Katie, my senior twin daughter by three minutes, is planning to move from Savannah to Atlanta soon to begin graduate studies at Georgia Tech in January. She's been looking for a decent place to live near campus.
She contacted a realtor in Atlanta for help, and one their agents directed her to a three bedroom house with hardwood floors and a fenced backyard on Atlanta's south side that was renting for $1,000/month plus utilities. Feeling pinched for time and needing someplace to live, she gave the go-ahead to her mother to work out a rental agreement with the agent.
Before signing, I agreed to drive to the rental from Lawrenceville and check it out.
I lack the competence as a writer to do the neighborhood justice. It reminded me of war zones I've seen in film clips. The photos posted here will convey some of what I saw, but they can't express the horror I felt at the thought of Katie and her boy friend Petar attempting to live in that area.
The rental's porch afforded a panoramic view of the Atlanta federal penitentiary. Blighting that view were the properties across the street from the rental. Given the massive amount of litter in the area, it was highly unlikely there was any trash pickup service.
And check out the picture of the rental itself. You'll notice it looks recently painted and has a retaining wall in front built from landscape timbers. You'll also notice there's a guy lying on the porch with his legs resting on the first step. He and the door looked that way the first time I drove by. They looked that way the second time too. Was he dead? I don't know, and I didn't get out of the car to investigate.
Turns out it wasn't that close to the Tech campus.
Katie's still looking.
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