Reviews & Comments
Rome, GA
pay attention to crime stats -
4/24/2008I have lived here for several years and spent my early childhood here. Like most smaller towns, Rome has some pretty hefty "brain drain" problems thanks to nearby Atlanta. Unfortunately, this is especially true of minority communities in Rome who have taken the hardest hit- suffering losses of white collar/college educated family members and leaving mostly the very old, the very young and the very troubled (see crime stats again). Rome is working hard to overcome much of the Southern tradition that eyes outdoor recreation with suspicion- with beautiful bike trails finally being created to highlight the lush landscape and several parks. Like most of blue collar/manufacturing America, it has been waylaid by crystal meth and the resulting property crime that such drug use brings to an area. With Northwest Georgia Regional Psychiatric hospital being one of the handful of inpatient psychiatric facilities left in Georgia, it also gets a population dump of mentally ill from all over the state, specifically from large hospitals around Atlanta. These folks buddy-up with others in the facilities and then when discharged/graduated to nearby highland rivers etc. ...they often decide to stay here in Rome where there are precious few resources to assist them. Schools are polarized around city and county lines. The vast majority of minority students as well as students from Rome's most affluent/exclusive neighborhoods collide while attending city district schools. In addition, there are a few expensive, exclusive schools (Darlington, the Montessori School, St. Mary's and Unity Christian School) which further skew the student population. Despite this (and the 19% Bachelor degreed adults in this town), the public schools do manage to perform fairly well with Rome Middle and High performing very well on mandated testing. Rome is a chain restaurant kind of town with plenty of eating places to choose from. It also has a baseball team that has developed an avid fan base with a beautiful and sanely-sized stadium that is convenient to town without being an eyesore. If you are college educated and have a two-income household, you can easily afford to live in Rome's "better" neighborhoods (which are still wildly reasonable compared to Atlanta), life here can be good- bordering on fabulous for you and your children. If you are not so fortunate, so young, so educated or so inclined, then the unrest and unease of being one of the unfavored forgotten hangs in the air like a rotten pollen cloud.