Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald

why would you want to go to atlanta when you're in athens? the only think atlanta has to offer is the airport and the braves. the rest? it's better where you are

um... you ain't buying property with the pay here


still... greatest town in america... you can do much, much worse. much worse.

damn, i miss athens

 

Don't be so quick to dismiss, Hoops. I bought my first condo, in a 900K population city, while making $28K as a preps writer. Yes, I needed a roommate to meet my mortgage, but you would be surprised at how much your dollar stretches. And I still lived comfortably.

It costs nothing to go to a mortgage lender and see how much you qualify for. Too many people dismiss buying over renting because they don't think they make enough money --- and that's simply not the case.

 

Athens is a great town. Great bars, great music. I'd rather hang out in Athens than Atlanta any day.

As for pay, mid-20s at an under 30K in the South isn't that bad. I'd say they pay better (relatively speaking) than a lot of other Southern papers. Certainly better than mine, relatively speaking.

 

Atlanta - Cheetah.
Athens - Chelsea's.
But the few times I've been to Athens, a good time is ready to be had. For a smaller city, it has a lot of entertainment opportunities that don't involve alcohol or nudity (those two do rank pretty high on my scale of a good time) and it still has a pretty good live music scene. And if UGa is playing it, the ABH is covering it.
A Morris guy already does the Braves and I think his backup is another Morris News Service staffer.
I think the combined population of Athens-Clarke County is past the 100K mark now.

 

As far as quality of life goes, Atlanta has very few things Athens doesn't. Exept, as has been noted, the pro sports teams (not to mention the Hawks), the zoo, the aquarium and the traffic. There's a Varsity location there (naked dog walking and an large FO, please), and I'm not sure about this, but I'd bet you can get Starbucks without crossing a county line.

As for the pay, etc., this paper makes an effort to be good, in spite of whatever issues exist because it is part of the Morris reich, but it's still a relatively small paper, so no one should expect to get rich working there.

 

You can get Starbucks in Athens, yes. It's on Broad Street downtown, about three stores down from the REAL coffeeshop, Blue Sky.

And what I wouldn't give for two chili dogs, a chili burger and a frosted orange from the Varsity. Pure ecstacy (which is also readily available in Athens, I hear.) ;D

 

When I think of Athens, I think of R.E.M. How can it not be a great place if they hooked up there? Sorry, I just had to digress.

 

Ah, hell, that was about 25-30 years ago when REM and B-52s ruled that town. It's not the same (although the running joke is, if you spend 4-5 years at UGA and never see Michael Stipe at least once roaming around town, you need to get out more. And it's still very true.)

 

typical of downtown athens blue sky is now a bar, but there is jittery joes. also surprisingly, athens is top 5 in most people in a town over 100k living in poverty. so athens is an awesome town, but everything isn't perfect. that's partly because of the athens suburbs (oconee). there is a stark contrast between downtown/the school and the rest of the town.

 

yeah, but there's the drive-by truckers and a boatload of new bands. tons of great bands still there. and everyone plays athens, because, well, it's athens. they'll play atlanta one night and then athens the next

and, well, i used to live across the street from stipe, so i saw him quite often

 

Yeah, he's there a lot. And you're right, Hoops, the music is still great -- it's never been just REM -- and there's so many great places to see a show.

 

What SEC roadtrip is complete without a trip to the Varsity? Plus, PBR flows like water down there.