Atlanta and Savannah vs. the rest of the state (Valdosta: live, fence)

[AuburnAL]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

Come on dude. Atlanta may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine because every place isn't for everybody. But this "summarization" is quite ridiculous.

Allow me to clarify. Those are the things I like about Atlanta that I can't find elsewhere (well lots of places have subways actually, but Atlanta has the nearest one to me; and there is a Varsity in Athens and one near the Carter Center, but I imagine it loses some of the charm without the 50 cash registers side by side and the person taking your order shouting imprenetrable diner jargon at the folks in the kitchen) and consider positives for the city. My list is based on a pretty limited experience, but I have to think if there were a lot of things I'd really like about the city other than those I'd've heard about them sometime or the other.

I'm not trying to down Atlanta. I'm sure it is as good of a place as most places. However, as I said its been my experience that most people in the South aren't that envious of something intangible or special about Atlanta as they are the fact that it has a large population and some of the things only large population cities have. You do find a lot of folks in the smaller cities in the South comparing themselves to Atlanta since it is the "big city," but at the same time they do not desire to move there.

[SW30303]

WanderingImport:

I completely agree with this. Which is why I'm trying to get into the city and out of my temporary place of residence, Jackson County! The country is pretty, but give me the city and a flavor of diversity any day!

I had a close relative live in Jackson county after living many years in Atlanta metro suburbs. Yes, Jackson county for me was a culture shock even though I do like lots of areas in rural Georgia myself, especially North Georgia with the mountains and hills. I would not want to live there myself. The area is way too conservative and hostile to outsiders, and the outsiders are people from the metro and surrounding counties. Jackson county is ideal for people who like country living and for retirees perhaps, but it just is not for me at all.

I like very much Savannah as a visitor, but I am not sure about living there. As I get older, I think I would like to live there or some second tier city, but it definitely has some major limitations for me interest wise. History is one of my biggest hobbies, so that alone would be a draw to live in Savannah, but I don't care for very flat land topography wise or the oppressive humidity that is there on the coast. Being close to the beach is a definite plus. The part about Atlanta I abhor the most is the traffic. Living around people from different parts of the country or world is more interesting personally.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

Allow me to clarify. Those are the things I like about Atlanta that I can't find elsewhere (well lots of places have subways actually, but Atlanta has the nearest one to me; and there is a Varsity in Athens and one near the Carter Center, but I imagine it loses some of the charm without the 50 cash registers side by side and the person taking your order shouting imprenetrable diner jargon at the folks in the kitchen) and consider positives for the city. My list is based on a pretty limited experience, but I have to think if there were a lot of things I'd really like about the city other than those I'd've heard about them sometime or the other.

I'm not trying to down Atlanta. I'm sure it is as good of a place as most places. However, as I said its been my experience that most people in the South aren't that envious of something intangible or special about Atlanta as they are the fact that it has a large population and some of the things only large population cities have. You do find a lot of folks in the smaller cities in the South comparing themselves to Atlanta since it is the "big city," but at the same time they do not desire to move there.

Fair enough.

[southernnaturelover]

I agree that many Southerners (even in GA) try to avoid Atlanta at all costs.

[WanderingImport]

Someone posted earlier that there were lots of transplants in Atlanta. While that's certainly true, I've found that in the time I've been in this part of Georgia (I commute to Atlanta for work) I've noticed that there is still a very strong influence of natives here, more so than even Savannah.

To me, Savannah seems as if there are more transplants. Maybe it's because there aren't as many people in Savannah so it's easier to notice?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

Come on dude. Atlanta may not be your cup of tea, and that's fine because every place isn't for everybody. But this "summarization" is quite ridiculous.

I agree. I never have understood the impulse of certain posters to speak out of complete ignorance.

[Bizurko]

Atlanta in my opinion, even though i love the city, has done everything wrong to be a true major city. It was poorly planned out and poorly supported. Yes it is the great state of Georgia's capital but its met with so much hostility even from its own people. The traffic sucks very badly its comparable to L.A.'s traffic definitely, and i truly believe that this is due in most part by our poor excuse for a transit system. A large bit of Atlanta's workers do not live within the city limits and a lot still do not live within the perimeter so without proper access to public transportation(don't say we have it because in the grand scheme of things we don't). I realize that the blame is in large part with those other counties out of fear of crime being introduced to other areas where it wasn't as prevalent before, however its mostly that a white man doesn't want to live next to a black man, i know its the truth it hurts, i personally have no problem living next to an African-american or a Hispanic-american or an Asian-american or any other race for that matter,but peoples values are hard to change if a man grew up associating black men or Hispanic men with crime your not going to change his mind overnight. In conclusion however this has hurt all the aspects for growth in our city if it brings in new people people in the metro associate that with bringing in more crime, some part of that may be true, but it will also bring more business opportunities and in turn boosting our economy. A big thing from that is that traffic is so bad people want to move into the city but there really isn't much for them to move too so they stay where they are at causing the huge sprawl "problem" that Atlanta has if we want our city to be known for something more than an airport fix our public transportation. That'll help drastically.

[Akhenaton06]

^Blame the state for not giving any support to MARTA. It's just ridiculous.

[Bizurko]

Originally Posted by Akhenaton06

^Blame the state for not giving any support to MARTA. It's just ridiculous.

During the time of the voting for the areas that MARTA would travel to a lot of areas the system were supposed to reach, voted against having MARTA come there because of fear of crime being brought to their cities. Seriously, before you post stuff in opposition to my statements, do your research.

[Akhenaton06]

Originally Posted by Bizurko

During the time of the voting for the areas that MARTA would travel to a lot of areas the system were supposed to reach, voted against having MARTA come there because of fear of crime being brought to their cities. Seriously, before you post stuff in opposition to my statements, do your research.

What are you talking about? I didn't say anything in opposition to your statements. I merely said that MARTA doesn't get any support from the state, which is the biggest reason why it's not as extensive as it is. Even without certain counties not historically wanting MARTA, which I am VERY well aware of--you didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, thank you very much--it could still have better coverage within Fulton and DeKalb counties.

Damn, why do people look for every opportunity to just go off on the Georgia and Atlanta forums? That's why I stopped posting here. Everybody looks to turn every little statement into a fight. Geeeeesh......!!!