The City of Clarkston is located in DeKalb County, Georgia (U.S. state), United States. The population was 7,554 at the 2010 census. Clarkston is home to the central campus of the Georgia Perimeter College.
Can you say Diversity?
The City of Clarkston is noted for its diversity. In the 1990s, refugee Asylum programs in the United States identified Clarkston as a good fit for displaced persons of many different backgrounds. The housing market offered a wide variety of homes ranging from multi-family and cottages to large single family homes, previous resident were relocating farther out from the Atlanta urban core, and Clarkston had convenient access to Public Transportation and major highways. By the 2000s the local high school had students from more than 50 countries; a local mosque had 800 worshippers; and by some estimates, half the population was from outside the U.S.
Geography
Clarkston is located at (33.810304, -84.239877).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.1 square miles (2.7 km2), of which, 1.0 square miles (2.7 km2) of it is land and 0.94% is water.
Amenities
Citizens of Clarkston enjoy a commitment to being a walking and biking community. The City fosters outdoor activities through our newly renovated Milam Park with all new playground equipment, an ADA walking trail, a new Swimming Pool complex, newly resurfaced tennis courts, bike paths, a dog park and a Wildlife Nature Preserve and Twin Lakes with fishing open to the public. Clarkston is a great place to call home.
News from Clarkston
Clarkston’s Ted Terry: His city is ‘ready to welcome more Syrians’
By Greg Bluesmen, Daniel Malloy and Jim Galloway for the AJC.com
As state leaders try to rein in the number of refugees resettling in Georgia, the mayor of one of the most popular destinations is laying out the welcome mat.
Clarkston Mayor Ted Terry wants Gov. Nathan Deal to know his city is willing to welcome more refugees fleeing from the Middle East and Africa.Your daily jolt on politics from the AJC's Political insider blog
“Clarkston is ready to step up and do our part to welcome more Syrians, more Iraqis, more Afghanis to our city,” said Terry. “Our Christian and Muslim brothers and sisters from the Levant need our help. And I respectfully call on our state and federal leaders to answer the call.”
Terry is responding to the Deal administration’s decision to seek to limit the number of refugees coming to Georgia as the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria grows. Deal, in an interview, raised particular concerns about the influx coming to the DeKalb city. From the AJC story:
“Many refugees end up settling in cities like Clarkston, which already boasts a large concentration of newcomers. Deal said he’s long fielded complaints from local officials about their areas being strained by refugee populations, and he called on the federal government to “tighten” its relocation policies.
“When they decide where they bring in individuals,” Deal said, “they need to do a better job of making sure they haven’t put an over-concentration of people from different countries, some of whom have been natural enemies of each other. Trying to put them side-by-side in a small community like Clarkston is not doing a service to those individuals.”
Terry called his city the “Ellis Island of the South” where residents can encounter Vietnamese churches, Buddhist and Hindu temples, multi-ethnic mosques and Eritrean Methodist congregations within a mile’s walk. And he said he wants to see the steady stream of refugees continue. Said Terry:
“I truly believe that we will look back decades from now, on this moment in our history and be proud that we welcomed in the so-called strangers from a foreign land, who dress strange and speak strange – who – once we got to know them, turn out to be just like you and I, native born Americans. People who love to laugh, work hard, provide for their families, eat good food, enjoy good music, build and contribute their small part to this great nation.”
