Atlanta: Boom or Bust?
Written: Sep 16 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy to drive around. Hot girls, good music.
Cons: Traffic, not ready for population boom
The Bottom Line: Atlanta is a city experiencing growing pains. It's good for maybe a week but after that it gets rather drab. Come here, but don't expect too much.
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| bloodymadness's Full Review: Atlanta |
I came to Atlanta in the summer of 2005 for college. I attend Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta and so far school has been a pleasurable experience. As for the city itself I could sum it up by saying after one year here you've pretty much done it all. While Atlanta is a nice city with good restaraunts and nice scenery, it is not the "New York of the South" that people make it out to be.
It seems that right now Atlanta is in the middle of a growth phase that they just are not ready for. The city goverment is trying so hard to bring in all of these big franchises, hotels, and other businesses to attract groups of people ro reside here but at the same time there are few roards in the city and transportation is a bummer. Now that I have a car, I try not to drive between 4:00 and 7:00 pm Monday through Friday as that is the rush hour here in The A. I remeber looking up stats on Atlanta and found out that as many as 676,000 people are out in public in the daytime. You would think that with that many people (and cars) that the Atlanta government would try to pave more roads but they don't. The result is a city with horrible air pollution, jammed up roads, and traffic for miles. Even with MARTA, which is the "subway" of Atlanta things haven't changed much. While MARTA is an ok public transportation system, many people are turned off by the freaks, crooks, and junkies that ride it.
Tourist wise, Atlanta is somewhat interesting. We have the CNN building and some very nice parks, but besides that it's eh. The Underground which is an underground strip mall is rundown and with the exception of some nice eating spots down there, it is best to stay clear of especially at night.
Music wise Atlanta is the hip hop capital of the world right now. It seems that everywhere I turn someone is a rapper, trying to rap, starting a record label, or trying to get signed to a record label. The result is a very urban city that's hip and in your face. Of course with music comes clubs and it's safe to say that Atlanta has more than enough clubs to satisfy the Saturday Night Fever in all of us. When I first got here I clubbed a little but but it got old. If you've seen BET or MTV enough then you'll have an idea of the clubs here in Atlanta. A bunch of wannabe thugs trying to look hard. The only upside are the girls that grind hard and good.
Atlanta has some things going for it and a lot of things that are against it. It's a nice city, but at times it seems as though Atlanta is trying to sell out it's Southern Charm in hopes of catching up with New York, Chicago, St. Louis and every other major city in the United States. The problem though is that those cities I listed were smart in their building and could handle the population booms that each of those cities experienced. Atlanta feels as though it's trying to hard to be a major metropolis. Judging by the low sale of houses recently and a city that is not ready to be a big time player in the US tourist game, I feel that it is only a matter of time before Atlanta sees a population decline like the one it felt 15 years ago. However, if Atlanta takes its time, cleans itself up a bit and tries not to "catch up" with New York, Chicago, Boston, or any other big city, it should do just fine.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Students
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
bloodymadness
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Reviews written: 134
Trusted by: 3 members
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