Population growth is destroying Atlanta metro
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12/27/2018
The Atlanta metro area is being ravaged by absurdly fast population growth. I don't even believe the official statistics at this point. I know this is a cliched thing to say, but it's undeniably true. The northern Atlanta suburbs used to be excellent places to live -- well forested, safe neighborhoods, modestly-priced housing, competitive public schools, a population composed almost exclusively of professionals and families, etc. Massive population growth coupled with the redistribution of undesirables from the inner city to the suburbs (as a result of gentrification) has slowly deteriorated all of the aforementioned desirable traits. You pretty much have to live 1.5+ hours north of Atlanta in Forsyth County to find public schools that aren't hopelessly overcrowded.
It may not for whatever reason be reflected in the official statistics because of cover-ups, under-reporting and what have you, but petty crime and all the accompanying ugliness that comes with it has exploded in the northern suburban areas. Anyone who actually lives there will tell you this. 5 years ago it would have been unheard of for a bunch of detestable transient druggie beggars to loiter at shopping centers and street corners, but it happens literally all the time now. Somehow, despite increased economic opportunity, the meth problem seems to have gotten worse and is bleeding into the suburbs from the rural areas. All the high schools have hidden drug problems. And of course corrupt county-level law enforcement won't do anything about it other than token measures.
Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek, etc. are still relatively nice places to live compared to most other places, but in another 10-15 years they'll come resemble the ghettoized suburbs of Los Angeles. Mark my words. This has actually already happened to a few places in metro Atlanta such as Stone Mountain, Duluth, Lawrenceville, etc.
Traffic has always been bad here, but in the past 5-7 years it's gotten utterly out of hand, as I'm sure it has in other high-growth places. Traffic used to be horrendous only during rush hour. Now, traffic is atrocious everywhere regardless of what day or time it is. I'm actually hoping the US experiences a recession so that the construction and service industries that attract all the transients shrink and slow growth in the area.
Andreas | Johns Creek, GA