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Monday, April 2, 2007
Are you embarrassed to say you live in Clayton County?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Before moving to Georgia, we asked opinions on where to live. We stayed in Fulton for awhile and scoped out various areas.
We knew people who liked living in Clayton County. Yes, there’s crime, but no one could name a “crime free” county for us to consider. No young children, so schools weren’t a big factor at the time. We got a great deal on a home toward the end of the housing boom and decided to give Clayton a chance, hoping the negatives would eventually work themselves out.
I asked anyone who’d listen what they knew about the area. Between news reports and nervous neighbors predicting the worst, I worried we’d made a bad decision. There was really no justification for feeling that way because nothing negative has ever happened to us here. Yet I still got license plates that didn’t have the county name so assumptions wouldn’t be made based on where we lived. Every time the news came on I prayed Clayton wouldn’t be the lead story (still do!).
I didn’t enjoy our new home as much as I could have initially because I listened and reacted to negatives instead of focusing on and looking for positives. When talking with others about where we live, I’d sometimes notice a slight wince, or get an “Oh … OK” type response. But contrary to popular belief, every metro Atlanta county has some type of problem. Nobody’s immune.
Despite Clayton’s image, I do enjoy living here. I like the new businesses that are going up (but not the influx of newly built strip malls, town homes and subdivisions when there are plenty sitting empty — that’s another blog for another day). Everything we need is a short ride away. Now if we could only get a Dillards here, I’d be sooo happy. We’re also blessed to have good neighbors on either side who look out for us and vice versa, as well as living in a subdivision that cares about the neighborhood and county issues.
What do you enjoy about living in Clayton County? How long have you lived here and are you embarrassed to say so because of the county’s current image? If you had to do it all over again, would you choose Clayton?
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