Which Is Safest Place To Live? (Kennesaw, Cartersville: fit in, rent, condominium)

[tmilanese]

Which is safest place to live?

I'm torn between living in the Dallas/Hiram, Emerson/Cartersville, and the Acworth/Kennesaw areas?

Which is the safest place?

[Brian]

Hey tmilanese, nice to see you here on City-Data. You have came to the right forum with probably less biased opinons like you find over at the Paulding forum.

To be honest with you, the Dallas/Hiram area seems to be somewhat unsafe, especially with numerous of break-ins, drug problems, etc. Cartersville/Euharlee/Emerson areas and Acworth (Cobb and Cherokee counties) are pretty safe, but stay away from Acworth on Bartow side. I don't know how it is in Acworth on Paulding side, I haven't been to that very affluent part of Paulding in months. I am not familiar with Kennesaw other than the Barrett Parkway area.

[Sharon R.]

I live in Kennesaw now, lived in Cartersville for 5 years and still have a house up there that I'm fixing up to sell, so I'm up there a lot.

There are lots of other factors in deciding where to live, the main one being the commute. Kennesaw has this law on the books that you must own a gun (own, not carry) -- I am not kidding. It is not enforced, but it is very well known so there is very little crime. Acworth is also pretty safe, but again, there are some areas that are to be avoided. I lived in an area of lots of trailers for a bit while I was saving to buy a house. I felt safe, but I certainly had a lot of unsavory types for neighbors. Mostly stuff like drinking with loud arguments, and lots of people crammed into small spaces. Pretty good amount of small-time drug use.

Cartersville is wonderful, but there are some rough neighborhoods right in town. There are also some very nice older neighborhoods in town, so it just depends. I really like Emerson, it's a combination of older, run down homes and quite a lot of trailers right along the main street, but if you head off into the side roads, it's beautiful with lots of large homes on acreage and horse farms. Let me know if you have more specific questions.

[atlantagreg30127]

Of all listed, Kennesaw is probably among the safer, but you're dealing with some of the most congested traffic in the area there, too. You gain safety, lose timely commutes.

[Cartersvillian]

My family and I have lived in Cartersville since 1999. We love it......it's far enough away from the heavy traffic, but close enough to go to the city when you need to.

I would say that Cartersville is pretty safe.....as any, it has it's bad areas.....most of which are toward the downtown area.

Emerson would definitely be my last choice. Acworth and Kennesaw are both nice but the traffic is just awful!!!

Hope this helps.

[snuffy smiff]

I bought a house in Dallas back in 1994 and sold it in 1999 just before it all started downhill. I still stay in touch with some friends in the area.
As those above have stated, Cartersville/Kennesaw are probably your two best bets.

(Kennesaw passed a local ordinance years ago requiring all homeowners to own a firearm. Burglarys and break-ins became almost non-existant inside city limits! Dunno if it's still in effect.)

Tho none are as safe as Knoxville

[Zelia]

If you're really looking for a safe community, live in CondominiumVILLE.

My brother lives in CondominiumVILLE, and he feels quite safe. He lives on the 25th floor, and there's no home invasions. None!

CondominiumVILLE may have lots of negatives to people, but crime-wise it's at the top of the list. Many people here seem to be looking for a safe community. Move to CondominiumVILLE.

Yes, some communities are much safer than others, but any house is an open target for home invasions, and things much, much, much, much, much worse.

When a murder has been committed in a subdivision, nine times out of ten a neighbor will tell a TV reporter, "I'm in a state- of-shock." Have these people been living in a cave? Do they read, or watch TV? Almost nothing shocks me.

[atlantagreg30127]

You need only some safety measures to help reduce your chances of being a victim of crime in a single family home:

1) Make sure all doors have good deadbolts. Replace the tiny short screws that come with their plates with 3-4 inch screws (greatly increases the strength and makes it MUCH harder to break in). Keep your doors and windows locked when not in use. Buy inexpensive locking window locks (uses a key to open them - $4.00 each or so). If you have a garage, keep the door down when not in use, and keep the door that goes from the inside of the garage into your home locked and have a good deadbolt in it as well.

2) Keep your outdoor lights ON at night. Use inexpensive (at Sam's or Costco) outdoor flourescent bulbs which only use about 13 watts each (cannot be used in motion sensor systems, only "on all the time" types, though).

3) Don't have messages on your answering machine like, "I'm not home" or "We're on vacation" - just say, "We can't reach the phone at the moment". Even if you live alone, use "we". Likewise don't leave notes like that on your door, or spare keys under mats or plant pots.

4) If you can afford it, do the security system thing and USE the stickers they give you on your doors, windows, and the yard sign. If you can't afford it, many stores now carry home devices that connect to your doors or windows that make lots of noise - they're better than nothing.

5) Got a sliding glass door? Use security bars in the middle but also make one for the BOTTOM track that's hard to see. Keep it locked. If you have the money have "laminated" glass installed in it (MUCH harder to break, and safer if it does break).

6) Use a locking mailbox. Home improvement stores carry one or two standard types that use a key which are fairly secure. Search for "mail vault" online and find one that has a keypad which is literally a safe that accepts mail. This way people can't drive by and steal your mail (credit card info, etc), or check to see if you have mail piling up because you're out of town. Likewise stop mail service when you're traveling, and ask neighbor's to collect papers and those little soliciting fliers people stick to your mailbox while you're out of town.


Sorry for the list, but even though many consider these to be common sense things, you'd be surprised how few people could check "yes" to all of the above. If you do them, you've increased your chances of being safe. It of course does nothing about your neighborhood if you live in a crappy one, but it increases the chances that the bad guys will avoid you and YOUR home and move on to something easier to go after.

Condo living has advantages, but also a list of unique problems as well. If Joe catches Sharon sleeping around and pulls out his gun, the bullet will also go through the floor or ceiling into neighbor's condos! If someone's toilet or tub overflows... yep... those downstairs get to shair the joy as well. And when the upstairs neighbors decide to have a party or worse, (cough cough), KIDS, you get to hear the "clop clop clop" of feet all day or night long.

[Lookingforasafehome]

Hello,

We are trying to get transferred down to Cartersville, we live in a very expensive area and the only home we could afford was in the worst area, and we did not know it at the time. I want to make good choices this time and I am asking to where to go for a nice safe home and where to avoid so that we do not make the same mistake again. I have heard that Cartersville is the meth capital of GA? Is this true?! If it is, please tell me! I had done some research and others said it was a nice place to raise a child, I am worried cause my child is nine and she is now getting to a age where drugs will be offered to her and other things, I know I can't protect her from everything and everyone but I sure do want to cut down on her getting hurt and worse here. We are somewhat conservative but not church going either and we are from the north, will we fit in? I always loved the south whenever we visited down that way, and now I hoping we can finally get the chance to live in the south, anyhelp is greatly appreciated. Also how much money do we have to spend to get a nice home in a very safe area with little crime? I am thinking it will be much less in this overrated tourist town we now are stuck in! THanks in advance!

[applejuice]

Originally Posted by Lookingforasafehome

Hello,

We are trying to get transferred down to Cartersville, we live in a very expensive area and the only home we could afford was in the worst area, and we did not know it at the time. I want to make good choices this time and I am asking to where to go for a nice safe home and where to avoid so that we do not make the same mistake again. I have heard that Cartersville is the meth capital of GA? Is this true?! If it is, please tell me! I had done some research and others said it was a nice place to raise a child, I am worried cause my child is nine and she is now getting to a age where drugs will be offered to her and other things, I know I can't protect her from everything and everyone but I sure do want to cut down on her getting hurt and worse here. We are somewhat conservative but not church going either and we are from the north, will we fit in? I always loved the south whenever we visited down that way, and now I hoping we can finally get the chance to live in the south, anyhelp is greatly appreciated. Also how much money do we have to spend to get a nice home in a very safe area with little crime? I am thinking it will be much less in this overrated tourist town we now are stuck in! THanks in advance!

Sorry, I don't know much about Cartersville. In Woodstock, around the Towne Lake area you can find a home for as low as $180,000. It is a nice, safe masterplan community. I would suggest you rent for a couple of months and look around. That is probably your best bet.