Longtime Midtown resident: Rosy survey results don't reflect reality

Earlier this month, the results of a Midtown-specific survey completed by nearly 5,000 people came to light, suggesting that general satisfaction with the 1.2-square-mile Midtown Improvement District as an urban place has reached “an all-time high” in 2025. Not so fast, say some Atlantans who’ve called the district home for years. 

In direct communications and on social media, readers have called into question the veracity of the 2025 Midtown Community Survey. Some expressed frustrations that their voices—and Midtown criticisms—were ignored. 

“Do you think the Midtown survey was manipulated?” asked one longtime Midtown resident via email. 

Midtown Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of business and community leaders, distributes the questionnaire once every three years. It covers a range of topics that touch on all aspects of urban life in Midtown, including transportation, greenspaces, public safety, the food scene, and general urban design. 

The survey was conducted over eight weeks in the spring, and according to Midtown Alliance, 4,798 people responded—a 23-percent jump over the last one in 2022. (More than 80 percent of people who started taking the survey finished it, lending a “statistically valid sample size,” with a 3 percent or less margin of error, per Midtown Alliance.) The results of the feedback help “refine our efforts and create an exceptional place,” per the agency. 

But the survey does acknowledge that problems in Midtown do persist, such as declining trust in public transportation and an abundance of empty retail space. 

It's also notable that 43 percent of people who responded to the survey don’t actually live in Midtown, per statistics included with a recap.  

One well-connected professional who does live in Midtown—and has for more than 25 years—was incensed by the generally rosy picture the 2025 Midtown Community Survey paints. (He asked to remain anonymous, as speaking out could be detrimental to his career.) Contrary to the survey’s findings, he said negative sentiments for Midtown are higher than he’s seen since moving to Atlanta. 

“I gave scathing answers to that survey,” he said, “as did everyone I know who lives in Midtown.” 

We asked the survey respondent if he could give it some thought and elaborate, having lived in Midtown since the 1990s. He responded via email with what’s below, which was lightly edited for clarity:  

…

“Primary complaints (to the point of anger for some):

• Homeless.
• Trash everywhere.
• Loud mufflers during the middle of the night (some mufflers are amplified with the sound of gunfire).
• Street yelling/fighting with no police presence. I have example stories—one last night actually.
• Midtown takes the time to install trees and flowerbeds on the sidewalks, but they are not maintained. Weeds, weeds, weeds versus Buckhead, which has well-maintained and manicured flowerbeds.
• No parking enforcement for delivery trucks, uber drivers, etc. They block lanes of traffic even during rush hour
• Everyone I have talked to is furious about reducing Juniper [Street] and Piedmont [Avenue] to two lanes [as part of separate Complete Street projects]. The design is not thoughtful, and there will be cars running into those concrete bunkers. They have not provided any alternate transportation modes. Once they are down to two lanes the police will likely not enforce parking in traffic lanes, which will result in one lane of traffic.
• Streets are not maintained—potholes everywhere. We see them circling the potholes with white paint—twice since Mayor [Keisha Lance] Bottoms was in office—but they never came to fix them or paint them.
• Practically no lines in the roads separating lanes… it has been so long since they have maintained our roads, the paint has faded away almost everywhere.
• Sidewalks are falling apart. We have heard for more than 15 years about the “sidewalk improvement project.” They haven’t fixed any sidewalks in Midtown. [Editor’s note: Midtown Alliance has kept a running tally of public improvement projects that have included sidewalk upgrades, especially pertaining to ADA accessibility, with more than 40 more projects totaling tens of millions in investment dollars in the pipeline.]
• Traffic lights are not timed/engineered for the flow of traffic.
• Almost no police presence.

Those are the ones I hear most of the time.”

To the contrary, the 2025 Midtown Community Survey found the biggest general changes over the past three years are that people feel Midtown is safer from crime, more bikeable, and more family-friendly, per a survey recap.  

The area in question covers 120 city blocks, where Midtown Alliance is tasked with implementing mobility upgrades including sidewalks, smaller public spaces, safety enhancements, and public art, among other objectives.

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