City of Prosperity: Decatur’s New Neighbor?
Decatur Metro | April 11, 2013 | 12:14 pmThe AJC has a very good round-up about the bumper crop of talk and legislation spouting up in North and Central DeKalb that could create as many as five new potential cities in the county. I certainly recommend the entire article to any DeKalb resident or interested party, but here are a few snippets that might be of particular interest to Decatur area folks (since this is inescapably a Decatur-focused site).
Another proposed city, alternately called Lavista Hills and Briarcliff, would wend from I-285 south to the existing city lines for Atlanta and Decatur.
Doing so would eliminate most of [the proposed city of] Lakeside while taking in massive employers such as Emory University and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More importantly, that city would encompass all of Druid Hills, where there’s a strong interest in gaining more local control over zoning and planning. A civic group there has been locked in a legal fight for a decade, trying to stop an attorney from carving a seven-lot subdivision out of three existing lots in the historic area.
…And that’s before considering what residents in central DeKalb could do. Although people there who might naturally seek annexation into Atlanta or Decatur, talk is swirling about a city of Prosperity. Though no bill carries the name, it could be added to one of the existing proposals — allowing it to be created by 2015.
Though the boundaries are fluid, Prosperity also could potentially spark a new battle for commercial areas in central and east DeKalb. Only the Stone Mountain industrial area and Stonecrest Mall businesses would be large enough to offset the mostly bedroom communities that dot the rest of DeKalb.
ANNEX DEKALB!
That is a horrifically bad name for a city.
I vote for Seahaven.
Affluenus
Snooterville
no, wait, that’s us.
How about “Dancing Dollar Signs, Georgia”? I’m envisioning a tourist campaign similar to the “let’s all go to the lobby” drive-in jingle of lore, but with smiling currency instead of hotdogs and fries.
” . . . where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”
Now that’s funny! and sooooo True!
More like “Taxhaven”
Sounds like they’re compensating for something.
How about Mayberry?
Another bastion of white privilege…just what DeKalb needs. City of Prosperity? That says it all. LOL.
White privilege? Geeze….
What do you think Decatur has become? Or do you think Jay-Z built all those new Oakhurst mansions?
+1
Whoa!
Privelege means “A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to one person or group of people.”
How has Decatur become a special right or advantage for white people?
Do you assume that the higher cost of living that comes with living in a desirable community implicitly excludes other races?
Expensive does not equate to exclusive.
well stated.
Not to get sidetracked, I think the idea is that, as a white person, I am more likely to have enjoyed certain benefits that are less likely if a member of another race or ethnicity.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I certainly have. My dad earned a pretty decent white collar living working for a company that made Mad Men look like the picture of diversity. That money gave me a private high school and helped put me through college.
So, I’m not necessarily where I am because I’m white but when people talk about white privilege, I think many have a hefty dose of it whether one realizes it or not.
I wouldn’t argue that white privilege exists. It firmly believe it does.
I would argue that Decatur is no more a “bastion” of it than any other part of Atlanta, or any other part of the US for that matter.
Large houses are not an example of white privilege. The ability to have houses, because of the benefits white people have merely because of there skin, is white privilege.
BethB – there may have been white privilege in the past, but don’t try and be a designer in the city while being a white male! if you are not a woman owned business or minority owned business then more often than not your rfq will be tossed aside. I know very talented engineers who will not be able to break into city projects in the metro area because they are not a woman or minority. Its okay though cause they are white males…right?
I’m white, but was obviously born into the wrong family. I sure would like some of that there privilege. Would have saved me a hell of a lot of work over the years.
Word.
Dana – gbgotch – sharron – Last I checked Decatur is one of the most bleeding heart liberal places in metro Atlanta…Are bleeding heart liberals not more likely to be accepting of all races? all income levels? all? You are wrong.
Those Oakhurst “mansions” are built by people who work hard for what they have…race being ABSOLUTELY irrelevant. The houses that were sold in their place were not forced by eminent domain to build a “mansion”…they chose to leave. No if…ands…or buts…
for what its worth I do not have a “mansion” but do live in the city…unless 1500 sq ft is a mansion.
What do you mean by “white” privilege. Given the name, I assume they’ll be drafting Crelo Dollar as their mayor.
Prosperity? Seriously? What is this, California ca. 1849?
May as well call it Happytown.
Paradise, California. Don’t know if it’s still the same, but I remember when I first heard about Paradise it was known as a town for seniors and retirees and on Wednesday’s many seniors were allowed to use their special driver’s license on that day, and that day only, to run their errands. Everyone in town knew to be extra vigilant for fender-benders. I always thought that could be a great title for a short story: “You Don’t Drive in Paradise on Wednesdays.”
That’s what happens when you let old hippies name new cities. It needs a more modern name like Ted.
I’m an old hippie and also in the brand development business. Reading the article, I thought the name was intended for what we call “FPO” — for position only.
So where is the town center for said city? Probably Toco Hills Shopping Center. According to the Wikipedia entry for N. Druid Hills: “Toco was chosen because it was the Brazilian Indian word for “good luck.”
So there ya go, Prosperity is perfectly aligned with history.
A Brazilian Indian word? I prefer my city names to be locally sourced just like my food.
I heard it was Toco for “top of county” as it was a high point, topographically speaking, and the shopping center was originally developed by Clyde Shepherd as Toco Hill (not hills).
OMG The Edit function is back!
or Honkyville
I suggest NIMBYville.
New zoning rules will probably rule out back yards entirely, to avoid the inevitable discontent.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
I do not want to live in Briarcliff. I do not want LaVista Hills. I am closer by far to the Old Courthouse than to either of those streets.
Leave me here where I am happy in non-Decatur 30030.
There is a Prosperity, SC. It’s been there over a hundred years.
But it started off as Frog Level, SC. That was changed to Prosperity to sound more sophisticated, or so I was told.
Yep.
http://www.prosperitysc.com/page/history
That would hurt Atlanta if the new CDC byline was Lakeside, GA or Briarcliff, GA. Right now, there’s only a few things that distinguish Atlanta from the rest of the South in the minds of most of the rest of the world–city-too-busy-to-hate reputation, MLK Center, Carter Center, Hartsfield Jackson, Morehouse, Emory, CNN, Turner, and CDC.
BTW, where is the lake in Lakeside? Are there/were there briars and cliffs in the Briarcliff area? Just wondering. I’m still bothered by the lack of lakes in the Lake Claire and Great Lakes neighborhoods.
there really is a lake there!
Echo Lake is at the bottom of the hill past lakeside High School. It is not a natural lake but was dredged out with the help of mule teams long ago.
Interestingly, except for an occasional sink hole on the coast, there are no natural lakes in Georgia.
Why is that? And where’s the nearest one?
Georgia was south of the glaciers that carved out depressions that became lakes.
Thanks. I did realize after the fact that the glaciers were probably the reason. Just something I never thought about.
The closest natural lakes I know of are Reelfoot in Tennessee and Waccamaw in NC (the only ones in those states).
So most of our big lakes are what? Dammed up rivers? I guess the small neighborhood lakes/ponds were dredged out?
Except for rock quarries tha fill up with water, lakes and ponds in Georgia have dams.
More importantly, why is there no Ontario Ave in the Great Lakes but lots of other non-lake road names??
There was a lake in Lake Claire at the corner of Lakeshore Drive and Claire Drive, formerly known as Montlake drive. Not sure when it was drained. Be bothered no more.
I don’t think anyone outside Atlanta buys into that too-busy-to-hate nonsense.