COMMENT BY
COMMENT ABOUT PLACE
Atlanta, GA
COMMENT
re:
I moved here from Chicago almost 6 years ago and have not regretted it one bit. My god brother is relocating here from Chicago and I cannot wait! He sent me the link to this site to see what I thought, and after reading some of the posts I'm sitting here in aw at some of the things I've read. I'm in aw because, in my 6 years of living here I haven't seen half of the negative things people post here.
The troubling thing is, I fit into a lot of categories; i'm a northerner (Chicago), i'm a young Black male (under 40), i'm a gay black male, I have no college degree my list can go on an on. I'd like to address some of the statements I've read to give a slightly better description of Atlanta to future residents.
Atlanta is a beautiful city, yes, does it have its share of problems yes. Racism against blacks, whites, indians, etc is here, yes. I can say that i haven't encountered it at all. I work for a Fortune 500 company, making a very nice salary commensurate with my experience and comparable to a person with a degree. In my years of living here, I've been approached by less fortunate individuals (aka "beggars") a couple times, but felt it my duty to help out with a meal or something to drink or just conversation. But i haven't been approached more than 5 times in 6 years. I've lived in gate communities, secure buildings, and undated communities and never once had a violent incident or burglary.
Traffic here, yes its a headache at times, but coming from Chicago i'm used to it. I would say, native Georgians cannot drive, so i've adjusted i drive for me and them and pay attention to them and not the signal they may occasionally use. In Chicago the news was filled with murders and senseless violence, the news here is filled with accidents, senseless ones plus the usual crime. Some of the reviewers and posters here have made it seem like Atlanta is supposed to be the garden of eden, there's no city in America that will be the best. What matters is, how you take it and make it work. If someone like me with all the, hypothetical odds stacked against me, can and have made it work for me , then surely anyone else can.
My advise, yes, read the negative postings, but be smart enough to read through them. People are quick to post negative, but it takes an act of congress to post positive. Anyone seeking to move to Atlanta, I say come on, Atlanta has the best universities, is a major hub for technology advancement and medical research, has the busiest airport, BEST restaurants, dining and shopping experiences. Atlanta is the best of the South, come and experience it for yourself.