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As a native Savannahian, I am always flattered when people want to visit and move here. It is a big small town.
As far as communities, the city has over 80 neighborhood associations/crime watch. The county has an advocate working now to form county associations. We're not perfect but, it is a great place to live!
Check out the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce web site. They have new comer packages for a visit or if are thinking about becoming a neighbor.
We love company!
Quote:
Originally Posted by janette moss
Including myself, I love Georgia and would like to someday be there. There is always talk of it being over-populated, but the "transplants" keep moving there. Are you flattered or are you tired of adding another lane to the highways to accommodate the overflow? How do you feel?
I'm tired of people moving here, especially the one's that move here and then complain it's not like 'so and so'. Seems like we've done a good job making Georgia an attractive place, but then people want to come here and change it.
It's grown too fast for most of the infrastructure to keep up with it and most people don't realize that, they just complain. I'd also say most of metro-Atlanta has lost its Southern identity
Seems like our latest issue is the water supply, Army Corps are trying to figure out how we're supposed to have drinking water for the next 2 million people that are supposed to move here.
Including myself, I love Georgia and would like to someday be there. There is always talk of it being over-populated, but the "transplants" keep moving there. Are you flattered or are you tired of adding another lane to the highways to accommodate the overflow? How do you feel?
To be honest, I don't consider myself a Georgian(despite living in GA for 13 years, I'm 21), but I will give you my take on it. Growth is good, but it needed to be done it a proper fashion. Look at Portland,OR. There was a boundary drawn on where developers could build. Atlanta should have done the same. It should have looked to places like London, Tokyo, Berlin, Zurich, etc. and developed a building plan from there. GA has alot of growth. It's bringing in money. It's better off than Michigan, where people are leaving like crazy. At the same time, GA needed to do it right. I look at Atlanta and see a place where alot of people are moving here for mainly cheap living(and that is it). There are other reasons for moving to GA, such as jobs(Lockheed, Earthlink, setting up businesses.). The fact is GA needed to plan the growth in a better way.
Thought I'd add my two cents. I both agree and disagree with Mr. Greg. Also yes I'm yet another guy who wants to live in Atlanta. I'm already a Georgian though so I have to say that there is a HUGE difference between Atlanta and the rest of Georgia Atlanta is almost it's own state, so the problem is Georgia being overpopulated but Atlanta. Yet at the same time I love love Atlanta so why shouldn't I join in the fun?
"Put a ban on all new apartment and condo construction for years in the immediate metro area."
No I don't live in Atlanta but I'm going to go on record and totally disagree with that.
Basically people need a place to live banning housing would only make the city MORE unaffordable as prices would skyrocket. Fine for the rich but the poor would be even more displaced as I'm certain that salaries would not match the outrageous housing prices that would follow a ban on real estate development in the city. Also the traffic would get worse as the suburbs would have no choice but to expand further out. Or better yet no more growth. Affordability in comparison to places like LA, Boston or NYC is what has mae Atlanta so attractive. Businesses would leave for cities just as affordable with fewer building restrictions and more sprawl like Phoenix or Houston. So no new houses would mean less people and less traffic but also fewer jobs and opportunities along with the things that make Atlanta so awesome.
"Immediately fund more transit options. Light rail, heavy rail expansion, commuter rail, as well as key new roads where they're really needed."
I think that more rail would be great. Like maybe if marta expanded with dozens of liines to ALL metro counties. I'd have a focus not just on commuters going intown but commuters going from one suburb to the other, since there seem to be more jobs in places like Alpharetta, Norcross and Cobb County than in the city now. In addition to more marta stations I'd have free localized shuttles from the marta station to major employers or better yet streetcars. Like those a shuttle from say the Perimeter Mall marta station to all the business parks, hospitals and skyscrapers that are clustered around the areas. Bus service in the city would be doubled along with more police at every station in addition to 24 hour service of trains.
What I just listed in the end is a fantasy. It would cost at least $1 billion take umpteen years and would mean razing countless homes. The suburbs are simply not designed for any form of transportation other than a car. Anyways those are my thoughts longwinded as they are. Atlanta here I come!
What I just listed in the end is a fantasy. It would cost at least $1 billion take umpteen years and would mean razing countless homes. The suburbs are simply not designed for any form of transportation other than a car. Anyways those are my thoughts longwinded as they are. Atlanta here I come!
It could be done, but it would take actual foresight on the part of Atlanta's powers that be.
Step 1: tollbooths on all freeways - 25 cent charge per empty seat. Free if car was full.
Step 2: use the tolls to build MARTA tracks in the center lanes/divider of the freeways.
Leave the building of stations up to the local people. If they don't want MARTA, they don't have to build a station. Not many 'undesirables' are going to jump off a train moving at 80 mph. "Rural" stations would not have to be nearly so fancy or expensive as some of those in downtown. Many could probably share or be adjacent to DOT park-ride lots.
It could be done, but it would take actual foresight on the part of Atlanta's powers that be.
Step 1: tollbooths on all freeways - 25 cent charge per empty seat. Free if car was full.
Step 2: use the tolls to build MARTA tracks in the center lanes/divider of the freeways.
Leave the building of stations up to the local people. If they don't want MARTA, they don't have to build a station. Not many 'undesirables' are going to jump off a train moving at 80 mph. "Rural" stations would not have to be nearly so fancy or expensive as some of those in downtown. Many could probably share or be adjacent to DOT park-ride lots.
It would take foresight, but would any politician want that? Those are good ideas, but will anyone practice that? If they don't, this could stock up a big profit. If people actually start packing their cars full of people, the plan won't work.
It's stunning how things get overdeveloped any "nice" place there is. No one can ever stop eating up those dollars that the developers and big business brings. Nobody cares for the good of the community, it seems, anywhere you go.
I'm so sad to see my city, a suburb 40 miles north of Los Angeles, turn to crap over the 10 years. When I moved here I heard about something called "build-out" and how it was coming in 2 years or 5 years or in so many more houses, or something, but I must have misunderstood, because it keeps coming. And it's not just that they build, it's the ugly, trendy, chain dreck -- does any city really need a Black House White Market store? I remember when the Civic center here (a city of over 100,000) talked about building a "discovery center" on the empty, oak studded acres next to the Civic center. I understood it was supposed to be some kind of family-oriented, park-like space, maybe with some kind of small museum or such aimed at children. Somehow that became a swanky strip mall including a PF Changs and aforementioned Black/White store. Oh, they threw in a tiny ice skating rink and call it a "family" shopping center. What a joke. I keep wishing for this City as it was even 10 or 15 years ago, when I first got to know the place. Then it was a well-outfitted City of a decent size, yet oddly, it felt like a city half the size. Sort of small-townish, in a way.
So I've been thinking alot about the South and finally made it to Georgia and it was everything I thought it would be -- beautiful scenery, clean air, nice people, good service, good drivers. But it made me sad, because I could see all the signs of the same things coming, and spreading, all over the place, from Athens up to Suwanee, Alpharetta, everywhere... I was disgusted by subdivision after subdivision of McMansions. Of course it is behind where we are here, but not that far. Does every place have to turn ugly like this? It's all about money, but then can someone explain why the schools aren't good? In my city they are starting to close schools and I'm thinking, this is what I'm paying $5k in property taxes per year for? Anyway I don't have kids but a good school system in my town is certainly integral to the high property values. Plus, a "family" city is what I like, and I can see how this City and how I bet cities in GA are moving away from that.
Well I just wanted to say, if I moved to Georgia/Atlanta area, I would NOT be one of those people saying, "I wish it was more like __________." I would want it to be more like what is most Georgia about it, and certainly not like the waste of space most of Southern California is.
Edit: I just wanted to add -- it isn't the people coming (most of them anyway) who screw things up in a lovely place like GA -- it's the greed of the developers and the city officials who put no limits on building or big business. The outsiders bring the money, but the people running the place don't have to take it and compromise their communities for it. I mean no disrespect to GA, because this is true everywhere: GREED RULES ALL. Just my opinion, of course!
It's stunning how things get overdeveloped any "nice" place there is. No one can ever stop eating up those dollars that the developers and big business brings. Nobody cares for the good of the community, it seems, anywhere you go.
I'm so sad to see my city, a suburb 40 miles north of Los Angeles, turn to crap over the 10 years. When I moved here I heard about something called "build-out" and how it was coming in 2 years or 5 years or in so many more houses, or something, but I must have misunderstood, because it keeps coming. And it's not just that they build, it's the ugly, trendy, chain dreck -- does any city really need a Black House White Market store? I remember when the Civic center here (a city of over 100,000) talked about building a "discovery center" on the empty, oak studded acres next to the Civic center. I understood it was supposed to be some kind of family-oriented, park-like space, maybe with some kind of small museum or such aimed at children. Somehow that became a swanky strip mall including a PF Changs and aforementioned Black/White store. Oh, they threw in a tiny ice skating rink and call it a "family" shopping center. What a joke. I keep wishing for this City as it was even 10 or 15 years ago, when I first got to know the place. Then it was a well-outfitted City of a decent size, yet oddly, it felt like a city half the size. Sort of small-townish, in a way.
So I've been thinking alot about the South and finally made it to Georgia and it was everything I thought it would be -- beautiful scenery, clean air, nice people, good service, good drivers. But it made me sad, because I could see all the signs of the same things coming, and spreading, all over the place, from Athens up to Suwanee, Alpharetta, everywhere... I was disgusted by subdivision after subdivision of McMansions. Of course it is behind where we are here, but not that far. Does every place have to turn ugly like this? It's all about money, but then can someone explain why the schools aren't good? In my city they are starting to close schools and I'm thinking, this is what I'm paying $5k in property taxes per year for? Anyway I don't have kids but a good school system in my town is certainly integral to the high property values. Plus, a "family" city is what I like, and I can see how this City and how I bet cities in GA are moving away from that.
Well I just wanted to say, if I moved to Georgia/Atlanta area, I would NOT be one of those people saying, "I wish it was more like __________." I would want it to be more like what is most Georgia about it, and certainly not like the waste of space most of Southern California is.
Edit: I just wanted to add -- it isn't the people coming (most of them anyway) who screw things up in a lovely place like GA -- it's the greed of the developers and the city officials who put no limits on building or big business. The outsiders bring the money, but the people running the place don't have to take it and compromise their communities for it. I mean no disrespect to GA, because this is true everywhere: GREED RULES ALL. Just my opinion, of course!
I live where you described...thousand oaks right? yep...this Ga girl...born and raised and yet I live here in TO, praying very hard that my husband's employer will find a way for him to get sent to their corporate office there in Alpharetta. I have been here for going on my third yr ( and have been a bunch of other places too). I just want to come home to GA and raise my kids in a place that is home and where all my family is. I am tried of adapting to new places ....and living here has been the biggest challenge of any other place I have lived...beautiful place it is, but the people here are just superficial...not everyone, I have met some good folks...very few...but there are some here. I just am so ready to be back home where I know where I can be me. Thanks for the vent.
I do agree with the development problems in GA....it is too bad we cant get some progressive folks up into the politics...in addition to the things that would maybe alleviate the traffic...I would love to see more development put into recreational pursuits...not just soccer fields and baseball fields...but greenspace between developments and greenways to that connect neighborhoods, and give folks a place to run/walk or ride bikes without becoming a casualty. And dammit...put sidewalks and bike lanes in so that everything is connected and people can walk or ride to work if they live within a reasonable distance.
I am glad to see that Alpharetta has the Big creek greenway...and Suwanee has put in a greenway too....the plans were to connect the Alpharetta one to Roswell and extend it out north too...but I havent read anywhere recently where that was still being planned. If you ever go on the Big creek greenway on the weekend, you will see just how packed it is with people looking and wanting to have this type of recreation...how dense does someone have to be to see that it is a win/win situation by providing these greenways?? Anyway... that's my 2 cents...from thousand oaks and hoping to be home one day soon, so that my kids wont be Californians, but Georgians...since they are girls...Ga peaches.
God, I missed the boiled peanuts and sweet tea.
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Somebody here said it already
