In the Cryponomicon. In one terrific scene, Randy Waterhouse’s grandmother dies and the family must divide the assets. They are a mathematically minded and gifted group so they use two axes, perceived financial value and perceived emotional value so each family moves a possession out in the parking lot to its point on the plane that represents their values. Later they use a supercomputer to crunch the numbers and award teh items. Randy wants a certain trunk with the cryptonomic McGuffin so he has to persuade his parents to place the trunk in the right spot but not give away how valuable he thinks it is.
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Bang on is a chain?
there’s one in Toronto. I assume elsewhere.
I had no idea… I think I’ve bought one shirt there, for my daughter’s teacher (we need a Mr. T shirt!). Otherwise, I just pass it on my way to Criminal to pick up my comics from Zano!
yo, you know Zano? that cat is fucking great. an ill freestyler, too.
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Not well, just from getting my comics, really. He always remembers my (well, our me and the kiddo) face, but never my name! But he seems uber-cool!
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Ouch Atlanta, hang in there.
Dear Austin, this one’s for you:
Boomtown
Here come the artists with their intense faces,
with their need for money and quiet spaces.
They leave New York, they leave L.A…
Here they are - who knows how long they’ll stay -
[chorus:]
It’s a Boomtown
got another Boomtown
and it’ll boom
just as long as boom has room.
Here come the tourists with their blank stares,
with their fanny packs - they are penny millionaires.
Something interesting happened here long time ago.
Now where people used to live their lives the restless
come and go.
[repeat chorus]
Nice to meet you, nice to see you
in a sheepskin coat made in Korea.
Welcome to the new age, the new century.
Welcome to a town with no real reason to be.
[repeat chorus]
The rich build sensitive houses and pass their shit around.
For the rest of us, it’s trailers on the outskirts of town.
We carry them their coffee, wash their shiny cars,
hear all about how lucky we are
to be living in a …
[repeat chorus]
The guy from California moves in and relaxes.
The natives have to move - they cannot pay the taxes.
Santa Fe has had it. Sedona has, too.
Maybe you’ll be lucky - maybe your town will be the new…
[repeat chorus]
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I would love to live in Krkwood. My wife and I looked there when we bought about 10 years ago, but it would have been a stretch financially. Now we make pretty good money, but the prices in Kirkwood have gotten crazy. Plus, the schools aren’t great, so we’d probably end up having to pay for private school too.
This leads to the bigger issue: Who the hell is buying these incredibly expensive houses? My $250K house would probably cost $600K in Kirkwood or Grant Park. Probably at least $800K in Decatur or Candler Park (decent schools there). I make considerably more than the average household income for Atlanta, and I consider those prices unaffordable. Yet pretty much everything being built is in those ranges. It’s fascinating and I wonder where all the money is coming from.
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To be fair, the average household may be wondering the same of you.
I get what you’re saying, but my point is that, statistically, I don’t see how there are enough people to afford the sheer number of $600K + homes in Atlanta.
I suspect the key lies in the highly variable definition of ‘afford.’
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I’d guess that (much like prior to the 2008 implosion), people with some means are able to get loans which might be on the edge of their price range (for a 30 year, probably). But it’s a good question… maybe it’s related to the shift in industry, with the boom in the security/computing sector? Higher pay and double income families are probably partially driving it. The lack of affordable housing (for lower middle class/working class people) is soon going to become a huge problem, I think. The condos, apartment buildings, and as you point out, houses being built all seem to be in the higher price range (especially in city of Decatur, with their schools) and many people are having to move further out to the suburbs. Incidentally, the case of Decatur is interesting, because I’d guess that some of the people sending their kids to the schools there might be able to afford a private school, but I think they want the feeling of being a public school and investing in their local community.
Incidentally, a friend of mine recently moved her family from Grant park to Inman, and said the prices were better and the schools for their kid were better. Have you looked there yet? I have no idea what houses in Inman or Candler are going for, but I drive through those two neighborhoods a fair amount and there are always for sale signs up.
I don’t know… it’s a tricky set of problems. But the city is going to have to do something soon, I’d guess.
So Seattle is not the only place this happens. Change in the neighborhood is a given cause things never stay the same but I find it sad that my mortgage payments on a 3 bedroom house with a basement are $200-$300 less than the new 2 bedroom apartments going in. And I earn a lot more than I did when we bought. How would some one making even $30K a year afford $1000ish a month for a one bedroom? Especially after taking out taxes and benefits copays.
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Exactly… here in town, they’ve (working class Atlantans) been pushed into the suburbs to the north west (Cobb, up into Cherokee, Bartow) and east of the city (Gwinnett and Clayton). But north of the perimeter is still sort of tony - especially Alpharetta. But the more affordable housing stock is generally in the burbs now (in fact the local radio station had a story not to long ago about millennials moving out to the suburbs, because it’s affordable).
Actually, here is a weird thing and maybe some of the other ATL residents can weigh in on this, I wonder what the relationship is to house affordability and the increasing number of cities popping up in Atlanta. Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Milton have all recently incorporated - but as this article points out, race and affluence can be considered a major driving factor, too:
(it’s one of those weird, quasi-paywall thingies - if you’ve read more than 4 stories on myajc, you won’t be able to view it).
I remember this story not too long ago, when Avondale Estates (which is right outside of Decatur city limits) wanted to annex the area that has the Dekalb Farmer’s Market, which has been there for several decades. It’s constantly busy and as a result generates a huge amount of tax revenue, but the owner wasn’t exicted about being annexed into Avondale:
http://news.wabe.org/post/your-dekalb-farmers-market-owner-not-keen-cityhood
So, the cityhood movement and affordability might not necessarily be connected, but I wonder if there is some connection in some way?
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And I should add that the stuff going in with retail on the bottom with apartments above I love in the concept of it. Very old school european urban in style but it all is ‘luxury apartment living’ which is nice but just how much of the population can afford it? Hell I make 70Kish and I really can’t afford it.
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Yeah, much of the new apartment/condos seem to be live/work/play spaces, which I imagine is pricier. That’s the new thing now, walkability… But of course, that’s increasingly a luxury and privilege.
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There’s all those nice apodments!
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Hah. Well that actually would have been a great option for me in my early 20s when I was single and pretty much just needed a decent place to have breakfast, watch a show or two and sleep… now not so much.
I have “had the pleasure”.
