SperlingViews - Sandy_Springs, Georgia

Sandy Springs is a great place to live! Great schools, great local businesses, beautiful trees. Since becoming an incorporated city five years ago, we've seen continuing improvements to the area in the roads, sidewalks, police coverage, and code enforcements on businesses and apartments. [read more...]

Sandy Springs, after over 20 years of perseverence, became a city in December of 2005. We used to be considered an unincorporated area of metro Atlanta. Since the income of the residents of this area was - and continues to be - nearly twice the average of Atlanta (therefore, so was the tax revenue collected from us), the Atlanta City Council would redistribute our tax money to the "less advantaged" inner city and south Atlanta residents as well as the woefully mismanaged and perenially money-losing Grady Hospital. The Atlanta City Council invested none of the tax revenues collected from this community back into it. The result was ignored landlord violations that resulted in run-down, slum-like apartments occupied by illegal Mexicans; drug trafficking; no investment in infrastructure in this area of the city for years; and a non-existent police presence. That all changed once we - with a nearly unanimous vote - became a city. We have our own police and fire departments. The streets are safer for both motorists and pedestrians. The City of Sandy Springs has clearly invested in the city's infrastructure and continues to do so by widening roads, installing sidewalks and roadside lights, improving green spaces, and traffic flow. The new government of Sandy Springs has done a fantastic job of improving many aspects of the city. Because the city is investing in itself, so are commercial property owners. Several have performed major renovations on older properties, beautifying their neighborhoods and bringing in new businesses. Sandy Springs, located in Fulton County, has been so successful, it inspired an unincorporated area of Dekalb County, Dunwoody, to vote for and win cityhood in 2008. That, though, is another story.[read more...]

I have lived in Sandy Springs since 1999. During the time I've lived here I've noticed an improvement in the quality of life here - many of the old dumpy shopping centers have been remodeled, many of the homes have been updated. In addition a new park and sidewalks are being added in the area close to my home - Riverside/Abernathy/Johnson Ferry Road area.[read more...]

I have lived in Sandy Springs since 1999. During the time I've lived here I've noticed an improvement in the quality of life here - many of the old dumpy shopping centers have been remodeled, many of the homes have been updated. In addition a new park and sidewalks are being added in the area close to my home - Riverside/Abernathy/Johnson Ferry Road area.[read more...]

I have lived in Sandy Springs since 1999. During the time I've lived here I've noticed an improvement in the quality of life here - many of the old dumpy shopping centers have been remodeled, many of the homes have been updated. In addition a new park and sidewalks are being added in the area close to my home - Riverside/Abernathy/Johnson Ferry Road area.[read more...]

Nothing about Sandy Springs resembles a city. There is no downtown, no main street, no signature civic buildings, and hardly any sidewalks. Sandy Springs for all intents and purposes is nothing but suburban sprawl. Atleast neighboring Roswell, another north Atlanta suburb, does at least have an historic town center. Sandy Springs' center, if you can even identify a center, is a garish stretch of Roswell Rd lined with fast food joints and indistinguishable strip malls. There are indeed some very big homes in Sandy Springs, but no real neighborhoods intertwined into a community. Instead, Sandy Springs is made up of subdivision enclaves, with one entrance and exit onto a major road. Of course this pattern of development makes for a horrendous traffic situation. If you try to walk anywhere in Sandy Springs be prepared for people to give you looks of disbelief: "Why is this crazy person trying to walk, and not drive?" What few sidewalks that do exist end abruptly and force pedestrians to walk in the street or navigate around fast food drive throughs. Sandy Springs can call itself a city if it wants to, but I cannot find anything there that I would associate with a city.[read more...]