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Renting an Apartment in 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 Doraville,
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 Langford 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 Peachtree 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 Garnett rail station.
The proposed Beltline would create a greenway 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 Peachtree from downtown to Buckhead as well
as possibly another East-West line.
Geography
According to folklore, its central avenue, Peachtree 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, Morehouse College, Morehouse 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.