations in pricing to what we have now.

When outsiders change a neighborhood without any thought about how you can remain a part of it, then, yes, you have a right to speak up; especially if you own the property. Renters always get the shaft in these situations, and there’s probably not much that can be done. Rapid change like this is hard, and there don’t seem to be many other places to go ITP to find a balance between affordable and slow, but steady improvements.

This has happened in the city of Atlanta since the beginning of time. Neighborhoods change. Its perfectly normal and ok and yes sometimes people have to move. Nowhere does it say neighborhoods can't change or people can just stay in an area no matter what. That's just life. Sometimes it is great sometimes it sucks. There is no ownership of any neighborhood in Atlanta. People are free to move to where they can afford.

[AtlJan]

Originally Posted by ronricks

This has happened in the city of Atlanta since the beginning of time. Neighborhoods change. Its perfectly normal and ok and yes sometimes people have to move. Nowhere does it say neighborhoods can't change or people can just stay in an area no matter what. That's just life. Sometimes it is great sometimes it sucks. There is no ownership of any neighborhood in Atlanta. People are free to move to where they can afford.

Agree. And there's also no promise that a neighborhood will continue to improve. Neighborhoods also go from prime to less than desirable. If anyone remembers Ansley Park in the 1970s, it was slummy w/ many of the mansions having been divided into multiple apartments.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by AtlJan

Agree. And there's also no promise that a neighborhood will continue to improve. Neighborhoods also go from prime to less than desirable. If anyone remembers Ansley Park in the 1970s, it was slummy w/ many of the mansions having been divided into multiple apartments.

No doubt about it. Morningside, Buckhead, Candler Park, Inman Park and many other now prosperous neighborhoods have been hit hard by highways, demographic changes and other factors.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by ronricks

This has happened in the city of Atlanta since the beginning of time. Neighborhoods change. Its perfectly normal and ok and yes sometimes people have to move. Nowhere does it say neighborhoods can't change or people can just stay in an area no matter what. That's just life. Sometimes it is great sometimes it sucks. There is no ownership of any neighborhood in Atlanta. People are free to move to where they can afford.

Originally Posted by AtlJan

Agree. And there's also no promise that a neighborhood will continue to improve. Neighborhoods also go from prime to less than desirable. If anyone remembers Ansley Park in the 1970s, it was slummy w/ many of the mansions having been divided into multiple apartments.

Originally Posted by arjay57

No doubt about it. Morningside, Buckhead, Candler Park, Inman Park and many other now prosperous neighborhoods have been hit hard by highways, demographic changes and other factors.

I get it. Cities change. I've always been a cheerleader for "progress" and obsess over every new announcement about a new high rise or HQ relocation, but I also like to keep in mind the downsides and how we can make the landing a bit softer for those negatively impacted.

No matter how you slice it, new development destroys what existed before...good and bad. I remember when I was a kid in the 80s that nearly every block of Peachtree Street from Midtown to Lenox had historic grand homes that we'd die to still have with us today, but add a strip mall here, a condo there, and boom, the neighborhoods, structures and people that link us to our past are gone. On the Westside, we're talking about people's homes and the communities they're a part of that can't be easily replicated by moving to some cheaper outer suburb. You also have to keep in mind that the negative effects are usually shouldered by the same demographic of people who are in the position they're in partly because of harmful policies at every level of government for decades if not centuries. Many people on the Westside live there because segregationist housing policies didn't allow them to buy homes anywhere else.

We have to ask ourselves who is Atlanta for? What parts of its cultural makeup are being destroyed and how do we preserve the best parts of the culture? What makes up a city are its people and not glass buildings. If we aren't careful, the diversity of the city's residents that so many companies tout for why they're relocating here will be nonexistent.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by cparker73

I get it. Cities change. I've always been a cheerleader for "progress" and obsess over every new announcement about a new high rise or HQ relocation, but I also like to keep in mind the downsides and how we can make the landing a bit softer for those negatively impacted.

No matter how you slice it, new development destroys what existed before...good and bad. I remember when I was a kid in the 80s that nearly every block of Peachtree Street from Midtown to Lenox had historic grand homes that we'd die to still have with us today, but add a strip mall here, a condo there, and boom, the neighborhoods, structures and people that link us to our past are gone. On the Westside, we're talking about people's homes and the communities they're a part of that can't be easily replicated by moving to some cheaper outer suburb. You also have to keep in mind that the negative effects are usually shouldered by the same demographic of people who are in the position they're in partly because of harmful policies at every level of government for decades if not centuries. Many people on the Westside live there because segregationist housing policies didn't allow them to buy homes anywhere else.

We have to ask ourselves who is Atlanta for? What parts of its cultural makeup are being destroyed and how do we preserve the best parts of the culture? What makes up a city are its people and not glass buildings. If we aren't careful, the diversity of the city's residents that so many companies tout for why they're relocating here will be nonexistent.

You realize the majority of these neighborhoods that have been discussed on here for various reasons like corporate relocations, new Headquarters, or other projects like the new Westside Park neighborhoods like Grove Park, Bankhead, English Ave, Vine City etc are not diverse neighborhoods? Isn't making these neighborhoods more diverse a good thing?

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by ronricks

You realize the majority of these neighborhoods that have been discussed on here for various reasons like corporate relocations, new Headquarters, or other projects like the new Westside Park neighborhoods like Grove Park, Bankhead, English Ave, Vine City etc are not diverse neighborhoods? Isn't making these neighborhoods more diverse a good thing?

Why do you insist on being so obtuse? You know what people mean when they say diverse that they actually mean Black. Silicon Valley companies aren't coming to Atlanta to diversify their workforce with Asians.

[ronricks]

Originally Posted by cparker73

Why do you insist on being so obtuse? You know what people mean when they say diverse that they actually mean Black. Silicon Valley companies aren't coming to Atlanta to diversify their workforce with Asians.

I'm not being obtuse because Diversity doesn't just mean black people. You realize that don't you? As it strands right now those neighborhoods are not diverse at all and I would think someone who claims to be progressive like yourself would one know that and two would welcome added diversity to any neighborhood no matter what the current social, ethnic, genders, sexual orientations are. Just to help those out on here that don't know what Diversity actually means:


1. the state of being diverse; variety.


2. the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.