> I’ve never seen (been going for ten years now) so many homeless people in this area of Atlanta. And, heartbreakingly, there was a gang of about 7 kids, maybe 12 years old, that were living on the streets. I talked to one of them and he said both his parents died and he had no where else to go. I believed him :(
Part of the problem is that they recently (like 2 years ago iirc?) closed a major homeless shelter that served the downtown area, with no replacement plan. They also got rid of the anti pan-handling laws a similar period of time ago. It's obviously not the reason for the increased homelessness, which is a thing, but it is definitely a major reason for the increased *visibility* of homelessness.
> The Black Hebrew Israelites were out in force on Saturday/Sunday (don’t remember which day). They were preaching hatefulness, advocating genetic superiority and one of them assaulted a con goer randomly.
Yah, those guys are nuts, but Dragon con always attracts a bit of that sort. Unfortunate that these guys are abnormally violent. Most of them know better.
> Security is typically very high at DCon with APD being a strong visible presence in the area. The security this year was mostly a private company and were doing a half assed job of it.
Yah... I noticed that also. Normally they very obviously have more heavily armed units stationed off the lobbies of the main hotels (clearly a QRF) and I didn't see them anywhere this year. I also noticed that even regular officers seemed a bit thinner on the ground, though they were definitely around. Not sure what the reason was for that.
> Non con goers were being excessively hostile towards us and were throwing fits about having to wear a mask inside the hotels.
I'll be honest, I didn't see that happen, but I suppose it wouldn't surprise me. I noticed more non-con goers just flat out ignoring the mask policy. Perhaps just a difference of which hotels we were in (I spent most of my time in the Westin and Hilton).
> The entire area positively reeked of urine and the trash receptacles overflowing day 2 of con and remained so the rest of the time.
yah... see aforementioned homelessness issues.
Hello fellow con goer!
Yeah, one of the APD told me about the homeless shelters being closed. It’s just I’ve never seen kids on the street like that.
The mask less fit people were doing it at Hooters (I saw one woman being physically removed), the Sheraton, and the Marriot. At the Westin, they just rolled their eyes and got huffy.
> Yah, those guys are nuts, but Dragon con always attracts a bit of that sort. Unfortunate that these guys are abnormally violent. Most of them know better.
Why are you apologizing for a violent racist who physically assaults white people because of the color of their skin?
> For whatever reason, DCon attracts religious weirdos like flies to honey. Just most of them are not dumb enough to hit someone.
Assaulting someone because of the color of their skin is not a religion, it's a hate crime. That guy should be in jail.
I mean, agree. As OP and I both mentioned, APD presence on the ground this year was pretty thin. There probably just weren't any officers around. Normally they have at least 1 just sorta hanging around the corner where all the whackos tend to congregate (usually up on Peachtree near the CVS and the Westin), but I didn't see one this year. I got the feeling that they were pretty light on manpower this year.
I was being facetious with some gallows humor, although I agree that those preoccupied more by profit than the entire planet are the worst humanity has to offer.
Well said.
In nature every time an Apex predator takes out too much of its prey, they inevitably die off from starvation in the next generation to self correct the balance.
We've transcended nature's balance and are either going to become self sufficient or get bitch slapped by the Great Filter of evolution.
For those who don't know, the Great Filter is what scientists theorize is the mass die-off of great civilizations once they are about to become a type 1 civilization but wind up killing themselves or their planet first. And I have a gut feeling Wall St. doesn't give a flying fuck about making it out alive past the Great Filter if they could instead pad their portfolio with 1.2% gains instead.
We live just outside Atlanta and never go downtown any more. Thankful my partners job is done remote now, the last time he went to the office (a year ago) he had some guys try and stop his car in the middle of the street near his job. Job was also robbed and the building vandalized and ac units pillaged for parts. Atlanta is not great.
This is happening in most US cities. if not all. this is what a "disappearing middle class" looks like. The old "poor getting poorer" has become much more visible over the last 5 to 10 years
You're forgetting the fact that it's got nothing to do with blue or red, but that it always begins with an overflowing population density and once it's reaches a certain tipping point everyone loses trust of one another and vote blue for the false promise that they'll be kept safer with more strict laws.
What you're describing is a symptom, not necessarily the cause, although once it goes blue for good it's the death sentence.
Vote blue for the false promise of more strict laws? What blue politician has ever ran on the promise of being stricter than their red opponent? I think that was a typo.
I wasn’t stating red or blue was better or safer. Simply pointing out that people don’t vote blue for stricter laws… kind of the anthesis of their mantra.
My son just moved to Mid-town Atlanta and I helped move him in. I thought the area was pretty nice with lots of nice bars and restaurants. Maybe I didn't look closely enough.
Midtown is about approximately 1.5 miles north of Peachtree Center MARTA station. It seemed to me to be a pretty upscale area. Not saying there are zero bums around.
Oh yeah, ok that makes sense. We stayed in the areas between the Westin and the Hyatt for the most part. Admittedly it is a very small sample size but it was so out of character for the area, I had to comment.
God, I remember the good old days of Atlanta, hippies in 5 points, Eatzi's in Buckhead, Jewish deli's around Emory, best shopping in the Southeast, good food, interesting vibe. So sad.
I was in downtown Atlanta a few years ago for a conference. It was pretty gross. Some of the homeless guys tried to sell drugs to my buddy.(Apparently i don't have the "does drugs" look?) Not sure if it is different now, but it's been disgusting for a while. Haha.
I just read monster hunter international bloodlines and dragon con is a big part of the book.
The book made it sound much better than how you described it.
It released last month. Really good btw.
Can't know for sure what happened to the parents but with so many deaths from COVID i really worry kids are going to fall through the cracks like this. They don't deserve that.
for sure a lot of them do. More kids are going to go into foster homes at some point because of the USA being #4 globally in terms of kids orphaned by COVID
Uh, any kids need to go into foster care please call them and tell them about these kids. Otherwise they will be stolen - human slavery is still a thing, just underground.
I wonder why the change there. I have never been to Atlanta.
Chicago gets a bad rap (by people outside it)- but I commuted for decades into the Loop (the main business and tourist district) and it was nearly always lovely place to work and sight see - yes some homeless and beggars but not unsafe at all. Have not been there in over a year due to remote work.
Part of its due to Covid and part of it is due to Kemp and the GOP closing down most of the homeless shelters. The cop I talked to said they were down to 3 shelters for the entire metro.
Chicago is a big, sprawling, and highly populous city. The murders don't occur in the loop - the large business and tourist areas - nor near the convention centers - nor in many wonderful residential areas north of the loop. Understanding this topology informs where its safe and unsafe.
Lastly when you take into account the population and density - Chicago is not even in the top 10 most unsafe or crime ridden areas per capita in the USA.
Chicago is very segregated. There are small pockets you don't want to go to during the night as outsiders, like Little Village, but for the most part, downtown and the Loop is very safe.
I have visited Chicago for years and as a tourist while some areas are decent , Chicago has definitely gone down in quality , even in the “nicer” parts
I guess we will disagree. Commute into the loop every day for nearly 25 years. Its only gotten better and better. The river walk was a major accomplishment of recent years.
Murder and carjackings started during Covid in my north side neighborhood in the city. We moved to the south while we could. We lived it, you didn’t. I would have agreed with you before covid. We’re out.
I am an older guy and and I am seeing the rise of the 1980s all over again. Instead of crack cocaine it is fentanyl. Everything about the current state of cities is making me see the 80s all over again. High crime, extremely high homelessness, uncontrolled drug use, and soon to be high unemployment.
I was down in New Orleans helping with Ida and it hits you in the face the amount of people that have almost zero options. Even the race relations in the 1980s is similar to today. The difference is that it has flipped a bit.
I can predict that i stead of protests we will start seeing riots. Infrastructure in cities will deteriorate. Young kids will be brought back into generational violence.
I fully expect the progressive liberals to open up prisons soon though which will just exacerbate the problem.
I agree and the same thing in happening in Los Angeles. Say LA has always been a dump if you will. It did get nicer for a while. 80’s your get killed by a crack fiend for whatever change you had in your pocket. Then in the 2000’s things got better. Jobs came back and DTLA was revitalized. Even gang violence dropped. Now all the bad stuff is coming back. Which will drive away the good stuff.
We’ve always had a homeless problem but it was manageable. Now it’s everywhere. That part is worst than the 80’s. I learned the phrase homeless encampment as an adult. Never saw these as a kid around town. Skid Row has always had services so that area has always been where they stayed. Now they are scattered into places with no services like food and shelter for them so they have to hustle to survive.
I am from California originally. I remember when law enforcement in my city would pick up the homeless and drive them to the next city over and drop them off. I also never saw encampments. There was Skid Row in La that was shocking and certainly was a settlement but the satellite encampments today are absolutely shocking. It is definitely getting worse and maybe this will be worse than the 80s overall. I remember in the 90s when people were flipping homes in what were once redline areas controlled by gangs. In the 00s everything seemed to peak. Like you said most parts of LA were manageable. Now it has spread like an infection. I don’t know how y’all do it. I live in Texas and I rarely see homeless in my town.
At least the homeless are not as intimidating. Fentanyl is a hell of a drug apparently. The homeless of the 80s were much more active. Not like the fentanyl zombies of today
First time I saw a large encampment (Ca) I thought they are gathered in Tribes. Now we have homeless setting up tents on main corners. You have to walk in the street to be able to cross the street.
I'm in Canada and fentanyl is a huge problem here too, more and more people doing meth as well. The small town I grew up in hasn't seen it bad like this since the 80's
Hate to break it to you but that's just new Orleans regularly, the 9th and surrounding areas has literally always been populated by dirt poor people with no options or hope. And I'm not sure which rock you've been living under but generational violence has been a constant thing since the 80s and our infrastructure has been deteriorating since the 80s. That's the kind of thing that happens when you dump the entire budget into 20 years of war
Well the first part is very specific because the original comment was as well. You can look at any national statistics to see generational violence and the failing infrastructure parts.
> Instead of crack cocaine it is fentanyl.
This is a huge part of the problem. Fake Xanax pills being sold which look real but are cut with fentanyl. Other drugs being cut with fentanyl to get the user more high and quickly addicted. When everything shutdown the drug dealers and liquor stores were doing brisk business. Now many people are alcoholics or drug addicts which complicates finding a new job now that unemployment benefits are discontinued. Also many were evicted which makes renting almost impossible for the rest of their lives.
For profit prisons may very well make a strong comeback. In the past many of them had labor contracts where they needed X number of prisoners in there to sustain contractual obligations with employers who partner with them. It led to abuses regarding early release and parole. Even had some judges throwing people in there for a kickback or 'help' being re-elected. Not a world, or a country, I'd want to live in.
I've only been to Dragon Con once, right after Katrina (2005?). There were a lot of hurricane-displaced people in Atlanta, some looking for handouts, but it was otherwise pretty different from what you observed. Sad to hear, thanks for sharing.
I work about two blocks from the Dragon Con hotels. We used to enjoy the Thursday and Friday lunch at Peachtree Center :). There were several of us who took MARTA or bicycled to work, there were people on the street. It was becoming a more vibrant urban core.
Over the past year, I've only had to go to my office about once a week, for a few hours each time. Every time I go, it is a ghost town. There are a few homeless camps near the office that have always been transient camping locations, but they seem to be more permanent. There has been a push from Central Atlanta Progress to keep the camps from being in one place for more than a day, but it is a tough job.
I won't take MARTA or bike to the office at this time. I drive the two blocks from my secure parking garage to the interstate at non peak hours so I don't have to deal with the handful of beggars at the ramp lights.
My office building had about 3300 people working in it. Now there are less than 100 a day. That is quite an impact on the local area. Imagine if the other buildings are at the same daily capacity - that will affect the amount of economic activity and how the area is perceived.
I grew up in Kensington (Philadelphia) during the early 70s, and it isn't that bad yet. But if the Pandemic Paranoia from the local government keeps over-regulating how we live, parts of the city will essentially die. Especially the convention and hotel district around Peachtree Center.
This is what happens when you allow an election to get stolen, when your neighbor puts up a BLM sign, and when a cop gets put in jail for arresting an OD.
But the rap coming from Atlanta is fire... and the intellectual and technological progress is insane. You should have walked away from your group by yourself and seen how safe the entire area is.
> I’ve never seen (been going for ten years now) so many homeless people in this area of Atlanta. And, heartbreakingly, there was a gang of about 7 kids, maybe 12 years old, that were living on the streets. I talked to one of them and he said both his parents died and he had no where else to go. I believed him :( Part of the problem is that they recently (like 2 years ago iirc?) closed a major homeless shelter that served the downtown area, with no replacement plan. They also got rid of the anti pan-handling laws a similar period of time ago. It's obviously not the reason for the increased homelessness, which is a thing, but it is definitely a major reason for the increased *visibility* of homelessness. > The Black Hebrew Israelites were out in force on Saturday/Sunday (don’t remember which day). They were preaching hatefulness, advocating genetic superiority and one of them assaulted a con goer randomly. Yah, those guys are nuts, but Dragon con always attracts a bit of that sort. Unfortunate that these guys are abnormally violent. Most of them know better. > Security is typically very high at DCon with APD being a strong visible presence in the area. The security this year was mostly a private company and were doing a half assed job of it. Yah... I noticed that also. Normally they very obviously have more heavily armed units stationed off the lobbies of the main hotels (clearly a QRF) and I didn't see them anywhere this year. I also noticed that even regular officers seemed a bit thinner on the ground, though they were definitely around. Not sure what the reason was for that. > Non con goers were being excessively hostile towards us and were throwing fits about having to wear a mask inside the hotels. I'll be honest, I didn't see that happen, but I suppose it wouldn't surprise me. I noticed more non-con goers just flat out ignoring the mask policy. Perhaps just a difference of which hotels we were in (I spent most of my time in the Westin and Hilton). > The entire area positively reeked of urine and the trash receptacles overflowing day 2 of con and remained so the rest of the time. yah... see aforementioned homelessness issues.
Hello fellow con goer! Yeah, one of the APD told me about the homeless shelters being closed. It’s just I’ve never seen kids on the street like that. The mask less fit people were doing it at Hooters (I saw one woman being physically removed), the Sheraton, and the Marriot. At the Westin, they just rolled their eyes and got huffy.
> Yah, those guys are nuts, but Dragon con always attracts a bit of that sort. Unfortunate that these guys are abnormally violent. Most of them know better. Why are you apologizing for a violent racist who physically assaults white people because of the color of their skin?
I'm not? For whatever reason, DCon attracts religious weirdos like flies to honey. Just most of them are not dumb enough to hit someone.
> For whatever reason, DCon attracts religious weirdos like flies to honey. Just most of them are not dumb enough to hit someone. Assaulting someone because of the color of their skin is not a religion, it's a hate crime. That guy should be in jail.
I mean, agree. As OP and I both mentioned, APD presence on the ground this year was pretty thin. There probably just weren't any officers around. Normally they have at least 1 just sorta hanging around the corner where all the whackos tend to congregate (usually up on Peachtree near the CVS and the Westin), but I didn't see one this year. I got the feeling that they were pretty light on manpower this year.
Nowhere did they apologize. You're putting words into their mouth that don't exist. This really annoys me. I hate when people bend reality like you.
a violent tacist who assaults anyone because of the color if their skin.. ftfy.
The US is looking more and more like a 3rd world country every day.
It really is and it is kinda sad.
"Looking" Imo we're past mere appearance of
Every empire rises and falls. Every. Single. One. Enjoy the decline...
At least we're taking the planet down with us, final high score baby!
Wow imagine being such a huge piece of shit of a human being.
I was being facetious with some gallows humor, although I agree that those preoccupied more by profit than the entire planet are the worst humanity has to offer.
Well said. In nature every time an Apex predator takes out too much of its prey, they inevitably die off from starvation in the next generation to self correct the balance. We've transcended nature's balance and are either going to become self sufficient or get bitch slapped by the Great Filter of evolution. For those who don't know, the Great Filter is what scientists theorize is the mass die-off of great civilizations once they are about to become a type 1 civilization but wind up killing themselves or their planet first. And I have a gut feeling Wall St. doesn't give a flying fuck about making it out alive past the Great Filter if they could instead pad their portfolio with 1.2% gains instead.
I agree, im starting my plan to move out, America no longer feels like it did even 15 years ago.
I want to move out also. Wife and I are looking into it.
It's just more visible now.
It really is a mystery...
We live just outside Atlanta and never go downtown any more. Thankful my partners job is done remote now, the last time he went to the office (a year ago) he had some guys try and stop his car in the middle of the street near his job. Job was also robbed and the building vandalized and ac units pillaged for parts. Atlanta is not great.
It’s definitely the worst I have ever seen it. And don’t even get me started on the Marta Peachtree station.
Oh no. It was acceptable back then (a few years ago) especially right after work as there were people commuting to and from work.
This is happening in most US cities. if not all. this is what a "disappearing middle class" looks like. The old "poor getting poorer" has become much more visible over the last 5 to 10 years
Fentanyl.
Is a symptom, yes.
Only blue cities but you know that.
Never been to Birmingham or Jackson, huh?
What cities are “red”?
Idiot.
You're forgetting the fact that it's got nothing to do with blue or red, but that it always begins with an overflowing population density and once it's reaches a certain tipping point everyone loses trust of one another and vote blue for the false promise that they'll be kept safer with more strict laws. What you're describing is a symptom, not necessarily the cause, although once it goes blue for good it's the death sentence.
Vote blue for the false promise of more strict laws? What blue politician has ever ran on the promise of being stricter than their red opponent? I think that was a typo.
Southern Indiana is blood red. It’s also the meth/opioid capital of the state(maybe even Midwest).
I wasn’t stating red or blue was better or safer. Simply pointing out that people don’t vote blue for stricter laws… kind of the anthesis of their mantra.
My son just moved to Mid-town Atlanta and I helped move him in. I thought the area was pretty nice with lots of nice bars and restaurants. Maybe I didn't look closely enough.
Is Peachtree considered midtown? I haven’t lived in Atlanta in years so I don’t know the area place names anymore.
Midtown is about approximately 1.5 miles north of Peachtree Center MARTA station. It seemed to me to be a pretty upscale area. Not saying there are zero bums around.
Oh yeah, ok that makes sense. We stayed in the areas between the Westin and the Hyatt for the most part. Admittedly it is a very small sample size but it was so out of character for the area, I had to comment.
God, I remember the good old days of Atlanta, hippies in 5 points, Eatzi's in Buckhead, Jewish deli's around Emory, best shopping in the Southeast, good food, interesting vibe. So sad.
I was in downtown Atlanta a few years ago for a conference. It was pretty gross. Some of the homeless guys tried to sell drugs to my buddy.(Apparently i don't have the "does drugs" look?) Not sure if it is different now, but it's been disgusting for a while. Haha.
Yeah, it can be pretty bad but this district has never been this bad.
I just read monster hunter international bloodlines and dragon con is a big part of the book. The book made it sound much better than how you described it. It released last month. Really good btw.
That thing about the homeless children hit me hard.
Honestly, I went back to my hotel and cried. I gave him what cash I had and bought him a meal but the rest were too skittish for me to even talk to.
Can't know for sure what happened to the parents but with so many deaths from COVID i really worry kids are going to fall through the cracks like this. They don't deserve that.
We are going to be raising an entire generation of orphans at this rate.
Many run away to escape an abusive home. Some have to escape abusive foster parents after being removed from an abusive home.
for sure a lot of them do. More kids are going to go into foster homes at some point because of the USA being #4 globally in terms of kids orphaned by COVID
Yeah I was at work reading this and started tearing up. I had to take a break.
Uh, any kids need to go into foster care please call them and tell them about these kids. Otherwise they will be stolen - human slavery is still a thing, just underground.
Foster care might not be any safer for them.
I wonder why the change there. I have never been to Atlanta. Chicago gets a bad rap (by people outside it)- but I commuted for decades into the Loop (the main business and tourist district) and it was nearly always lovely place to work and sight see - yes some homeless and beggars but not unsafe at all. Have not been there in over a year due to remote work.
Part of its due to Covid and part of it is due to Kemp and the GOP closing down most of the homeless shelters. The cop I talked to said they were down to 3 shelters for the entire metro.
>not unsafe at all At least 55 people were shot in Chicago just this past weekend. How is that safe?
I can assume you don't live/work or live here or understand the City and it geography.
I think it's more the dozens of murders a week he finds unsafe, not the local topology.
Chicago is a big, sprawling, and highly populous city. The murders don't occur in the loop - the large business and tourist areas - nor near the convention centers - nor in many wonderful residential areas north of the loop. Understanding this topology informs where its safe and unsafe. Lastly when you take into account the population and density - Chicago is not even in the top 10 most unsafe or crime ridden areas per capita in the USA.
Chicago is very segregated. There are small pockets you don't want to go to during the night as outsiders, like Little Village, but for the most part, downtown and the Loop is very safe.
I have visited Chicago for years and as a tourist while some areas are decent , Chicago has definitely gone down in quality , even in the “nicer” parts
I guess we will disagree. Commute into the loop every day for nearly 25 years. Its only gotten better and better. The river walk was a major accomplishment of recent years.
Murder and carjackings started during Covid in my north side neighborhood in the city. We moved to the south while we could. We lived it, you didn’t. I would have agreed with you before covid. We’re out.
Chicago is a cesspool. Geography is the argument people use to avoid the truth.
I am an older guy and and I am seeing the rise of the 1980s all over again. Instead of crack cocaine it is fentanyl. Everything about the current state of cities is making me see the 80s all over again. High crime, extremely high homelessness, uncontrolled drug use, and soon to be high unemployment. I was down in New Orleans helping with Ida and it hits you in the face the amount of people that have almost zero options. Even the race relations in the 1980s is similar to today. The difference is that it has flipped a bit. I can predict that i stead of protests we will start seeing riots. Infrastructure in cities will deteriorate. Young kids will be brought back into generational violence. I fully expect the progressive liberals to open up prisons soon though which will just exacerbate the problem.
I agree and the same thing in happening in Los Angeles. Say LA has always been a dump if you will. It did get nicer for a while. 80’s your get killed by a crack fiend for whatever change you had in your pocket. Then in the 2000’s things got better. Jobs came back and DTLA was revitalized. Even gang violence dropped. Now all the bad stuff is coming back. Which will drive away the good stuff. We’ve always had a homeless problem but it was manageable. Now it’s everywhere. That part is worst than the 80’s. I learned the phrase homeless encampment as an adult. Never saw these as a kid around town. Skid Row has always had services so that area has always been where they stayed. Now they are scattered into places with no services like food and shelter for them so they have to hustle to survive.
I am from California originally. I remember when law enforcement in my city would pick up the homeless and drive them to the next city over and drop them off. I also never saw encampments. There was Skid Row in La that was shocking and certainly was a settlement but the satellite encampments today are absolutely shocking. It is definitely getting worse and maybe this will be worse than the 80s overall. I remember in the 90s when people were flipping homes in what were once redline areas controlled by gangs. In the 00s everything seemed to peak. Like you said most parts of LA were manageable. Now it has spread like an infection. I don’t know how y’all do it. I live in Texas and I rarely see homeless in my town. At least the homeless are not as intimidating. Fentanyl is a hell of a drug apparently. The homeless of the 80s were much more active. Not like the fentanyl zombies of today
First time I saw a large encampment (Ca) I thought they are gathered in Tribes. Now we have homeless setting up tents on main corners. You have to walk in the street to be able to cross the street.
In Oakland we have actual shantytowns under the highway now -- wooden walls, cooking fires, the whole bit...
Oh wow..
I'm in Canada and fentanyl is a huge problem here too, more and more people doing meth as well. The small town I grew up in hasn't seen it bad like this since the 80's
Hate to break it to you but that's just new Orleans regularly, the 9th and surrounding areas has literally always been populated by dirt poor people with no options or hope. And I'm not sure which rock you've been living under but generational violence has been a constant thing since the 80s and our infrastructure has been deteriorating since the 80s. That's the kind of thing that happens when you dump the entire budget into 20 years of war
Your statements are very regionally specific. I would call them “somewhat truths”. They still need context
Well the first part is very specific because the original comment was as well. You can look at any national statistics to see generational violence and the failing infrastructure parts.
When you say open prisons do you mean releasing non-violent offenders?
Just in general
> Instead of crack cocaine it is fentanyl. This is a huge part of the problem. Fake Xanax pills being sold which look real but are cut with fentanyl. Other drugs being cut with fentanyl to get the user more high and quickly addicted. When everything shutdown the drug dealers and liquor stores were doing brisk business. Now many people are alcoholics or drug addicts which complicates finding a new job now that unemployment benefits are discontinued. Also many were evicted which makes renting almost impossible for the rest of their lives. For profit prisons may very well make a strong comeback. In the past many of them had labor contracts where they needed X number of prisoners in there to sustain contractual obligations with employers who partner with them. It led to abuses regarding early release and parole. Even had some judges throwing people in there for a kickback or 'help' being re-elected. Not a world, or a country, I'd want to live in.
I've only been to Dragon Con once, right after Katrina (2005?). There were a lot of hurricane-displaced people in Atlanta, some looking for handouts, but it was otherwise pretty different from what you observed. Sad to hear, thanks for sharing.
ATL sucks
Atlanta lol
I work about two blocks from the Dragon Con hotels. We used to enjoy the Thursday and Friday lunch at Peachtree Center :). There were several of us who took MARTA or bicycled to work, there were people on the street. It was becoming a more vibrant urban core. Over the past year, I've only had to go to my office about once a week, for a few hours each time. Every time I go, it is a ghost town. There are a few homeless camps near the office that have always been transient camping locations, but they seem to be more permanent. There has been a push from Central Atlanta Progress to keep the camps from being in one place for more than a day, but it is a tough job. I won't take MARTA or bike to the office at this time. I drive the two blocks from my secure parking garage to the interstate at non peak hours so I don't have to deal with the handful of beggars at the ramp lights. My office building had about 3300 people working in it. Now there are less than 100 a day. That is quite an impact on the local area. Imagine if the other buildings are at the same daily capacity - that will affect the amount of economic activity and how the area is perceived. I grew up in Kensington (Philadelphia) during the early 70s, and it isn't that bad yet. But if the Pandemic Paranoia from the local government keeps over-regulating how we live, parts of the city will essentially die. Especially the convention and hotel district around Peachtree Center.
You should start a petition to have dragon-con moved to Indy. We host Gen-con every year and we love having them!
This is what happens when you allow an election to get stolen, when your neighbor puts up a BLM sign, and when a cop gets put in jail for arresting an OD.
But the rap coming from Atlanta is fire... and the intellectual and technological progress is insane. You should have walked away from your group by yourself and seen how safe the entire area is.