Lilburn, Georgia and Suva Reka, Kosovo: A Tale of Two Cities

How many Gwinnetians are aware that our very own Lilburn has a twin city in Kosovo named Suva Reka? Our guess is 'not many', but as always we've got you covered here at the Daily Gwinnetian. 

Seen above, Suva Reka, Kosovo, also known as Suhareka in Albanian. At this point, you're probably wondering, "Why is Lilburn's twin city in Kosovo of all places?" or perhaps, "Where the heck is Kosovo?"

For the geographically challenged, Kosovo is the green dot seen above. It is currently a disputed territory of Serbia, which was once part of the now-defunct nation of Yugoslavia. So how did an obscure town in a disputed Eastern European territory become the twin sister of Lilburn, GA? 

As the story goes, in June of 2013 Lilburn mayor Johnny Crist went on a "business trip" to Suva Reka and was so inspired by whatever he found there that he presented the mayor of Suva Reka with the keys to the city one month later. We don't know what the exact nature of that business trip was, but we suspect Crist was probably searching for a Yugo, the near-mythical automobile produced by the former Yugoslavia. 

Aside from the production of classic automobiles, how do the sisters compare to each other? Let's break it down.

Name and origin:

  Lilburn: previously known as McDaniel, renamed in 1890 for Lilburn Trigg Myers, a Virginia railroad executive.

  Suva Reka: Means "dry river" in Serbian. Dates back to the medieval period, if not earlier. 

Advantage: Suva Reka

Population:

  Lilburn: approximately 15,000. 

  Suva Reka: approximately 11,000.

Advantage: Lilburn

Diversity: 

  Lilburn: 44.7% Hispanic, 26.8% White, 17.3% Asian, 15.5% Black

  Suva Reka: 98.9% Kosovo Albanian.

Advantage: Lilburn

Cost of living:

  Lilburn: 2.2% higher than the national average, 8.1% higher than the GA average.

  Suva Reka: 63.2% less than New York, average rent 82.4% less than New York.

Advantage: Suva Reka

Landmarks:

  Lilburn: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Atlanta, which we featured along with its neighbor, the Lilburn Walgreens.

  Suva Reka: Church of the Virgin Hodegetria, built in 1345, destroyed along with many other churches in the 1999 Kosovo War. 

Advantage: tie

Safety:

  Lilburn: safer than only 16% of Georgia cities. 1 in 435 chance of being the victim of a violent crime, 1 in 45 chance of being the victim of a property crime, 60 crimes per square mile, which is more than twice the national average of 27.

  Suva Reka: various war crimes, including the Suhareka Massacre of 1999.

Advantage: tie?

So there's the tale of the tape, and it looks like we have a pretty even match. The twin cities have more in common than you'd think, and if you happen to have a line on a decent Yugo, Johnny Crist just might your man.