r/Marietta

Anyone have recommendations of a good medical transport service that can help me get my elderly father to and from a minor surgery next week when I’m booked on a job I can’t cancel?

Every summer we eventually reach the part of Georgia weather where “let’s do something outside” starts sounding like a threat.

I keep seeing people ask for things to do around Marietta/Kennesaw, especially with visitors, parents, kids, dates, or people who just moved here, so here’s a starter list for days when the parking lot itself is trying to kill you.

Museums are the obvious answer, but we actually have some good ones nearby. The Southern Museum in Kennesaw is worth doing even if trains are not normally your thing. Marietta History Center is an easy stop if you’re already on the Square. If you don’t mind heading up I-75, Cartersville has Tellus for science, Savoy for cars, and Booth for Western art. You can turn that into an entire day without getting slow-roasted on a sidewalk.

Marietta Square still works when it’s hot because you can bounce between food, coffee, shops, galleries, and whatever else catches your attention without committing to a three-hour hike through the sun.

For actual activities, bowling, escape rooms, indoor pickleball, movies, arcades, trivia, board-game meetups, and community classes are all good options. The trick is finding something where the activity is the point, instead of sitting at a table staring at the other person asking what they want to do next.

Full disclosure, I own Schoolhouse Brewing in Marietta, so yes, I am biased, but we have pinball, a homebrew shop, beer, and aggressive amounts of air conditioning. It works especially well as an add-on after dinner or the Square, not as me telling you to spend your entire day inside my building like a hostage situation.

If you have parents visiting, the Cartersville museums + Marietta Square combo is hard to screw up. If you have kids, Tellus is probably the easiest win. If it’s a date, pick one activity plus dinner instead of trying to schedule six stops like you’re producing a field trip.

Add your favorite indoor Marietta/Kennesaw/Cobb spots below. I’d love to turn this into a useful running list because August is apparently going to keep being August.

Hello, my father recently passed away and left me a substantial gun collection. I would love to know if anyone knows of any people who can do appraisals and maybe broker sales/ do auctions. Thank you.

Hey guys so I NEED to cut my hair soon my ends are screaming for it lol but I’m not sure where to look. I used to go to someone but they live in lilburn and I ain’t driving that far lol. I get rlly picky when it comes to my hair I have 2c-3b hair and not everyone can cut my hair without making me look like Dora (cause they forget about the shrinkage) so if anyone knows any hairstylist that know how to cut curly to curly ish hair around kennesaw/marietta area I would greatly appreciate the recommendations 🙏🏼😊 plesseee.

Neighbors, if you are near Lewis Park, this is of concern to you. Scheduled for review by planning commission September 1st at 6:00 pm, City Hall - City Council Chamber - 205 Lawrence Street.

Looking for recommendations for real estate agents in the east cobb area. Would highly prefer a queer woman but open to any great women agents! (:

Can y’all keep me informed on the data center stuff in Marietta? I was interested in how bad this center will be and was wondering if any sane person was advocating for it.

I drove on Sewell Mill today and there was filming going on at one of houses that sits on the street. Anyone got any info? I was thinking maybe HGTV.

Cobb Police Chief Dan Ferrell will be holding several town hall meetings over the next month in response to concerns over how law enforcement is using Flock surveillance cameras and other new technology.
Cobb Police Chief J.D. Ferrell
One of those town halls will be in East Cobb, on Aug. 31 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.

Cobb County government on Wednesday announced the town halls as “community conversation about License Plate Readers (LPRs), Flock Safety technology, and FUSUS.”

The latter is a a cloud-based real-time crime center and public safety intelligence platform and is among the tools that Cobb Police have been using to track criminal activity.

“These meetings are an opportunity to learn how these public safety tools are used by the Cobb County Police Department, what information they provide to law enforcement, and how they support criminal investigations and public safety,” the Cobb government announcement said.

“Most importantly, we want to hear from you. Residents will have an opportunity to ask questions and hear directly from Chief Ferrell and department leadership.”
A number of incidents in Georgia and around the country have taken place alleging or involving law enforcement misuse of some of that technology.

In Paulding County, the former 911 director in Dallas is facing charges of accessing the Flock surveillance system for non-police reasons.
And in Macon, three Bibb County Sheriff’s Deputies have been arrested for using the Flock system for matters involving individuals with whom they were having personal relationships. All three have resigned from their positions.

Cobb Police have not been facing any similar situations, and have on occasion touted how Flock and other technology has helped to solve serious crimes or at least led to arrests.
That includes a mass shooting near Cumberland Mall in 2023 in which an arrest was made after Cobb DOT traffic cameras pinpointed the whereabouts of the suspect, and Flock cameras identified a vehicle in Midtown Atlanta that allegedly belonged to him.
In June, Cobb Police tracked down a suspect in a road rage incident in Northeast Cobb after reviewing real-time camera footage to identify his vehicle as it headed to Cherokee County, where he was arrested.

On Thursday, Flock announced it will be making some changes to address concerns over privacy and law enforcement excess.
The Cobb Police announcement about the town halls on its Facebook pagehas generated more than 600 comments, many of them critical of having Flock and other technology at all.
“Are you actual going to listen to residents, or just tell them why you’re going to keep flock cameras against the communities wishes and continue to use them even though they violate our rights?” asked one commenter.
“It’s a violation of privacy and you need a warrant. Stand up against this. Constitution protects us against this in the 4th amendment,” wrote another.

Another commenter who said he toured the Cobb Police Real Time Crime Information Center was told that department leaders had given a similar tour to the American Civil Liberties Association, and that “the ACLU reps asked for a copy of the Center’s policies as they felt it would make a great example for all agencies, nationwide, to use. Cobb citizens should be very proud of what CCPD is doing to protect and serve the community.”

The Cobb Police town hall sessions are scheduled as follows, with all taking place between 6:30-8 p.m.:
Thursday, Aug. 27, at Milford Recreation Center, 675 Smyrna Powder Springs Road, Marietta
Monday, Aug. 31, at Sewell Mill Library, 2051 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Tuesday, Sept. 1, at West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
Tuesday, Sept. 15, at North Cobb Senior Center, 3900 S. Main Street, Acworth (in Kenworth Park)

CCSD released the full District Teacher Kickoff video this year, so I watched the whole thing 🫠

Ragsdale has some interesting opinions. He also makes quite a few statements that sound like facts but are... maybe worth checking.

A few parts that caught my attention:

The book removal/trafficking section -36:53

This one is WILD. He says “Every two minutes, a child is sold into trafficking in the United States of America. Let that sink in. Every two minutes. Now, folks, the sexually inappropriate materials we removed from this school district have one intended action. To condition kids at a young age to accept this whole deal around trafficking is normal some way, shape, or form. And either you agree with protecting kids or you don't. There's no politics involved." This is an alarming number and I couldn't find any credibility to any of this claim. Apparently, CCSD has a human trafficking awareness component in its health curriculum for grades 6-12. Purely anecdotal, but my child has never received this awareness education. Why doesn't he discuss this aspect of prevention instead of repeated justification for book removal? He follows that up with the whole good vs. evil, no gray area, if you disagree you have no business in education argument.

The Trump/Wheeler section -34:44

He spends a pretty significant chunk of the speech defending the presidential visit, including suggesting that people who opposed it were essentially bringing their own politics into it. I am just leaving this to speak for itself. No politics in schools, yet repeatedly bringing politics into schools.

“Using data to make decisions” -11:16

Every decision? That's a pretty broad statement. I'd genuinely love to know what that means in practice. Quite a few parents and groups have asked for specific data and not much has been verified.

Safety -15:40

$35 million is spent on safety annually. He goes on to describe the Vapor Wake program. “48,000 people scanned” sounds impressive, but what does that actually tell us about effectiveness in the school setting? There are currently 16 dogs, one at each high school. A gun was just brought into Campbell Middle School. Where's the data on Vapor Wake prevention?

53,000 applications for 450 positions -51:12ish

This one sounds very impressive until you remember that applications aren't necessarily applicants. Multiple factors can come into play here. What positions? Were those positions actually filled? Still an interesting number, but what exactly is being measured? "It truly is better in Cobb, right? It's always always better in Cobb."

“Best education at the lowest cost in metro Atlanta” -23:08

This one is just begging for someone to define “best” and “lowest cost.” I'm sure a lot of parents who have to advocate relentlessly for their child with special needs would beg to differ (for example).

There are plenty of things in the speech that are factual too, which honestly makes the other stuff more interesting. It's the blending of facts, anecdotes, opinions, and huge assertions without much distinction between them that makes it difficult to understand where Cobb actually stands.

There's a LOT packed into this speech. I only highlighted a few because ugghhh, I can't do anymore. I'm curious what anyone else thinks about what he says. As well as why Cobb decided to make the video in its entirety public this year? Historically it's been a very edited PR version of a few highlights. Enjoy!

Hi everyone! I’m hoping someone in the community might be able to help or point us in the right direction. 😊
My daughter is a Biology/pre-med student at Life University and is looking for a physician preceptor who would be willing to allow her to shadow/observe to gain clinical exposure and learn more about medicine.
She is especially interested in anesthesiology, surgery, or dermatology, but she would be very grateful for an opportunity to observe in other specialties as well.
We are located in the Marietta area, and she would especially love an opportunity at Wellstar Kennestone or another nearby hospital/medical practice.
We’ve been trying to find a physician willing to serve as her preceptor, but reaching the right person has been difficult. If you are a physician, work with one who may be open to having a student observer, or know someone I could contact, I would really appreciate an introduction or a message with their contact information.
She is very serious about pursuing medical school and would be incredibly grateful for the opportunity to learn from a local physician.
Thank you so much! ❤️ Feel free to** comment or private message m**e if you know someone who may be able to help.

I don't really do these, but this meeting was so significant that I felt I needed to. I was considering doing a video recap, but I try to be mindful of spamming the subreddit.

For the past 3 months there have been protests at city hall because of the data centers, but this meeting was different. A week before the meeting on August 4th, someone anonymously emailed me and informed me that someone was sending their employees to the next city council meeting.

"Hello Sam and Sam's team,

A family member of mine is going to be at the next council meeting for the data centers on Aug 12th. Their boss told them to go and show up in support of the data center early by blocking seats from protestors. You'll probably need to be there by 5:30 to be ahead of them. I think they have over 60 people going to try and block you.

Sorry for the anonymous email, I don't want them to get in trouble, we all need to eat. 

Best of luck, we're rooting for you."

I believed it, but was a bit skeptical. Come August 12th at the city council meeting, the whole lobby was full of people with "Yes to jobs" stickers on their shirts. It was a mix of people from Midsouth Mechanical, Prime Group and the Cobb Chamber of Commerce.

Speaking to some of my friends, it seems like they got there at 5PM, and the meeting starts at 7PM. There were so many of them, the lobby was standing room only. We all stood there in the lobby waiting until I believe 7:30PM, because the MHS football team was getting recognized.

After that the rest of us waiting in the lobby were let in by security who was checking bags and wanding people down for weapons, etc. Shortly after I get through, the council chambers reached maximum capacity.

The meeting kicks off with a speaker railing hard against DSA. Then something I'd never seen happen before came on the screen while he was speaking. For some reason as he was listing out what DSA believes the projector displayed the DSA platform. I guess we can request Audio Visual elements when we go up to speak? I found it highly unusual.

Then the next speaker came up and was asking for more transparency from the council regarding data centers, and I believe 2 more regular speakers came up and spoke on a myriad of issues.

Then we get into the data center discussion, which was the first thing on the agenda. The agenda said each side, pro and against, got 15 minutes to speak with a maximum of 3 minutes each. I believe only one Marietta resident got up and spoke for the pro side, and everyone else was either outside the city or on payroll. Something weird happened when the last pro side person spoke though. They had a clock on the wall with a timer letting people know the rest of your time for the side you were on, but the clock didn't hit 0 for the pro side (that's important for later). They ended the pro side comment regardless, but it wasn't an issue.

The anti side then gets up, with the first person speaking being Mary Frances Williams, the state house representative for House District 37. Speaker after speaker gets up, until we reach five speakers with the clock down to 3 minutes. The mayor and city attorney then say that you can only have 5 speakers per side. Mind you, this was not written down on the agenda or announced when the mayor opened the public hearing.

The room erupted with anger, with multiple people getting removed including one of the residents who lives near where the now approved data center is going to be built.

The mayor stands firm and closes the public hearing, and then all of the prime group employees get up to hash out a deal with the council. I believe the literal CEO of Prime Group was in attendance as well. They switch out people speaking to council based on which questions are asked, strategically trying to craft the best argument. At one point they even lie and say they weren't looking at multiple properties in Marietta, even though it was and as of writing still is on their website.

Councilwoman Cheryl Richardson, took up the bulk of the time grilling them and asking question after question about environmental impacts and sound. After they debate for 1hr+ they eventually call the vote. Councilman Goldstein calls the motion to approve and literally lists out like 20 stipulations regarding noise, environmental impacts, etc. I believe there was also a stipulation thrown in there by the mayor saying they can't develop the site they were looking at near Tumlin Park.

Side note, despite the vote of approval our advocacy got us real results. Those stipulations would not exist if we hadn't made noise about it.

Anyway, Almost all of the other council members and the mayor were silent the majority of the discussion. Once the motion is read out by Councilman Goldstein, they vote and the motion passes 5-2. The room again erupts in anger, with the crowd chanting "vote them out".

The rest of the meeting went off without a hitch, except for one other person protesting during another public comment unrelated to the data center and getting removed.

After all of the other agenda items were done, a few of us went up to speak for unscheduled appearances including myself.

I haven't been doing this for long in comparison to some of the people I know, but I have never seen a concerted effort to get something through with this much corporate backing behind it. There have been lots of "big money" votes, but nothing like this.

Pro or anti data center, the fact that Prime Group tried to drown out the voices of local residents is wrong, and I don't think that part of the story is being covered enough. Their project was so unpopular they astroturfed support for it and belittled resident's concerns.

It seems they got their wish.

TL;DR

There were paid supporters of the data center at the Marietta City Council meeting this august. The rules for public speaking at the meeting also made it unclear how many people were allowed to speak, creating more hostility with the public. The CEO of prime group was in attendance.

Hi everyone! I’m completely new to Georgia. I recently accepted a new job in the Marietta area, and I’ll be living in the Kennesaw area. Right now, both of my parents, who are over 60, are here with me while I’m getting settled.

Since none of us really know the area, I’m looking for any and all recommendations for things we can do together, either during the week or on weekends.

I’m open to pretty much anything: interesting places to visit, scenic drives, small towns, museums, historic places, parks, restaurants, markets, events, nice areas to explore, day trips, unique Georgia experiences, or even random local places that you personally enjoy taking family when they visit.

Ideally, I’d love things within about a 30–40 minute drive from Kennesaw, but honestly, if something is worth driving farther for, please recommend it anyway. We have a car and don’t mind exploring.

Google has helped a little, but I feel like I’m mostly getting the same tourist recommendations over and over again. I’d really love to hear from people who actually live here — including places that may not show up on the typical “things to do in Georgia” lists.

Seriously, throw any recommendations you have at me, even if you think they’re obvious. I’m starting from zero when it comes to knowing Georgia.

Thank you! I really appreciate any suggestions and I’m excited to get to know Kennesaw, Marietta, and Georgia in general.

Looking to hit up a couple yard/garage sales today in the Marietta area if possible! Mostly interested in children's toys, purses, maybe a rug and perhaps a small bookshelf, but I'm willing to come take a look at just about anything!

We have been fortunate enough recently with my job to allow my wife to stay at home and watch our two boy (2 & 1). We have been looking online at things for her to do to keep them busy during the week and short of story time at the library and taking them to the park it doesn’t seem like there is a lot of spaces that are geared towards little kids. If there are any SAHM that have any suggestions for places around town that cater to 18 month and 2.5 year olds or even any mommy meet groups, we would be super appreciative.

Me - BSEET & BSEE: years of experience in petroleum oil and natural gas; pollution control systems, data centers, substations, and modeling for Energy Management Systems. Diagnostic troubleshooting and testing of plant HMI, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, distributed control system, Allen Bradley, Siemens, GE Fanuc, and Modicon PLCs,  protected relay devices, level switches, flow meters, pressure and temperature transmitters, pneumatics, hydraulics, continuous emission monitoring systems, and trained on regenerative thermal oxidizer combustion and combustion turbines.