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Goodbye Houston, Hello Atlanta


ssullivan

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The last time I was in Atlanta, I rode MARTA everywhere I wanted to go. We flew in from IAH into ATL and from there rode MARTA downtown and everywhere else. I noticed that it did pass lots of neighborhoods once you go farther from the city.

If Houston had this type of system I would ride when ever I am down there. Parking spaces are hard to find or cost too much in Houston hot spots.

Well I guess it depends on what you're into. Yes, you can get to some of the touristy places (World of Coke, CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park) with a short walk from MARTA. But there's not much in the way of downtown nightlife we're interested in. MARTA rail does you no good if you want to go to a concert in Little Five Points, shop and dine out in Virginia Highland, or hit the bars in East Atlanta Village. There aren't too many Atlanta "hot spots" that we're interested in that are adjacent, or within a reasonable walking distance, of a MARTA rail stop. We might occassionally use it to go to Downtown Decatur, or to something in Midtown, but that would probably be about it.

And yes, the East-West line hits a lot of neighborhoods. But my point is that it's not really "in" those neighborhoods; it's near them. It's not always and easy walk to those neighborhood stops either, because MARTA was built in many cases along railroad rights of way, and much of what was along those corridors was industrial development, not residential. Our condo is just over half a mile from a MARTA rail stop, but the walk involves mostly streets with no sidewalks. There's a reason many "neighborhood" MARTA stops are surrounded by acres of parking. Most people have to drive to get to them. That's why I said it's very much a park and ride system. Don't get me wrong -- we intend to use MARTA, and I already do when I'm there to get to the airport on Monday morning when my partner is headed to work way out 400. But it will mostly be for commuting to/from work and the airport. It won't be something we'd use to go to the grocery store, out to eat, shopping, etc.

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Well I guess it depends on what you're into. Yes, you can get to some of the touristy places (World of Coke, CNN Center, Centennial Olympic Park) with a short walk from MARTA. But there's not much in the way of downtown nightlife we're interested in. MARTA rail does you no good if you want to go to a concert in Little Five Points, shop and dine out in Virginia Highland, or hit the bars in East Atlanta Village. There aren't too many Atlanta "hot spots" that we're interested in that are adjacent, or within a reasonable walking distance, of a MARTA rail stop. We might occassionally use it to go to Downtown Decatur, or to something in Midtown, but that would probably be about it.

And yes, the East-West line hits a lot of neighborhoods. But my point is that it's not really "in" those neighborhoods; it's near them. It's not always and easy walk to those neighborhood stops either, because MARTA was built in many cases along railroad rights of way, and much of what was along those corridors was industrial development, not residential. Our condo is just over half a mile from a MARTA rail stop, but the walk involves mostly streets with no sidewalks. There's a reason many "neighborhood" MARTA stops are surrounded by acres of parking. Most people have to drive to get to them. That's why I said it's very much a park and ride system. Don't get me wrong -- we intend to use MARTA, and I already do when I'm there to get to the airport on Monday morning when my partner is headed to work way out 400. But it will mostly be for commuting to/from work and the airport. It won't be something we'd use to go to the grocery store, out to eat, shopping, etc.

You are right about Little 5 points not being on the rail line. Last time I was there the people I was with did not want to go to L5P because some lady that worked for MARTA told them it was a bad place and that we would have to walk through some woods and a neighborhood to get there.

ssullivan, what neighborhoods or suburbs in Houston do you think are compareable to East Atlata Village, Virgina Highlands, and Decatur? Are there any?

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Would you mind defining the term "black mecca," please. I don't understand what you mean. It can't be from a city government standpoint (you know the people who run the city), as evidenced by the following list of council members. http://www.houstontx.gov/council/gallery.html.

For years Atlanta has been considered one of the cities that black people flock to. It's been on the cover of Black Entrepreneur magazine as the best city in America for black businesses. I've seen a number of articles in newspapers and magazines in the last ten years echoing similar thoughts.

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You are right about Little 5 points not being on the rail line. Last time I was there the people I was with did not want to go to L5P because some lady that worked for MARTA told them it was a bad place and that we would have to walk through some woods and a neighborhood to get there.

ssullivan, what neighborhoods or suburbs in Houston do you think are compareable to East Atlata Village, Virgina Highlands, and Decatur? Are there any?

Of course there are.

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Okay.... Care to name them?

Basically all of the enclaves near the Inner Loop. The only one that Houston does not have is a Decatur (though you could say Galveston is the Decatur, but Galveston isn't a suburb).

The Peachtree Hills community reminds me of the Heights.

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I would rank Montrose (especially Westheimer in Montrose), the River Oaks area, Rice Village, Museum District, and West U all right up with there with the best and most unique of Atlanta's inner-city neighborhoods (Little Five, Virginia Highland, etc.) for character, shopping, bars, restaurants, and other entertainment. And other than Atlanta's hills, there's not a whole lot of difference between some of Atlanta's nicer residential areas (Morningside-Lenox Park, Ansley Park, etc.) and Houston's (Montrose, River Oaks, West U, Boulevard Oaks, Southampton, etc.). The houses are of a similar style and age, and the demographics are quite similar. They're all also about the same distance from their respective downtown areas, and all are near some great shopping and dining areas that have a lot more local flavor than national chains.

There are a lot of similarities between the two cities, and both have many things that are unique. I've already decided I'm going to have to visit Houston pretty often though to get my Tex Mex fix, since I haven't found anything in Georgia yet that approaches what we've got here.

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