Hi, Kerry. I've been following the thread here. If your husband works at home, then you have multiple options to choose from. Lucky you!

The thing about feeling out of place, in my very humble opinion, is that no matter where you choose to live, you'll find a group you can relate to and become friends with. It's just a matter of finding them. There are liberals in every county and every neighborhood. It is true that Gwinnett is probably more conservative than some counties but not to the point where you'd feel weird living there.

My roommate teaches at Murdock in East Cobb and loves it. She loves the kids and the parents are very involved. There's a variety of housing from older to newer, too. Plus, your husband could drive down to the Perimeter MARTA station to get to the airport when he needs to. When we have kids, that's where I'd like to move.

With that said, it is true that the more liberal leaning residents tend to cluster inside the Perimeter. The price of housing ITP is just about through the roof these days, depending on the area. Decatur is probably the hottest ITP area going these days and it has a lot to offer, including a MARTA station for airport acccess. Schools are supposed to be good, too.

OOOps! Meant to say FORMER roommate!

this may (hopefully) be old hat, but forsyth county made national headlines about 20 years ago because of their strong stance against african-americans...if i remember correctly, the county had been all-white since something like 1912 when a lynching had taken place--then people started to move in & hell was raised...

i don't really know what their situation is now (ironically i think forsyth is one of the counties that has had a massive hispanic influx in recent years due to the poultry industry), but i thought it worth mentioning since you included it as one of your possible target destinations...

have you looked at fayette county? from what i hear their education system is supposed to be good--i have to say its a red county (as is just about every place in georgia that isn't fulton or dekalb), but i'm quite blue and i enjoy living here...

Kerry:

I must join in to sing the praises for Decatur. My husband and I moved to Decatur seven years ago from Midtown and have been seeing the transformation of the city. Unlike some areas of metro Atlanta, the city of Decatur works very hard to manage growth by careful planning. I read somewhere that roads in the downtown area are kept to a certain width to maintain a downtown, pedestrian feel. We walk to the MARTA station whenever we need to go to the airport. While we have no kids, we have neighbors who moved here because of the schools. (However, make sure you are inside the city limit of Decatur, which has very good schools. If you're not inside the city limit but your address still says Decatur, you'll end up in the Dekalb County school system.) Also, as Decatur residents, we have been offered special rates to use the facilities at the brand new Emory University sports complex, but the YWCA is still cheaper. Lastly, my husband and I are true blue people and we love it in Decatur. In fact, I posted a question on this forum a while ago about a Decatur-like area in South Florida because an opportunity came up for us to move there. The move has been postponed and we're actually happy about it.

I've looked into Decatur a little. It appears that we would have to scale down on the size of our house to get into the good school system. That's not really an option for us, as my mom will be coming to stay with us part of the year. Does anyone think there is much of a difference between Cobb and Gwinnett County? Maybe we should move to Kennesaw to lend another liberal voice:)

I think Cobb is more liberal than Gwinett, and E. Cobb, more than W. Cobb, but that's from when we lived there, which was aways back. Kennesaw is towards W. Cobb. Any comments, anyone else?
There is a major Jewish Community Ctr in E. Cobb, built around the time the Y was built, and where there is a Jewish population, there are generally some liberal people.

May I chime in here? I don't live in Atlanta, but looked seriously at moving to the area a few years ago since I probably spend half the month here, both north, west and south of the city.

Take a look at East Point, preferably the historic area. Your housing dollars will go further, your taxes will be lower, and you will be in one of the most liberal areas short of in the city. You will also be close to the airport (lots of Delta employees live here). Schools are probably not great, but you have some time before that becomes an issue. No idea if there's a Y nearby either. Just a thought for what it's worth.

B/

B/

I have questions about the question, and I spent more than a few years living in Atlanta with kids: My family has relocated rather frequently, and politics have NEVER come up in our home selection. Schools, access to health care, commute, quality of life were always way up there on our list of priorities.

When you say liberal do you mean politically, or do you mean you like to sunbathe in the nude? Spouse swap? Or let your kids run free until all hours of the night? We never really cared what our neighbors thought politically, but being a GOOD neighbor was more important.

If your concern is a veiled racial question, Atlanta is very cosmopolitan.

The airport is far south of the city. As the other posters have pointed out, commute time and schools should be your priority.

Hi Kerry, You could always move back to Tallahassee. Leon was one of only two blue north Florida counties in the last election. And you would be very close to J'ville. Flying out of Tallahassee is not terribly convenient but traffic isn't a problem. Housing is much more reasonable than Atlanta, although it is getting up there. Depending on where you chose to live, public schools are very good. (Four of Tallahassee's five public high schools just made Newsweek's top 200 high schools in the nation.)

No, I don't work for the Chamber of Commerce. I am just another Nole who came back and am glad I did!

move to london! - very liberal here

Your husband and male children will be required to chew tobacco. A shot gun and handgun will be required for each male. Hunting will be required. Sunday church will be required and you and the other females of the family will be required to wear dresses fit for the occasion. Unless you are Baptist, the drinking of whiskey will be required. The whole family, but especially the males, will not only be required to watch NASCAR (formerly known as stock car) racing, but know at least the names of twenty drivers, and have a favorite driver. Jeff Gordon, who is from the north and is considered queer by many NASCAR fans, can not be a favorite driver. Your husband may as well get a truck; no Vovlos or Saabs if you please. Get used to eating grits, hush puppies, real barbeque, biscuits and gravy, and black-eyed peas on a weekly basis. An American and a Confederate flag in the front yard is mandatory. You may as well put a W bumper sticker on your autos and speak respectfully of Ronald Reagan as the greatest president since George Washington (obviously, don't speak well of Abraham Lincoln). You may as well learn to fish. Knowledge of William Faulkner, however, is not necessary. You can learn more about becoming southern by reading a few Walker Percy novels, preferably while knocking down a few Jack Danielses.

By the way, I'm just kidding. The only bad thing about Atlanta is its traffic and sprawl. The people will be fine.

We were in Alpharetta in mid April. It was GORGEOUS there. I loved seeing all the dogwoods in bloom & was amazed at the number of green spaces in the developed areas. We live near NO & they have made our area concrete & strip malls. My brother-in-law is 24 & rather liberal himself. He loves it there so far. There are shops of all kinds & a ton of places to eat.
It seems to be an area of transplants so you are more likely to find a variety of opinions rather than in an area of little movement of people.
We also have some conservative family in Fayette County. It is also pretty & has really grown since I was there many years ago.

I was just in Jax with the Fayette people & they said it was about a 6 hr drive or less. Flying should be quick if you wanted that route instead.

Hello all,
Kerry's husband here. I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who has been kind enough to reply to our question. I also wanted to respond to 'beetheretwice', as I thought his/her points deserved an answer.
First, I agree that schools, community resources, commute time, healthcare etc. are the primary concerns when considering relocation to any area. Fortunately, the Internet provides a plethora of resources from which to glean this information. It is now wonderfully simple to build a basic empirical model of a town, community, or even a specific neighborhood. What these sites don't provide you with however is the 'feel' of the community. What types of things are important to the people in that community? Are education and the arts highly valued? Is the high school football game the sum total of the Friday night entertainment options? Is no-nonsense, white collar the norm, or is it all artsy with a used bookstore and coffee shop on every corner? Will our car be egged if it has a John Kerry bumper sticker? Will people cross to the other side of the street when they see us coming if they notice our car stays in the driveway on Sunday mornings? Obviously these are facetious examples, but in essence, that's the kind of information my wife and I were looking for when she posted to this forum.
Perhaps the use of the 'liberal/conservative' labels was the wrong way to describe this, but you'll have to forgive that as the by-product of living right outside the nation's capital for the last 4 years. Here everyone definitely sees in terms of red and blue, and the average person is so wrapped up in politics that they can tell you the name and of the Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary for each US Department of State!
Our question was certainly not a veiled reference to race or anything else. We're just trying to get some feedback on what it's like to live day to day in these communities, and again we really appreciate all of you have taken time to provide that.
Thanks!

You're totally valid in asking these questions! I suggest coming down for another visit and checking out the following neighborhoods (not necessarily in this order):
Inman Park
Candler Park
Decatur
(I know you said you didn't want intown but just so you know these are still considered intown)

East Cobb
Parts of West Cobb (What they now call "Smynings" - email me if you want more info on this) - close to the airport and close to town with good schools
Dunwoody
Roswell (not near the airport)
Alpharetta (not near the airport)

Kerry/Barry

Hillary is in town to speak at the Agnes Scott College (long-established women's college in Decatur) commencement tomorrow. This afternoon she attended a $1000/head fundraiser (not associated with the college) in Atlanta for her 2006 NEW YORK senatorial campaign.

You may have to register first, but here's a link to the related article in today's AJC:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...13hillary.html

You will find both liberals and conservatives civilly co-existing in every nook and cranny of Atlanta and its surrounds. Politics in Atlanta is a funny duck. There are so many jurisdictions here (state, counties, cities, etc.) that it can make you dizzy!

Perhaps you should consider renting for 6 months to a year while you scope out the area for yourselves. Your children have a couple of years to spare before schools are an issue.

Kerryfsu,
I can't believe I'm giving advice to a 'Nole but I am and I'm a Gator...

I think Syd's suggestions for neighborhoods were a good starting point. School-wise, if you want to focus on the top end of the Perimeter, then definately check out Fulton and Cobb. N. Fulton is preferable education-wise to S. Fulton though we are one district. (I know, I teach in Fulton Co.) Cobb Co. schools are also good....

MY husband and I recently bought a house in Alpharetta. We're pretty liberal as are our friends--most of which live in Alpharetta, E. Cobb, Roswell, Smyrna/Vinings. Our cars are always in the driveway on Sunday AMs unless we are looking for a good bagel and coffee.

Atlanta is a great place to live and there is no need to go to football games on Friday night unless you really want to!