Its been decades... but I spent several months at Ft. Benning (about an hour and a half South of Atlanta) on a couple of different occasions.. the majority of our weekends were spent in Atlanta..
I also lived about 3 hours north of Atlanta about 8 years ago (lived there for a little more than 10 years) and we frequented Atlanta the entire time we were there (great place to spend a weekend... the Ritz Carlton there is exquisite.. there are numerous really great restaurants and entertainment venues in the Buckhead neighborhood in Atlanta that we liked, etc..
Like any major city, there are parts of it you dont want to go into...
But also like any major city.. there are also parts that are very nice, have low crime rates, are clean, and have things to offer (even our worst cities like Memphis, Baltimore, Detroit, etc.. have some incredible things to see, great restaurants to eat at, some cool history, etc.. those cities generally do a pretty decent job of keeping those parts of town safe and secure)...
Dont get me wrong.. Atlanta is NOT where I would have moved DSC for the next 3 years.. I can think of 20 cities that I would personally prefer that also make a whole lot more sense to me in terms of location, what vendors and convention goers would enjoy, etc..
But... there are parts of Dallas you probably shouldnt be wandering around in at 2AM by yourself.. the convention center isnt near any of them...
and there are parts of Atlanta you shouldnt be wandering around at 2AM by yourself.. but.. their convention center isnt near those areas either..