About Atlanta
Renting an Apartment in Atlanta
Prior to entering your search for a brand new abode, you ought to take into account several essential principles relating to your situation. Are you in the market to lease or purchase? If perhaps you choose to lease, what might be the best deal for you? Numerous homes in New York City, Boston, MA, and other major urban locations are co-ops. Co-ops are buildings in which the occupants have stock of a business which owns the building. Apartments for sale are routinely known as condos. Condos are owned by people and occupants of the development apportion ownership of the communal spaces. In big cities, the majority of flats for rent are frequently in buildings fashioned for the sale of solitary units, or in older households divided into studios. Most studio owners or leasing companies provide apartments on lease provisions of either six or twelve months. Studio apartments are oftentimes leased on a twelve month basis.
Atlanta studio apartment leasing can be a daunting process. Studios are regularly leased by landlords and public transportation will often be rather slow-moving. Consequently, it is essential to do your homework well before establishing your residence search.
A lot of rentals in Atlanta are found in small to medium sized constructions fostering only very few of residents. Large apartment units are out there, but can certainly be pricey. Before you begin to hunt for an apartment, establish how much you are open to pay. If you are planning to rent with roommates, be certain that you are in agreement on a price range before seeing apartments. Figure out amenities that are critical to you, and prepare a checklist hierarchically of magnitude. It could be tough to locate an inexpensive studio that includes a dishwasher, laundry, and fireplace. Assuming you and your roommates desire a larger residence, classify size high among your concerns, as those unused to with Atlanta residences are occasionally surprised by the modest size of rental units. If you don’t have a car, research the available public transit.
About Atlanta
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city of Georgia, in the United States. It is the county seat of Fulton County, although a portion of the city (the 1909 annex) is located in DeKalb County. According to the latest census estimates (as of December, 2004), the city has a population of approximately 419,122 and the Atlanta metropolitan area totaled 4,708,297. Atlanta has long been considered the economic powerhouse of the Southern United States and is arguably a poster-child for cities worldwide experiencing rapid urban sprawl, population growth, and commercial development. As a result, Atlanta is a common case study for college students who study Urban Geography around the globe.
Atlanta is circled by Interstate 285, called the “Perimeter” by locals, which has come to delineate the interior of the city from the surrounding suburbs. This has given rise to the terms ITP (inside the Perimeter) and OTP (outside the Perimeter) to describe area neighborhoods, residents, and businesses. In this respect, the Perimeter plays a social and geographical role similar to that of the Capital Beltway around Washington, DC.
Atlanta has such a great economic impact on the state and the surrounding region that cities and towns up to 45 miles away are considered ‘exurbs’, defined by the fact that people depend on their livelihoods by commuting to work in the city, rapidly growing what is called Metro Atlanta. Atlanta is one of the most prosperous cities in the United States and is often referred to as the unofficial “capital of the South.” Today Atlanta is one of the most economically important Southeastern cities along with Birmingham, Charlotte, Miami, and New Orleans.
The city is also an especially important cultural and economic center for African-Americans; Atlanta has not had a non-black mayor since 1974, and in recent decades nearly all Fire Chiefs, Police Chiefs, and other government officials have been African American. Atlanta is also very important in making famous Hip-Hop/Rappers who call Atlanta A-Town.
Public Transportation
Atlanta is served by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (IATA: ATL, ICAO: KATL), the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic and by aircraft traffic, providing air service to and from many national and international destinations. It is situated 10 miles south of downtown, adjacent to the intersection of I-85 and I-285. The MARTA rail system has a station within the airport terminal, and provides direct service to the business areas in downtown Atlanta, Buckhead and Sandy Springs. The major general aviation airports near the city proper are DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (IATA: PDK, ICAO: KPDK) and Brown Field (IATA: FTY, ICAO: KFTY). See List of airports in the Atlanta area for a more complete listing.
Three major interstate highways intersect the city; I-20 runs east-west, while I-75 runs NW to SE and I-85 runs NE to SW, and join together as the Downtown Connector through the center of the city. The Downtown Connector carries more than 340,000 vehicles a day and is considered one of the 10 most congested stretches of interstate in the U.S. I-285 (also known as “the Perimeter”) encircles the city and some of its inner suburbs. I-75 just north of the Windy Hill Road interchange in Cobb County is one of the widest freeways (seventeen lanes) in the entire world. The intersection of I-85 and I-285 in Dora ville, locally referred to as Spaghetti Junction, is one of the tallest in the eastern United States. Metropolitan Atlanta is crisscrossed by thirteen freeways (in addition to the aforementioned interstates, I-575, Georgia 400, Georgia 141, I-675, Georgia 316, I-985, Stone Mountain Freeway (US 78), and Lang ford Parkway (SR 166)). The Georgia Department of Transportation operates Georgia Navigator to disseminate current traffic (travel times, camera images, accidents) and road (construction, flooding, ice, debris) conditions throughout the state.
The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is Atlanta’s public-transit system, operating the rail and bus system within Fulton and Dekalb Counties. Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett counties each operate separate, autonomous transit authorities, using buses but no trains. However, many commuters in Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs use private automobiles as their primary transportation. (This may be partly because Georgia has had one of the lowest excise taxes on gasoline in the United States. Such taxes in Georgia have risen, however, in recent years: for example, in July 2002, Alaska was the only state with a tax lower than Georgia’s 30.6 cents per gallon, but, by August 2005, Georgia’s tax had risen by 34.6%, to 41.2 cents per gallon, and 21 states and the District of Columbia had taxes lower than Georgia’s.) This results in heavy traffic during rush hour and contributes to Atlanta’s air pollution. In recent years, the Atlanta metro area has ranked at or near the top of the longest average commute times in the U.S. In 2001 a group of transit riders joined to form Citizens for Progressive Transit, an organization dedicated to increasing the reach and improving the quality of public transportation in metro Atlanta.
Atlanta grew up as a railroad town and is still today a major rail junction, with several busy freight lines belonging to Norfolk Southern and CSX intersecting below street level in the downtown area. Long-distance passenger service is provided by Amtrak’s Crescent train, which connects Atlanta with Baltimore, Maryland; Birmingham, Alabama ; Charlotte, North Carolina; New Orleans, Louisiana; New York, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Washington, D.C. The Amtrak station is at 1688 Peach tree Street Northwest, several miles north of downtown and not well placed for onward public transportation. An ambitious, long-standing proposal would create a Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal downtown, adjacent to Philips Arena and the Five-Points MARTA station, which would link, in a single facility, MARTA bus and rail, intercity bus service, proposed commuter rail service to other Georgia cities, and Amtrak.
Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service between Atlanta and many locations throughout the United States and Canada. The Greyhound terminal is situated at 232 Forsyth Street, on the southern edge of the downtown area and directly beneath Marta’s Garnette rail station.
The proposed Belt line would create a green way and public transit system in a circle around the city from a series of mostly abandoned rail lines. This rail right-of-way would also accommodate multi-use trails connecting a string of existing and new parks. In addition, there is a proposed streetcar project that would create a streetcar line along Peach tree from downtown to Buck head as well as possibly another East-West line.
Geography
According to folklore, its central avenue, Peach tree Street, runs through the center of the city on the Eastern Continental Divide. In actuality, the divide line enters Atlanta from the southwest, proceeding to downtown. From downtown, the divide line runs eastward along DeKalb Avenue and the CSX rail lines through Decatur. Rainwater that falls on the south and east side runs eventually into the Atlantic Ocean while rainwater on the north and west side of the divide runs into the Gulf of Mexico.
The latter is via the Chattahoochee River, part of the ACF River Basin, and from which Atlanta and many of its neighbors draw most of their water. Being at the far northwestern edge of the city, much of the river’s natural habitat is still preserved, in part by the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area. Downstream however, excessive water use during droughts and pollution during floods has been a source of contention and legal battles with neighboring states Alabama and Florida.
Colleges and Universities
Atlanta has more than 30 institutions of higher education, among which Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology (popularly known as Georgia Tech), Georgia State University, Mercer University, and Oglethorpe University are prominent. Atlanta University Center, a consortium of historically black colleges and universities, is also located in the city; members of the consortium include Clark Atlanta University, More house College, More house School of Medicine, Morris Brown College, and Spelman College. The Reformed Theological Seminary is another Atlanta school. The Savannah College of Art and Design opened a Midtown, Atlanta, campus in 2005 and acquired the Atlanta College of Art shortly thereafter. John Marshall Law School is the city’s only freestanding law school and produces many local lawyers.
Institutions in the metropolitan area include Agnes Scott College, in Decatur; Clayton State University, in Morrow; DeVry University, in Decatur; Georgia Perimeter College, with campuses in Alpharetta, Clarkston, Conyers, Covington (scheduled to open in January 2007), Decatur, Dunwoody, and Lawrenceville; Gwinnett University Center (soon to be known as Georgia Gwinnett College, in Lawrenceville); Kennesaw State University, in Kennesaw; Southern Polytechnic State University, in Marietta; and the University of West Georgia, in Carrollton.
