Kennesaw-based real estate information firm Smart Numbers has a catchy name for a struggling swath of Atlanta’s suburbs:

The Ring of Death is a J-shaped ring of land surrounding the west, south and east sides of Atlanta’s urban core. According to Smart Numbers, the real estate market in the Ring of Death will never recover.

Never.

It’s overbuilt and overloaded with foreclosures and distressed properties. The Ring includes Hall, Jackson, Barrow, Walton, Newton, Henry, Clayton, Fayette, Coweta, Carroll, Douglas, Paulding counties, and the parts of East Gwinnett and South Fulton.

Looking at the Ring prompts three Decaturcentric thoughts and questions:

1. Decatur isn’t in the ring. We’re smack dab in the middle of the non-dead area. Let’s call it the Donut Hole of Life.
2. Why isn’t Decatur in it? Is it density? Maybe. But Cherokee County is neither dense nor walkable and it’s not in the Ring. Is it mass transit? Perhaps, but Cobb voters hate transit almost as much as they hate science books that leave out the Old Testament. Cobb ain’t in the Ring. Is it schools? City of Atlanta’s school system is in shambles, but Atlanta’s not in the Ring.

It’s probably a combination of all those factors, plus proximity to Atlanta’s main office districts (Midtown, Buckhead, Central Perimeter, and Cumberland).
3. The last thing it reminds me of: Remember the May 31st Decatur Metro post highlighting anti-TSPLOST comments made by Fayette County Tea Partier Debbie Dooley? Yeah, well, maybe we should think twice before we take the advice of people with Ring of Death addresses.