According to Money Magazine, Atlanta Is the Best Place to Live in the U.S. (Alpharetta: transplants, homes)

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

The manager at my last company was born and raised in Georgia but moved to Texas, and wouldn't stop talking about how much TX is better than GA. She was always talking about how there's no crime, no traffic, and everyone is polite and friendly since they are all good moral Christians who attend church every Sunday. She actually thought Georgia is too liberal for her taste. Also she made an exception with Austin, said that city is a "craphole" (her actual word, she wouldn't say the other word, lol).

Oh yeah, no, there's no crime in Texas. Where they blew Kennedy's head off. They sacrifice innocent school children for the cult of gun fetishism. In less than 5 years, they've had 3 incidents where more than 20 people were mass murdered. They force women to give their bodies up to the state, making it a felony to exert their own basic personal autonomy.

Yeah, morality. That's Christianity in a nutshell. Here I am a moderate, consider myself in general to be more libertarian than progressive, and I know I will never again live in a state that's at Georgia levels, or worse. I'd only ever consider moving back to my home state, if I saw a hopeful trend of positive social changes there.

The thing about Georgia, is the tides are shifting in a way that could and should theoretically lead to social moderation. But the demographics don't yet match the power structure and established political apparatus. And Kemp would rather pander to the base of rural ignorance and bigotry about immigration, and put on that whole annoying over the top southern accent of his that makes him sound like a damn moron, and makes it seem to outsiders like all white southerners are anything like that in any way.

In terms of Atlanta, its progressivism is the key to its strength, in particular with how it balances out the conservative state politics. I say this as a non-progressive, who also sees the folly of far-left politics particularly with how they deal with issues like homelessness in Seattle. But there's a sensible middle ground. If Atlanta and Georgia embraced more of that direction and mindset, while still being relatively affordable and generally lower on taxes, then that would be an ideal compromise for continued thriving.

What bothers me is that Kemp will probably win by like a single percentage point or 2, and then proceed to push hard-right misogynist anti-abortion irrational lunacy on the masses. Major events and film industry and business interests be damned.

The politics of Georgia needs to be reflective of the people that live there. It's a purple state, about evenly split between the parties. Therefore it theoretically should be no home for extremism in either direction. Which should be a great thing, since extremism is unwise.

Really that's the best thing I can say about Atlanta... it's moderate, in so many ways. Politically, climate-wise, cost of living. It's way better than the worst examples of pretty much almost any kind of important category you can think of. And that is truly a good strength for the city, in terms of its livability and appeal.

It's always been Georgia that I've had the issues with.

[MichiganderTexan]

Originally Posted by ShenardL

Let's look at Atlanta, development along the interstates with plenty of greenspace with no development:


Now let's look at the same distance of Houston:


Or Dallas:


You're telling me Dallas and Houston doesn't look more chaotic with no rhyme or reason?

What that looks like to me is more density. Atlanta spreads just as far out but has a lot lower density development. I think you're confusing sprawl and density.

[ShenardL]

Originally Posted by MichiganderTexan

What that looks like to me is more density. Atlanta spreads just as far out but has a lot lower density development. I think you're confusing sprawl and density.

Sprawl = unrestricted growth growing out in all directions. "To spread or develop irregularly or without restraint." No it doesn't mean density, it means chaotic building without rhyme or reason which you can clearly see in the satellite views.

[jetgraphics]

Originally Posted by primaltech

hard-right misogynist anti-abortion irrational lunacy.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but how does protecting helpless life dependent upon a host, become irrational lunacy, and misogynistic?
I would think the opposite, "pro-choice" feticide - that is the irrational lunacy - killing helpless life, for "convenience." And killing female fetuses is REAL misogyny.

Would you have preferred to be aborted?

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by jetgraphics

Perhaps I am mistaken, but how does protecting helpless life dependent upon a host, become irrational lunacy, and misogynistic?
I would think the opposite, "pro-choice" feticide - that is the irrational lunacy - killing helpless life, for "convenience." And killing female fetuses is REAL misogyny.

Would you have preferred to be aborted?

Yes, you're clearly mistaken. This is way way off topic, so I'll just say that I shared my thoughts on that topic in this thread, starting on page 4, and the continuing discussion with those who participated in the debate. It's a locked thread now, but feel free to read, and learn a thing or two, if you're capable of that:

https://www.city-data.com/forum/grea...on-anyone.html

[Redlionjr]

Originally Posted by Columbus1984

Lol, huh? The sprawl of Texas cities is crazy compared to Atlanta. All of these cities sprawl but not to the extent of Texas cities, especially Dallas. There is absolutely nothing organized about it. Houston doesn't have zoning laws lol. It's a complete mess there.

Crazy compared to Atlanta? Really? All 3 metros are heavily car centric sprawling messes. I don't think anybody coming from either MSA could call out one over the other when it comes to sprawling messes.

And even though I'm more of a fan of Atlanta, DFW is probably the most organized MSA of the 3 cities. I actually understand what Michigander was saying. Case and point, when me and my Wife lived in Atlanta we were driving to McDonough all the way from Chamblee to look at some cars to purchase. I was amazed when I found out that McDonough was still considered apart of Atlanta's MSA. There was a ton of rural area in between Atlanta and McDonough. In Houston and Dallas msa within that same distance you're still driving through neighborhoods and suburbs connected from the core of the city all the way to the farthest suburb that makes up these MSA's.

I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that a town(suburb) so disconnected from the core of the city can still be considered apart of the metro. To me that's no rhyme and reason to that infrastructure.

With that said I prefer Atlanta's MSA over Houston's and Dallas for these very reasons:

As much as Atlanta's sprawl and traffic drive me crazy, the variety of neighborhoods both within the city and in smaller close-in suburbs with walkable historic downtowns is really a selling point. Other than June through August, the weather is pretty hard to beat. Hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires aren't major concerns. And the greenery, trees, rolling landscape and foothills of the Appalachians really are beautiful. So, yeah, if I have to live somewhere this big, for now, Atlanta wins, and pretty easily.

Originally Posted by ShenardL

Looking at the sprawls of Dallas/Houston vs Atlanta on Google Satellite view, the texas cities are a lot messier and more chaotic.

Do you think LA is more messier and more chaotic?

Originally Posted by primaltech

Texas seems like all the worst things about Georgia, and none of the good things. Yeah, they do build roads, but nobody in Atlanta is like, 'man, I want to go live where it's flat everywhere and even hotter, and the politics are even worse.'

There's definitely more Georgia plates here in Texas than when I first moved back to Texas in 2017. So there's definitely some Atlanta/ Georgia natives moving here. Btw, not all of Texas is flat. There's rolling hills in East Texas, the hill country in Central Texas and of course you have some mountains in the Western southern tip of the state. Of course Georgia has a lot of beautiful landscapes that Texas simply doesn't have but personally I probably prefer Texas over Georgia state wise. Cities though, I'd pick Atlana over the big cities in Texas.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by Columbus1984

A study from almost a decade ago. I'll pass.

Wow dude go look up some statistics from 2020-2022 if you'd like. You'd see Atlanta is far less dense than the Texas metros, who by the way sprawl in an organized grid. I've never seen someone say the Texas cities sprawl more than Atlanta because it simply isnt true.

[Columbus1984]

Originally Posted by ShenardL

Sprawl = unrestricted growth growing out in all directions. "To spread or develop irregularly or without restraint." No it doesn't mean density, it means chaotic building without rhyme or reason which you can clearly see in the satellite views.

Exactly

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by ShenardL

Let's look at Atlanta, development along the interstates with plenty of greenspace with no development:


Now let's look at the same distance of Houston:


Or Dallas:


You're telling me Dallas and Houston doesn't look more chaotic with no rhyme or reason?

To me it doesn't. The sprawl of the Texas cities is somewhat more organized, being arranged on a gridded plat system and serviced by frontage and other secondary roads. Atlanta's is more curvy and random which coincides with the lay of the land in the Piedmont but the lack of a robust secondary road network in comparison to Houston and Dallas is lamentable.

[ShenardL]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

Do you think LA is more messier and more chaotic?

LA is probably the most sprawl area I've visited. It's the ultimate poster child of sprawl. Even though LA county is dense.