People of Portland: Tell Us About Your City

Portland is a lovely city, and I think it rates well in most of the questions posed. The main drawback for me: gloom. It is gray, 40 degrees and rainy from November to March. I need sun. That being said, P-town in the summer is the best.

I have to agree. Portland is a beautiful city.

Pros
When there is "traffic", that means the cars are moving at about 25 mph. Public transportation is good, although missing an effective way to cross into the bedroom communities in Vancouver, WA. Plenty of activists to support whichever green protest you desire. Close to snow skiing, hiking, kayaking, windsurfing, and about anything else you would ever want to do. Portland and the surrounding area are very environmentaly conscious. Keeping the area green is very important.

Cons
Very gloomy weather most of the time. Although we only get a little more raing than New York, it is spread out over 9 to 10 months. Protestors seem to look at thier watch and say "3:00, time to protest whatever is being protested. Doesn't matter what it is." This is not helped by the fact that a University south of town a ways, requires students to attend a protest or they fail the class. Although keeping the area green is very important, this is taken so far as to cost individuals 50% or more of thier property values. Look to the Columbia River Gorge for one of the best examples (although they require land owners to make thier homes blend into the surroundings, this group built the biggest eyesore I have ever seen in Stevenson,WA and called an interpretive center. I have NEVER seen a more inappropriate structure, even in major cities.)

Sorry for the rant. Portland is really a beautiful city where you can get what you need, but still have a homier feel. As with everywhere, it has drawbacks.

Come visit. Don't let the rain get to you, and you will have a wonderful time.

Thanks for writing, Anon.

The university sending students to protests for credit is a bit weird. First time I hear of something like that.

Hello from Portland!

(AKA P-Town, Stumptown, PDX)

Ah, Portland. My love, my life, my adoptive home. Understated, ignored little sister to glamorous Seattle. Punky upstart with noticeable problems-with-authority (hey, you don't get labeled "Little Beirut" by Papa Bush for no good reason). Home to freaks, geeks, punks, greens, hipsters and trippers. Now duly represented at a record store near you, thanks to the magnetic pull of me-too indy-rockerism that's finally transformed it into a destination music city. A cleaner, greener, smaller West Coast Metropolis, where the streets are paved with tempeh and the light rail runs on nothing more than our collective sense of self-satisfaction.

Well, that's the myth, anyhow. Reality doesn't quite live up to the adverts. In my cynical moments, I'm prone to think of it as the vaporware of cities. No town ever rode as far on reputation alone. Despite a nominally progressive populace, we still couldn't get a public power referendum passed a couple of election cycles ago. A state bill that would have required labeling of GMO foods was similarly trounced, and we recently passed one of the most aggressive takings bills in the country (for a good time, Google "Oregon Measure 37"), quite possibly undoing several decades of masterful urban planning -- planning which, until now, has managed to preserve green spaces within, and vast amounts of farm and forestland immediatly outside of, the Portland metro area. The final coffin nail is the deplorable state of public education here, with already-overcrowded local schools facing another round of draconian cuts, for want of sufficient funds.

So what's going on here? Well, there are two Portlands -- one is a cosmopolitan melange of urbanites (born AND made) from all over (including natives), who moved here (or stayed), in some cases based on the myth advertised above. The other is an extension of the surrounding suburbs, hinterlands and backwoods, and the logging industry that's been in the blood and water here for over a century. So, while we may be pioneering in bicycle commuting and biodiesel, we also tend, by and large, to cling to notions of property rights, at the expense of the common weal if necessary. If you blur your eyes, it's not hard to see Portland, and Oregon, as a battleground in the upcoming resource wars -- people tend to choose sides here. More of my friends than I can count offhand work in some sort of activist or progressive capacity, from enviro lawyers to renewable energy policy advocates.

I've probably overwritten the introduction above, so I'll move on to one subject that I feel particularly passionate and knowledgable about -- bicycle commuting. Portland has one of the largest and most active bicycle advocacy communities in the world, and it shows. I've been bike communting here off and on for ten years, and have seen an impressive amount of resources dedicated to improving the lot of the cyclist -- more bike lanes and multi-use paths, helpful signage, and blue pavement at crossover points. The bad news is, you need all the help you can get. The tension between cars and cycles is sometimes palpable, and occasionally gets physical. As a cyclist and a driver, I've watched the average driver here get more and more aggressive over the last ten years, which is probably simply a bi-product of rapid urban growth. The side-effects of this can be depressing, however, with occasionally fatal accidents (memorialized with sobering sidewalk tributes, thanks to an active community), and not-uncommon cut-offs, near-misses and back-outs that have left me fuming will huffing and puffing. All in all, I probably shouldn't complain -- we've got it pretty good as far as bicycle commuting goes, but somehow I still feel like a second-class-citizen out there on the road sometimes.

PS -- If I had the time, I could rave all day about the food here -- suffice it to say there's an abundance of great local, organic vegetarian fare, including flavors from all over the world, and many, many more great restaurants than I could possible have the time to frequent.

It rains every day in Stumptown. It is gray and cold and icky, please leave us to ourselves in our dank corner of the world. Stay in California, Minnesota or Michigan, those are all wonderful places much more deserving of your residence.

Measure 37, a recently voter passed ballot initiative, threatens to undo 30 years of land-use planning that has kept sprawl to a minimum and is aiding astronomical gains in property value.

Growth control does come at a cost. Portland has the highest cost of living (median salary adjusted) of any city on the West Coast. Home values have risen 20% in the past 18 months. It is becoming increasingly difficult for working families to live in urban neighborhoods, forcing rural and suburban development.

This conversation is so helpful for me, thanks Michael!

My husband and I are hoping to make a move to Portland from Austin, Texas within the next 12 months. Our main motivation for moving? The bicycle culture. Austin is not a bike-friendly city, and although I can commute to work daily by bike by judicious use of neighborhoods and parks, my husband is terrified of all the aggressive SUV/Truck drivers out here, and would have to use the freeway (highly illegal) to bike to his work 15 miles north of our house (sprawl, anyone?). We both want to live somewhere where we can bike to work without being a superhero.

On the other hand, I have heard lots of stories about the horrible job market, the horrible housing market, and also Portland residents who basically don't want anyone else moving to their city, and how it's going to hell in a handbasket. I can understand this last sentiment... had it myself a few years ago when people started flooding Austin. But Austin is a lost cause, a sinking ship, and we want out. It's also the only bit of blue in a vast, vast sea of red.

I'm not too terribly concerned about the tension between car and cyclist that people mention is growing in portland. You hear about those cyclist accidents because you live in a city where there's a big cycling culture... when my courier buddies get hit by cars (which they do on a regular basis here in Austin) it doesn't register in the news at all. I'm tired of living somewhere where people just don't give a damn. As long as cars and bicycles are forced to use the same roadway, there's going to be altercations between the two.

Also, when you come from a place where it's a desert most of the year, and the summers see months of 100+degree weather? Drizzly rain every day sounds like a dream come true.

I've lived in Spokane, Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, and Los Angeles (not SF or Vancouver, BC yet, though I have spent quite a bit of time in those two cities) so I have a foundation on which to construct a comparitive assessment of Portland as it fits into the West Coast milieu (

The first word that comes to mind when I think of Portland is "authentic." Portland is genuine. This is both a blessing and a curse. As with any American city, the population is drowning/swimming in waves of corporate homogenaiety. Portland is bifurcated (also a bullshit word, but a fun one) into the enthusiastic clone army and the resistance. The clone army embraces the creeping kudzu-like entrenchment of Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and all of the fastfood chains, the usual suspects. The resistance vocally and demonstratively refuses to roll over and will actively oppose any attempt to maim local flavor, i.e. thriving community based independent business venues.

The downside to Portland's authenticity is that a number of its citizens don't... uh... how shall I put this... BATHE! Admittedly, that was a cheapshot and not altogether accurate. But there is a definite "I yam what I yam" just-rolled-out-of-bed, goth pastry cart vibe that doesn't seem particularly concerned with tweezing or cardio. Having spent the past six months in Los Angeles, the difference is profound. Granted, Portland is wet and gray and cool (though Portland only really ever gets one or two days of actual snow each year) for nine months out of the year and this no doubt encourages consumption of alcohol (there is an absolutely stellar array of microbrew venues. The place is lousy with them, really) and baked goods (many excellent bakeries, bread seems to be a local specialty). Sadly, Portland seems to suffer from the same dysfunction that the rest of our nation (and increasingly our planet) suffers from, namely that on any given night most of the population is either: A) at home watching TV, B) at the movie theater watching a bigger TV, C) in a car going to or from a large or small TV.

They go to the fucking mall too.

Like, a lot.

Not as much as in LA, but alot.

There are some interesting places to eat, but really any reasonably large city has this, right? Yes, Portland does have some eclectic cuisine, but NOBODY GOES TO THEM! Portlanders like to imagine themselves globally savvy, because they live NEAR an Ethiopian restaurant, but they don't eat there. I go to these places and often it's just me and the owner's family who are surprised as shit to see me or anyone. You wanna know where Portlanders spend their time? McMenamin's. Or any venue which is identical to McMenamin's in all but name (beers, burgers, brick). Portlanders eat fucking hamburgers 24/7 like most of my fellow countrymen. Sure, McMenamin's (primarily the $3 movie brewpubs) can be a fun evening, but as the eclectic food venues remain abandoned, one can always find polar fleece clad largely caucasian urban locals spilling out of any thoroughly mediocre neighborhood burger joint.

Also, growing up on the East Coast, I can definitively state that pizza sucks in Portland (and on the West Coast, in general, the Pacific Northwest in particular). Lord knows I've tried to find a decent pie. Only failure. Also, Mexican food is terrible there. If you put a gelatinous slurry of beans, ground beef, and rice onto the plate and give it to them with piped-in mariachi for $7, they'll rave.

Um.

What else?

Bikes.

Portland fancies itself the bike friendliest city in the nation. Apparently, Bicycling Magazine or some other publication stated this was so. They're wrong. Portland does not match, in my opinion, the network of superior trails available in Seattle, and here in Los Angeles (often regarded as a cyclist's wasteland), there SEEMS to be a more active, committed contingent of cyclists and a well-hidden, but extensive network of bike paths which puts Portland to shame. Sure, Portland has the MAX (light rail) and as with the buses, you can take your bike onboard, but don't most cities do that these days? In addition, I have biked all the falk around Portland from Beaverton to Gresham, up and down during the summer and winter and I have to tell you it is FUCKING LONELY! Where are my fellow cyclists of whom I read so much?! I mean, I'm talking that I'm out at about 7:30 PM on a gorgeous July night with a full moon and there is NO ONE!

Sure, Portland has a hardcore group of urban heroes (in my opinion) in the form of C.H.U.N.K. 666 (http://www.dclxvi.org/chunk/what/index.html) and the Zoo Bombers (http://www.portlandmercury.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=28528&category=22107), but they are as rare as Sasquatch (on one of my latenight rides, I did run into about 30 Zoo Bombers on the MAX once and that made me feel pretty optimistic knowing they were holding it down).

The sad fact is that the bikers mostly stay home. You might see them biking six blocks to work, but as soon as they're out of college and collecting a steady paycheck they upgrade to the SUV. It's like a game they play. In their early 20's, they're all hempy and bikey, but then they morph into suburban yupsters with the bike up on top of their beastwagon. I see mostly SUVs, light trucks, and minivans. Which brings me to another issue. Here in So Cal, I see TONS of Priuses (even a few Honda Insights). I drive one myself. You don't really wave to them here in LA because your arm would fall off. In Portland, they are still rare enough that the small group more or less greets each other with a wave or beep of the horn.

What else? Much is said of the weather and indeed it can be awful. But for some odd reason, the three months of summer are the polar opposite of the rest of the year. Last year it was sunny all freaking summer. Yeah, drought. But all of that rain translates into urban greenery. And Portlanders love their yards and gardens and it shows. Portland, more so than any of the other cities I mentioned above is green and vibrant. In fact, to Portlanders' credit, they are often in their yards and not just mowing or raking, but expending significant creative sweat equity on crafting a uniquely beautiful mini-ecosystem.

Additionally, the remnants of Portland's urban boundary have allowed the city to support a halo of CSAs and other often organic farms. Perhaps, more than any other city I've lived in it is feasible to eat locally and organically and to do so with a truly impressive selection of delicious and diverse foodstuffs. There are many great farmshare programs and farmer's markets and it is definitely possible to establish a close relationship with your farmer and to drive a reasonable distance (or have it delivered) to pick up your weekly allotment. That's not an option in LA and less so in Seattle.

Someone else mentioned in the comments that Portlanders will protest at the drop of a hat. That's not completely true, but there are a committed core who take local, national, and global issues seriously and they will act on their convictions. That's to their credit. No doubt, the current administration and its sympathizers regard Portland as a haven for terrorists, fifth columnists, and insurrectionists, but they are simply people who understand the scope of what is happening and they act even if that takes the form of a sad, but enthusiastic group of antiwar protesters marching in the rain. Portland was the first municipality to resist the Patriot Act and often a number of other progressive actions have their roots in Portland. It also happens that the Portland and Beaverton Police are very active in monitoring, harassing, and infiltrating local groups.

Portland is largely caucasian, but there are pockets of diversity. Pockets.

Portland, while it does have a progressive approach to environmental issues also has its Superfund areas, disclosed and undisclosed.

Portland does offer an embarassing array of outdoor options. Just 90 minutes from the beaches (though with the wind, riptides, and floating logs you won't be swimming or surfing) and 90 minutes from Mt. Hood (though the snowline keeps receding each year due to global warming... I'm just a bundle of positive vibes, ain't I?). Seattle is just up the way about $30 one-way on Amtrak.

Traffic. I-5 is a parking lot during rush hour, but NOTHING like the hell that is Seattle. In fact, as opposed to LA, it is quite possible to get to where you need to go in 15 minutes with little hassle if you know the route. Now... if you're one of the Einsteins who bought a place "out in the country" or in Vancouver, WA your commute will be shit and you deserve every minute of it. If you're smart and find a place in the city, you can bike, take the MAX, or the bus, or drive a short distance. Traffic is getting ugly to the North, South, and East. The burbs just have too many cars and too little road.

One more pet peeve of mine... I like to play basketball. Outdoors. Portland has jackshit for outdoor evening venues. You can go all over the city and see tennis courts (mostly abandoned) with their lights on until 11 PM. Everywhere. But there are only a few hoop courts (two really) which keep lights on. I am of the opinion, that it's a racial, NIMBY thing. Tennis = dentists and their trophy wives and b-ball = thugs and crackheads. And in fact, the locals have a very Donna Reed-esque understanding of race. If someone is wearing hip-hop gear, they must be gangbangers. Portland is like that. Some come to Portland from a more sophisticated, more diverse location and others are lifers. The lifers don't get out much. Like out of the state.

There's tons of other shit I could write, but I need a coffee and this is a comments section, not Wikipedia.

Bye.

Dude. That was the best summary EVER.

My wife have been considering Portland, partially because Minneapolis / St Paul is a overpriced commuter hellscape. But now I'm hearing that Portland (with 37 and other, generic moves towards homogeniety) is going the same way. How very, very disappointing. Is it so tough to ask for a diverse, progressive community that isn't swamped with wannabes? Why do rich people have to move into genuinely fun places and then proceed to clog up the scenery with their XTerras and Pottery Barns? *sob* Guess I'm just bitter that a poor Joe like me can't afford a house within an hour of a city anymore.

I have never been to Portland but it is home to the best band going- The Decemberists. I would move just for that.

Anonymous, you are just plain wrong about the bike scene in Portland. Portland is bike freakin' crazy, and if you are missing it, maybe you are confusing us with Portland Maine.

First off, there is bike access everywhere, and if you are downtown Oregon law lets you take a full lane. Not downtown? Pick up a copy of the Multnomah County Bike There! map for detailed instructions. If you are tech savvy, you can download the map and import it as a .kml into Google Earth for even easier access. Any other county governments doing this with bike maps?

But lets not stop there, let's talk about the advocacy groups. For example, there is the Community Cycling Center and it's "Create a Commuter" program helping people build up a thier own rig and learn how to commute by bike. First ever in the country. Or take the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. Their awards ceremony had over 600 people at it! And don't forget that the city itself has committed itself to going "Platinum." According to the Oregonian, ridership in the last couple of years is up 241%, and vehicle traffic is up 0%.

And as for bike culture, you don't have to look any father than www.bikeportland.org. Coverage from the Zoobombers, Shift events, Cross Crusade, local bike industry, the KBOO Bike show, bike polo, bike messengers, midnight rides, family rides, critical mass, the Chunkathalon, you name it!

Its all there, its all bike, its all Portland.

Last point. People in Portland ride for the fun of it (the Bridge Pedal had over 20,000 riders at it), but they also ride because they know their 20 year old Peugeot is more environmentally friendly than a Toyota Prius. These are people with cars, who chose to ride because this is Portland and everyone in Portland rides their bike.

It doesn't rain EVERY DAY. Gimme a break. It didn't rain TODAY, for example.

The rain here often is like Hawa'ii...rain ten minutes, sun ten minutes later. Yes, it's cloudy a lot, but in the summer it barely rains at all.

Portland is a great city, small but still urban. I have found nothing lacking here in terms of feeling like there are things to do, see, and eat. Especially eat. The quality of dining has increased just in the 2.5 years I have been here (Jersey Girl, originally), but there are still plenty of delicious dives.

The prop 37 thing is indeed a problem. I am all for property rights, but ones that undo years of land use legislation...the problem is just that the dollar has become too important, Americans too greedy to care to look long term in their decisions. Though decided, it will be a long time before things get really swinging with this measure, it has caused so much controversy. But it is indeed sad that development and biz and money have taken precedence, right now, over natural space and preserving farms.

Speaking of farms! I belong to a local CSA and love it. Not only is it organic food, it is LOCAL organic food. There's farmers markets all over Portland and the surrounding metro area.

I am also a glass artist (http://www.juiceglass.com) and a lot of glass art is created here. Hell, even the glass I use is created here, further allowing me to support local business and work to keep the things I want traveling very short distances. Portland is a crafty town, meaning supportive of artists big and small, compared to many places I have lived.

Plus it's the home of Pink Martini. There's hiking and biking and skiiing almost all year round (however, climate warming is starting to shrink the glaciers up on Mount Hood.) But for now, you can travel to the ocean in a couple hours, skiing in an hour or so, and miles of hiking trails, jade-green forests filled with moss, and waterfalls up the wazoo.

It's progressive, and needs to keep its edge. There is a general feeling of "Welcome to Portland, enjoy yourself, now go away." But that's cause we know how good it is. You can't be good without others wanting in. Best thing to do is embrace it, and get the new folks to work to preserve what we have.

>> everyone in Portland rides their bike.

Just wow.

That is not even close to being true. Not even CLOSE. I lived in Portland for five years. Commuted by bike everywhere. Routinely would bike from Beaverton to downtown, hit the river loop trail down to Sellwood Bridge and back. 40 or so miles for the hell of it. I lived in Seattle for five years and would bike commute from Ballard to Kirkland. That's about 40 round trip. Here in LA I recently did the beach trail round trip, that's 50. And I went South Bay to downtown LA on the beach and river trail and surface streets couple weeks ago. That's 60 round trip. Used to do loop of Lake Washington when I lived there. That's also 60.

It's safe to say I spend a little bit of time on my bike.

All of the programs you cite are great programs, but you're confusing the hardcore bike faithful in Portland with "everyone." Perhaps everyone you know does bike. But that "everyone" is a tiny percentage of the population.

The thing to understand about Portland is that there is a small contingent of hardcore citizens. They bike, they compost, they're politically active, they're well read. They're great effing people. I mean really, really. And if you are fortunate enough to know those people or be those people, then Portland can be a paradise. But most of us will not see those people or meet them. Most of Portland does not bike. They talk about biking. They'll bike occasionally on a warm day. Most of Portland does not protest. Most of Portland does not CSA or run biodiesel. Most of Portland doesn't read. Most of Portland talks a good game.

And then they eat burgers and watch TV.

Zoo Bombers, Critical Mass, Community Cycling Center, places like Freegeek for tech. Those are fantastic, committed, sincere people and I love them for their effectiveness and zeal. But that is NOT Portland. That's a tiny slice of Portland. That is SOME of Portland and sadly not representative of the whole. A lot of people latch onto that and paste that aura onto their chest like a merit badge. But how many people really contribute, participate, and support those organizations with MONEY and LABOR? Good will and praise don't cut it.

There's a LOT of hype that surrounds Portland. A portrayal of Portland, almost a marketing campaign that attempts to present it as a mecca for the eco-conscious, tech savvy, and globally aware.

Sure, the Open Source Development Lab is in Beaverton and you'll hear blah-blah-blah about Portland as an open source hotspot. It ain't. For a few companies, it's great. But most people are using the exact same boxes as the rest of us. Lots of people TALK about dual booting, but most just use Windows or Mac. Intel dominates. Nike. Tektronix. Sure, Portland has Personal Telco, but most cities have wifi just about everywhere. Maybe Portland was early into the game, but again we're talking about small groups, a committed and active 1%.

I'm here to tell you the hype doesn't meet the reality. Most people don't bike. The MAX is usually filled with sullen teens and sloppy transients and methheads. Now Portlanders will tell you about the MAX, but do they actually ride it? Sure, they might ride it to a Blazers game or occasionally take it downtown, but most of them USE THEIR CARS.

How many people do you know who have a self image of themselves as indie, bike enthusiasts, organic, progressives, but they hit the Starbucks (or Coffee People) in their gas guzzler and don't really recycle with any vigor nor hold or act in any way progressive?

That's Portland.

It's also America.

I'm telling you what I see. I am out early and late on my bike in rain and sun and yes, sometimes snow. And I rarely see others out there. I can say for an absolute fact that I see more cyclists here in Los Angeles and more in Seattle than I ever did in Portland. Of course, it's a weather thing, but even on the sunniest day, Portlanders don't bike.

Sorry, that's my call.

I love Portland.

It's much more bike friendly than any of the eastern and midwestern towns where I grew up and went to college. Considering the traffic in San Fransico, LA and Seattle, I have a hard time believing they're really better for bikes.

Portland's weather is mild year round. If you ask about the city in March, you're going to get some complaining about the weather.

It doesn't actually rain that much here -- maybe two or three storms each year and a lot of nonstop drizzle that never gets you wet. The wet, gray season runs from October through April, and it's usually in the 40s through the 60s during those months, with overnight lows in the 20s or 30s. The rain clears the air and fills the rivers and gives the sky a hazy pink blue hue and turns everything green.

In the summer, everything is dry. On the hottest days its rarely more than 90. Even on those days, it gets cold every night. It is beautiful green and blue and yellow and people walk around with smiles on their faces.

There are more people in their 20s and 30s in Portland, and in greater numbers, than anywhere I've lived. Many of them are hipsters and followers, working office jobs before they change into their just-right thrift store duds and mousse their hair just wrong for the latest, hippest indie band and a glass of microbrew or PBR depending on the size of the paycheck.

There are also many artists in Portland, many musicians.

Portland is a liberal city. It didn't pass the public utility initiative, true, but there was widespread confusion about what the initiative would accomplish, fueled by a deceptive ad campaign. Portland did have gay marriage, briefly, until the state shut it down. Portland residents did choose to tax themselves to fund parks and schools and the library when the state cut the city's allocation.

There's a big dichotomy between the socially conservative, anti-tax, libertarian-leaning rural parts of the state, where just over half of Oregonians live, and hippy, dippy, earth goddes loving Portland.

The rural folks have won a number of recent initiative battles, repealing laws that protect the land and restricting taxes so much that the schools are choking.

Meanwhile, socialists and anarchists have a mainstream role in city politics.

The saddest part of Portland is its racial legacy. Like probably every other city in America, Portland has treated its black citizens very badly over the years. It was once illegal to be black and live in Oregon. Racist segregation politics kept most of the city's black residents in two parts of the city through the first third of the century. One of those areas was flooded and destroyed, the other was bulldozed for a major sports arena. The remaining traditionally black neighborhoods are gradually being gentrified by white interlopers. Portland is overwhelmingly white, probably the whitest big city in America, and even though I don't think the current racism is intentional it's hard to avoid.

I've known black people who moved here as adults, settled wherever they wanted, and I think it's easier for them. It's hardest for the second- and third- generation African Americans who are seeing their neighborhoods and communities disappear yet again.

It's a cheap place to live, even though housing costs are up here like everywhere else. Minimum wage is above $7 an hour, and bottom-of-the-line housing can be found for less than $300 a head. I've always lived in nice two bedroom rentals in good neighborhoods, and none has cost more than $700.

Crime rates are low.

The air is clean here. Recycling is universal. We're cleaning up the river. We fight, the city residents, to stop the logging companies. The buses are easy to ride an accomodate bikes. The light rail is limited, but growing.

In the winter, you can head to the mountain and ski. In the summer, you can head to the forest and camp. It's a wonderful place to live.

Portland is a great place. I've lived here for 15 years, and have seen lots of changes. Some bad, most good. On the whole, the city is moving in the right direction. Measure 37 is awful, and I think that it is going to get worse before people wake up to what is going on, but wake up they will.

The rain isn't bad, and falls mostly in the winter. As another poster pointed out, it is usually just a drizzle, and doesn't soak through. I spent my first 5 years here commuting by bike, and the rain wasn't ever an issue (unless it came down frozen...).

I'm currently getting set to put up a 2.7 Kw solar PV array on my urban house, as well as solar thermal h20. The solar resource here is great, and the state has some pretty attractive incentives at the moment.

Finally, to the cyclist in LA who digs the scene there so much: Stay in LA, its just one more free space in the bike lane here...

>> Finally, to the cyclist in LA who digs the scene there so much: Stay in LA, its just one more free space in the bike lane here...

After 18 years in the Pacific Northwest, I would love nothing more than to remain here in Southern California. Sadly, I must return to Portland and will do so in the next coupla weeks.

I'll make the best of it though.

I don't live in Portland, or even in the USA, but it seems to me making comparisons between the amount of people riding in LA and Portland is a bit crazy. Portland has a population of 500,000 and Los Angeles is what? like 4 million? Don't confuse participants with frequency.

Love the idea for the City series!

I have seen a couple of comments now about prop 37.

What they conveniently disregard is that we can (as a society) have the farms and green areas by limiting growth. BUT we as a taxed society will have to pay for the loss in value to the current property owners.

I have seen this happen in the Columbia River Gorge, not 20 minutes from Portland. People who were going to retire with the land lost the ability to build a home, or lost 60% to 75% of thier money.

Now I agree that the rich sometimes get too greedy, but that kind of uncompensated loss just so I and many others can enjoy the view, is not right. I will be the first to vote to increase my taxes ($20,000 a year in taxes plus sales and property tax) if I know this money will go for this compensation. I am happy to increase my share of the taxes IF I know that it is used wisely.

NOW THAT's PUTTING MY MONEY WHERE MY MOUTH IS.

Re Prop 37: I'm not so sure the government should be in the business of propping up the land value of people's property. If you buy land in the gorge, and the Gorge Commission says you can't build on it, well then you lost on your investment. If your 401(K) tanks, or your latest stock pick goes bankrupt, who bails you out of that?

I understand the thinking that it is government regs that cause the loss, and therefore the end user should be compensated, but in practice that is not sustainable. Prop 37 is going to cause a great deal of pain for the majority of the citizens of this state, while protecting the land value of relatively few wealthy landowners.

It is not about protecting the "views" as you so glibly put it. Land use planning is about protecting local sources of food, water, clean air, and balancing those with business and housing. Just because someone i s restricted from turning their family farm into a gravel mine doesn't mean I should have to pay them for their "loss".

There are commonwealth issues, sustainability issues, and quality of life issues that need to be addressed along with individuals property rights. Measure 37 was created by developers and foisted off on an electorate that had very little idea of what problems the measure was going to cause. The rich will get richer at the expense of the Oregon Taxpayer and our quality of life.

I'm astonished that no one has mentioned what is to me the most attractive thing about Portland -- it has a real downtown. People work there. They go there to have fun. It's full of people and it feels much more like a living city than places ten times its size (Phoenix, say. A huge city, and nothing resembling a downtown anywhere in it.) This is due mostly to smart city planning -- you build a big building here, you *have* to put in shops and entrances and windows at ground level. Makes for a safe and human-scale downtown -- you don't get those horrible Seattle cement canyons -- those huge block-sized buildings with blank fronts that make the "downtown" a wasteland.

A lot of people misunderstand Oregon's politics -- what they miss is that a large proportion of Oregonians, left and right, are libertarians. They love private property. They hate censorship and regulation. This often makes them look much more radical left or radical right than they actually are. I'm not over-fond of libertarian ideology but it's a force to be reckoned with, here. Oregon's free speech record is possibly the best in the nation -- that's on the plus side. Measure 37 -- that's on the minus side.

Best place to get valuable info on cool local stuff is:

1) Hawthorne Hostel
http://www.portlandhostel.org/

You don't have to be staying there (although it's a nice place to stay and cheap, of course). They have excellent resources in the lobby area.

2) Zinester's Guide to Portland
http://pdxguide.org/

Tough to find, but I bought my copy at the excellent Reading Frenzy near Powell's Burnside store.

http://www.readingfrenzy.com/

Signed,
LA Cyclist
AKA Spudnuts
AKA Anonymous

I lived in Portland for 8 years and now have the objective vantage point of visiting there from my current domicile in bumpuck Indiana.

I totally agree with the common threads here about weather and politics. I love Portland, even though it acts like a smug, self-righteous hipster half the time.

One thing I am continually struck by is the rate of change. Before I left, I lived a few blocks away from NE Alberta. What was once a somewhat run-down avenue with bodegas and low-rent divey bars has been eaten alive by white hipsters and their brewpubs, yarn stores, yoga places and rockstar barbershops.

Portland is dominated by a neo-liberal aesthetic, where people think of themselves as cultural yeomen, running their progressive-minded plowshares through the damp close-minded soil of post-Bush America. And that's true, some of the time. But I can't help but think about _real_ progressive visions of funding schools adequately, making sure people are fed and housed, and working for immigrant rights... and it seems like people are more interested in starting a band or setting up a pirate-decor shop than doing any of those things.

Having said that, compared to Indiana, Portland is a vision of beauty: grand scenery, queer-friendly populace, 10,000 people marching against the war, and interesting ventures related to the environment, cycling, and politics. I rail on Portland because it has so much potential-possibilities; Portland makes me feel like there's hope for us.

In general, I agree with you TB. The only issue I do still have is when you buy a piece of land as your retirment home in the gorge or your family has owned it for decades, then the rules change. The land is zoned to allow you to build a home (not a development). It has been zoned this way since you purchased. Then the rules change as you approach retirement age and you can no longer build.

This happened to many people in the Gorge.

Now I completely agree that if you own a farm or a large plot of land and you want to change the zoning, then yes, the government has the authority to prevent a housing development. But this is not the case in the Gorge. The land was purchased or grandfathered in with the ability to build 1 home. The government changed the rules after you own it. The land owner is not trying to change the rules.

As I said previously, In the case of the Gorge, yes, I would pay extra in taxes.

I would also like to see a single 15% across the board flat tax as well, but that will never happen and is another story.

I'd just like to thank everybody who wrote about Portland. You people are a shining example of what makes this place such a great community. Lots of interesting comments. Thank you again!

Ok. P-town has plus sizes and minuses. It is gray. It is raining right now and shows every sign of drizzling all day. Our homogeneity is kind of surprising. You can't get lost. Seriously. Our grid of streets is actually square for miles and miles except in the west hills where you could get lost but you'd be arrested for being to close to the mansions. Safe. We have tons of art. Safe art. We have tons of pubs and restaraunts. Safe pubs and restaraunts. ( I swear at some of them, the bartender will go spill a little beer somewhere on the floor before the bar opens just so patrons can get a little feeling of their wild side). Safe parks. (Due to enforced homogeneity). It's a bad place to be on the edges of the bell curve. Cops will kill you. Not because they are bad cops but because they are underfunded so they have to swarm in to a problem, assess who the bad guys probably are, kill them, and get back to base for the next call. Sometimes they only taser the poor bastards.

There is no place you can swim untill you get to the SAndy or Clackamas rivers, considerably out of town and a long stinkin bike ride. 2 giant rivers that look so inviting on our 1 week of summer but are actually a toxic superfund site and a radioactive drain for hanford Nuclear reservation so stay out! ( I do swim in the radioactive one occasionally).

Work is hard to get and cost of living is high. That's not a problem for me because I have a job but for people coming in, it's kind of a shock. Lots of people I have met who move here leave due to the weather and the economy.

There is a lot to love about pdx though. The one week of summer is probably the most beautiful week of summer anywhere in the world.

Well, from the above comments you can probably tell that Portland is undergoing some growing pains.

The good news is that the folks who live here love this place enough to be anguished (see above) when PDX (many use the airport code as a nickname) doesn't live up to her promise.

The population of the greater Portland Metropolitan Area is approx 2M (more than 1/2 the population of Oregon lives here). Portland itself is about 0.5M of this. There are no other cities in the state approaching even half this size but yet Portland isn't truly a big city when compared to San Francisco or Seattle. Hence, Portland can often be seen as having a split personality.

Portland does have vibrant communities of artists, writers, musicians, activists, environmentalists, NGOs, microbrewers, bike commuters, bloggers, hipsters, etc. Portland also has a meth problem, public schools in chaos, a stormwater/sewage overflow issue, a superfund site, a lack of racial diversity, and so on.

The Portland area supports more than 30 Farmers Markets, CSAs are plentiful and you can always sign up for organic milk delivery from the local Noris Dairy. For vegans and vegetarians the options are welcoming. While Starbucks is prolific you can choose from a mind-numbing selection of local and independent coffeehouses and roasters. And if you don't like coffee there is always a microbrewery to hand. And if you don't like microbrews you may be pleasantly surprised that Portlanders buy a heck of a lot of PBR percapita. Heck we've even got a killer roller derby scene.

Like a good small town Portland revels in parades and festivals and has a monthlong Rose Festival where activities run the gamut from dragon boat races and a pagent to Top40 bands and carnival rides (not to mention at least 3 different parades). If you are looking for a different kind of spectacle you can join the Bridge Pedal, go along on the Worst Day of the Year Ride or join the ZooBomb crew. If you like art you can hobnob in the Pearl District on First Thursday or choose to explore a more racuous and crafty art ethic on Last Thursday in NE.

Portland is striving to be a sustainable city too (through official city efforts as well as community and individual actions). Portland is working towards reduced CO2 emissions, increasing biofuel options, refining public transportation, increasing cycling accomodations, encouraging recycle/reuse ethics through nationally lauded efforts like FreeGeek, SCRAP and the ReBuilding Center, etc.

On the other hand Portland has a grimy side. While the city is somewhat of a mecca for homeless (especially youth) and provides a variety of services and support it is struggling in its attempts to create policies in this arena (see Dignity Village, no loitering rules, etc.). There are constant issues with the Portland Police (see use of inappropriate force, tasering, etc.) who also happen to be underfunded. Funding issues impact emergency services, jails and more.

The status of the Portland Public School System is tragic. Schools are underfunded and overtaxed by unfunded mandates and program requirements unique to big cities. At the same time there has been a mass exodus of families with school-aged children (probably due both to schools and housing prices) with a net gain of childless 20-somethings and empty nesters.

Like most cities in the US gentrification of urban areas is massively changing the urban demographic only here Portland started off with a terrible history of geographic segregation and low diversity.

I could go on but I'll summarize instead and let someone else explain how the ability to climb a tall hill and look out across a landscape dotted with volcanoes makes up for all the gloomy rainy days. Yes, I think Portland is great and has a lot of potential but it has been changing at a very rapid pace (demographically, politically, etc.) and has a lot to work out. The metropolitan area will likely always find itself struggling with the rest of the state on politics, school funding, land use, etc. but that isn't a new or unique to Portland problem. It's great to see how fired up folks can get here on Treehugger because ambivalance tends to indicate apathy and Portland is certainly not apathetic.

And to anonymous who can't find good Mexican food in the area, I sympathize and urge you to check out the ExtraMSG blog for directions to Ochoa in Hillsboro. Totally worth the trip.

Portland rocks! Of all the cities I've lived in this one is the best! If you love your bike we have a great sub-culture of bikers here. Zoo Bomb, Criticalmass and funday monday are just a few of the events here. If you would like to learn more go to zoobomb.net!

Yeah, it's me again. This thread is my new home!

One more thing... check out this site.

http://platial.com/

It's a Portland start-up down in the Pearl. The people who run it are really cool. It's a collaborative map site. If you want to find places in Portland (or elsewhere) or add some places, that's a great place to go. Most of the places discussed on this thread are mapped out there.

I only have three comments that may or may not have already been mentioned:

1. City Repair. An amazing group that encourages communities to reclaim their street intersections for humans, art, and fun - while still allowing through traffic to pass. You have to see it to believe it: http://www.cityrepair.org/

2. Annoying special bike lanes. Many substandard (compared to AASHTO design standards), dangerous, and often confusing, discriminatory, inconvenient, and unnecessary. The emphasis by city planners seems to have been to paint pretty bike pictures all over the streets, rather than make good traffic designs where all vehicles can share the roads safely and respectfully (see City Repair for a better way to do it!).

3. Lots of great enthusiasm for exploring new and creative ideas for a better urban environment! (Including old factory buildings being revamped into hip, sustainable buildings, farmer's markets, and a huge annual carnival/fair right in downtown on the waterfront.

Oh, and I'll add that I, too, noticed that there seemed to be very few bicyclists actually biking in Portland. I was only there for a week, but it was a gorgeous, sunny summer week and I only saw the occasionally cyclists, and the vast majority of them were either on sidewalks or on the train. I spoke with a woman who lived there and she said she only rode on the sidewalks. I thought this was funny since I found the car drivers to be exceedingly good at sharing the road with me on my (rented) bike.

I was trying to think of all these things I could write about this wonderful city, but I've decided to just say this, the coffee you buy at the baseball stadium is organic.

ok i recently have moved...(recently meaning 2 years ago) away and to the midwest. indianapolis to be more specific. i hate the midwest. i met a guy and moved in with him on a great love whim but im so home sick i cant bear it. in portland and pretty much most of oregon you can go anywhere e.g. beach mountains desert woods river downtown chinatown ghost town giant bookstore private record store thai food greek food local bands and natural food stores its a great place to grow up and a great place to raise kids unfortunatly the biggest flaw in my opinion is the heroin and cops the cops are evil and the heroin is the best around so if you can steer clear of those 2 dirty obsticles anyone would love pdx if you have a prob with either cops or heroin then may i suggest you move to cowshit indiana like i did....tah tah!

Portland is relatively sophisticated but the least pretentious of the major West Coast cities by far. To contrast, my former city of San Francisco is horribly self-satisfied and too precious, too boutiqued, to be a real place anymore. Why not put a dome over it and call it San Francisco 'N Things.

I actually live in Salem (Oregon's capitol) but I make the 40 miles hour long drive to Portland every weekend because of it's night club scene and veg{etari}an crowd & activities!

Sorry to rain on the parade (hah, nice pun huh?) but Portland is a joke. If you choose to live downtown you might have options for bicycling but anywhere else that isn't true. I lived in Beaverton for two years (yeah, Beaverton, it was closer to work) and grew to hate that city like no other. Heck, there is even a rant page about it that has a ton of interesting comments: http://www.knick-knack.com/rants/places/portland-oregon-sucks.html

One thing is for sure, people are polarized on the city. You will either love it or hate it, there doesn't seem to be much middle ground.

Well, I am moving to PDX from Atlanta, Ga. and I have been taking trips out there for about a year. My impressions are this. There are a lot of different clicks of people here. The locals, the ones born and raised, can be hard to talk to some times. Shall I say, a lot of the times. This is coming from someone who has spent time in NY, New England and the deep South. I seem to be able to have better conversations and be able to ask simple questions like ..."do you have the time?"... to the transplants. That's not to say everyone is that way, but you sure get a lot of it. They seem to get sick of people moving here, which is understandable sometimes considering how it has affected the community. I'm not the only one who notices this either; in case your wondering. There are a lot of activists here, but a good percentage of them are bumper sticker politics type people. They are glad to hold a sign and chant, but don't really do much as far as action (See previous posts about certain laws passed or just start reading the WW). Lots of fake hippies who now drive Audi's. Some good " Greenies" who actually know what they are talking about and make a difference. There are lots of hipster doofuses who think they are too cool for you. The Indie Rocker types who are happy in their little click and have never been to other big cities where you have to compete or interact with a wide variety of people. You get that in some of the West side Downtown areas. I can think of one specifically in Chinatown. Portland is mostly white and the blacks feel kind of like they don't have a voice here. Even picked on at times. The Asian community is more friendly than a lot of other cities I have been in. Some of the best Japanese food I've ever had ( Thank You YUKI). There is a big erosion of the middle class here. A big expanding gap of the haves and have not's.
It can be grey. But it is really not bad. Most of the rain here is mist. You can go walking in it and just get lightly damp if you have a light sweatshirt on. Go inside 5 minutes and you are dry. The sun comes out, goes away, comes out... rinse and repeat... It can be 60 degrees and misting, then it will be sunny and warm up to 73. Learn to wear light layers. When it is sunny, it is some of the best weather you can have. The coast is absolutely beautiful ( except Tiilamook ). Take a ride up or down I-84 and you will see some picture perfect sites.
A great city to sit on the sidewalk tables and eat. Rain or shine. A city that had the sense to not tear down all their old building and put up skyscrapers. Some nice architecture around. Pretty clean. Really green( think big trees with moss). Some great bridges ( Saint John's Bridge is beautiful). Access to almost any outdoor activity within about 2 hours or less. Three hours to Seattle, 6 Hours to B.C., 11 hours to SF ( on a good day). A great city to walk to places. Fairly pet friendly and most of the dogs have a good disposition. Biking isn't as dangerous as people say. At least they have bike lanes. The trouble is most people don't know that a bike is lawfully considered a vehicle on the road. Both biker and motorist don't follow the rules.
Thanks to the urban growth barrier, metro prices on real estate are way over-priced. Think of a 3 bedroom bungalow at about 1400 sq. ft. for about $400k or more. Loft space is ridiculous and hard to find. Don't even consider the Pearl District. For a heavily populated artist city, they are supported like cr@p. Big national companies have come in and bought all the old buildings and you can't find any raw / creative space like other cities. The city is dead set against " live / work" type people for raw space. It doesn't take much too see how the city is getting way too cumfy with developers and builders. I see lots of kickbacks going on. From what I have heard, PDX has only started to have this problem within the last 5 to 10 years. Don't get me wrong, I don't like sprawl. I'm coming from it in ATL. But the Growth Barrier hasn't worked out like it has been designed. Transit is pretty good. The trolley / train needs to expand which I hear it is going to do eventually; if there are no more stupid TRAM projects. Getting a loan for a house is pretty flexible, but you will pay through nose. If you are coming from NY or CA. it probably will not shock you all that much.
When I was looking at places to move to, I was choosing between Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, NY and Portland. I decided on Portland. Reasons:
1) Clean
2) Safe
3) Still has local farms to get food from
4)Great Transit
5)Low Traffic
6)Great Outdoors

Summing it up. I would say PDX is kind of like if you took a sliver out of a The Village in NY and through in some people from SF. It's got a weird mix. It takes some getting used to. It's got a lot of things going for it though, no matter how much I b1tch about it.

Thanks to the urban growth barrier, metro prices on real estate are way over-priced. Think of a 3 bedroom bungalow at about 1400 sq. ft. for about $400k or more.

Portland has many upsides (brewpubs being the most obvious), but the main one for me is pizza. Portland atracts A LOT of New Yorkers due to it being a small city with much less crime, but still has a big city feel. The result is a slice of pizza better than you can find anywhere in the Big Apple. New Yorkers roll their eyes when you tell them that, but take them out for your favorite slice and they always agree - New York sucks. The most die hard New Yorker suddenly realises that NY is not the center of the universe at the mere smell of a Hot Lips (or insert your favorite) slice. This is generally thought to be the source of Portland's high suicide rate as New Yorkers are constantly throwing themselves off of one of Portland's many bridges. Picking your favorite slice may take as long as finding your favorite local beer. As far as other food goes, if you're visiting from the New Mexico / Arizona part of the country, DO NOT attempt to eat Mexican food. Very decent "Baja" style (Jalisco) can be found, but if you're used to Sonoran style (i.e. Carlos O'Briens) you know that you would be better off starving. Chinese is hit and miss, with many bouts of food poisoning before you find a place you like.
Be sure to experience Portland soon, because the influx of Californians has led to PF Changs, California Pizza Kitchen, Cheesecake Factory etc. springing up and the invaders from the south that come her to escape California are trying desperatly to re-create it.
Word of advice if you move here: don't try to keep up with the Joneses, because Portlanders don't care. Expensive cars & McMansions don't impress the locals. True Portlanders spend their money on local business / products and will never set foot in a WallMart. Portland is also considered to be the safest city in America, because we hate Bush more than any terrorist ever could, so they don't bother considering us a target.

Don't move to Portland. Its very expensive, the economy is very depressed, city government doesn't listen to anyone, they send money like it well never run out, they make stupid business decision, and the city can't seen to elect a mayor that has an IQ of more than 1.
30 years ago it was a great place to live, but these days forget it.
I'm on my way to New Mexico.

New Mexico? NM sucks..they don't call it the land of entrapment for nothing..I escaped to Oregon after my parents brought me to barren NM when I was a teenager, and it is Oregon and PDX that will always have my heart. Sadly, I had to move away and just returned to visit this year to find it turned around..big money coming in changing the face and the personality of the city and state; PDX has been discovered and appears well on its way to ruination and co-opting experienced in formerly great cities on the west coast (San Francisco, Seattle). That being said, maybe I am just pissed off because housing prices are now so astronomical that I am unable to move back, stuck in red colorado, which has become a state park for rich texans. The heart and soul of PDX always calls me. I love the weather -rain and fog, the people, the rivers, bridges, the politics, the music, downtown with its contrasts, even seamy burnside. For anyone who moves there, or only moves there for recreational purposes or bike lanes, and does not love it completely, from the misty rain to the eclectic people, go back to where you came from, you do not deserve PDX and will only contaminate its spirit. You can make a living in other places, but for many of us who have been displaced from it, our love of PDX is personal. You either get it or you don't.

Thanks for all these excellent comments! I currently live in Jersey City after moving out of NYC for a little more peace, quiet and money in my pocket. I have wanted to live in Portland for years mostly for the beauty, music and art scene, and to ski! I think I'll have to take up biking as well.

Sorry if it's slightly annoying for me to post if I'm not adding to the commentary, but I can't resist. I've been thinking about coming out to Portland to work in an architecture firm out of college and all that you have posted just reinforces this yearning that's been growing in me. Don't hate me for being a newcomer; I know you locals like to keep it to yourselves, but I want to belong. Just a few questions...
Know any sweet architecture firms? Ah, just kidding. Well, maybe not. Secondly, where might I begin looking for an apartment? Any neighborhoods that are particularly fantastic and not real expensive? Thirdly, someone mentioned the eclectic food that no one actually eats, like Ethiopian. Any not-to-miss recommendations? And lastly, is it possible to not have a car and be able to enjoy the great outdoors around the city?
Thanks, treehuggers. You rock.

I don't currently live in Portland, I live in "the other Portland"--in Maine. MY portlanders often dream wistfully of going to YOUR portland, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that Portland, OR seems to be very similar to Portland, ME...except w/o the crappy stuff and more of the good stuff.

Not to be rude, but if all I had to complain about my city was that it was temperate and drizzly all winter (try snowbanks taller than your house most years); "high" costs of living (average price of 1 bedroom apt in the crappiest part of town in my portland, next to a crackhouse and a helicopter pad...$630); and some failed referendums that threaten land ownership issues (surely a problem, but not on the top of my list of 'things to make better' about a city, lets talk about education and immigrant rights first)...If that's all there was to complain about I think you've got a great thing going. Even the thought of going to a restaurant and being able to find something to eat as a vegan (10 years running now) that wasn't the garden salad is an amazing thought. not to mention that our public transportation is a complete joke. and my portland is supposedly so progressive.

I don't know that you other portlanders have much to complain about, in the grand scheme of things. and in spite of some of the comments above, I'll probably move there anyway. It sounds delightful.

It's very important to distinguish between Portland, the city and the outlying burbs and bedroom communities. Portland, the city, is one thing but the burbs that are growing indiscriminately are full of tiny lots and strip malls.

You can drive through endless housing 'developments' where entire forests, orchards and hillsides have been stripped bare in order to accommodate burbs. Supposedly the lots are small in order to accommodate public green space but where is the public green space?

Tigard, our least favorite place in Oregon, admits to striving to reach the same population density as downtown LA. Tigard has no skyscrapers so that population density amounts to crowding people onto sub 5,000 sf lots.

There's no quality of life and, I'd still like the local government to explain exactly where the green space is. Also, due to unrestrained, unplanned 'development' the traffic is terrible.

IMO, Portland Oregon and its burbs are heading towards being LA-like but with really (really) gloomy and bad weather and very few days of sun. This is a bad trend and it's usually hidden away when people think about the left-wing bent of the city itself.

Oregon becomes very red even 10 minutes outside of the city limits and flaming red 30 minutes outside.

portland is the best place in the world to live.it has a great culture and is very diverce.the food is great and the music and art scene is very wide and very good.what ever you want you can find it here(exept very much sun).portland is very open to any body and welcomes any one.come visit you will love it I promise.

Well, I can say this about Portland, in my 6 years of living here it has been the setting for some of my best times (maybe) and some of my worst (definitely). I have a sort of 'love/hate' thing going on with this town. The best thing about the place is the spectacular scenery nearby. The gorge and Mt. Hood are some of the most beautiful places around. A big downside is the employment situation around here. If you do not have a very marketable skill you will have one hell of a time working anywhere. While the minimum wage is relatively high it is difficult to find full time work or a place to live. Many people must have two part-time jobs (if they can find any) to make ends meet. I've been able to get by with one seasonal job at a kind of close by ski area and student financial aid. Honestly I usually end up leaving Portland for the "nice" summer months because I can't afford to live around here without being a full time student. After I graduate I am looking to relocate again. I am very certain that I don't want to settle down and god forbid buy property in Portland. I also have learned that I want to steer clear of "cool" towns like Portland. Once a place is on the hip radar it is over. Someone mentioned that they left Austin because they felt that it was a "sinking ship", well that is a decent summery of Portland I would say. I am trying to get out before it takes on too much dead weight and goes under. Probably the worst thing about Portland, as mentioned many times in the 'Portland Sucks' blog, is the people. They don't make eye contact with strangers, they all think you are either trying to hit on them or trying to scam them. And maybe this is true a little too often here. People are either afraid of each other or they think they are better than each other. You will have various segments of superficial friends that will never mix and you are expected not to try to take the relationship beyond said boundary. I.e. work friends, school friends, your friends' friends, whatever. You never hang out with your work friends on the weekend or try to call one of your friend's friends. You never make any real connections with the people around you. This is Portland.

The best way to sum up Portland, is to say that it's a two-faced town of secrets. Portland likes to think that it's entirely what it shows the world, but it has quite the dark side.

First of all, right off the bat, Portland is very cliqueish. It takes awhile to realize this, but it's true.

Portlanders will seem very talkative and friendly with you, but they are always very keenly aware of little things like what state your license plate is from, and whether or not you're a native Oregonian. Once they find out you're not a local, the job market mysteriously starts to dry up, as do your friends.

Also, Portland despises success and worships mediocrity. They don't call it "The People's Republic of Portland" for nothing.

If something or someone doesn't seem downtrodden or miserable enough, Portlanders actively hate it and will actually conspire to undermine it. And, yes, they are really, precisely, just that childish... no matter how "sensitive", "polite", and "socially-conscious" they seem on the surface. Portlanders gossip like mad, and they do it in the cause of malicious codependency, which is what they mean by "socialism".

Portlanders also have HUGE egos... I mean ENORMOUS. They just hide them well, with a highly literate facade of soft, warm, political correctness. Their huge egos are very likely the reason that they invented their culture of correctness in the first place: if Portlanders hadn't developed it, they would almost certainly have devoured each other a long, long time ago, due to their natural egomania and their tendency towards viciousness.

The greater Portland area -- indeed, the entire Pacific Northwest -- is positively teeming with methamphetamine and even heroin. Yes, heroin. You wouldn't believe how many people here are secretly sketchy down to their very bones.

Portland police are straight-up evil. Since 1995, they've paid out over 3.5 million dollars in wrongful injury and WRONGFUL DEATH lawsuits. Why? Because many of their police are the hardened, evil types from the highly redneck areas surrounding I-5, which is largely the educated, higher-class axis of the state. In usual Oregonian fashion, they hate and resent whenever possible, just because it's their way, and the city of Portland in general is just like open hunting season for them, where they get to "terrorize them spoiled liberals".

Portland police have been known to kill ordinary, run-of-the-mill drivers during routine traffic stops. I, myself, was only in town a month, and a police officer actually lied to my face AND on his police report about my having said something so outrageously inflammatory that I myself looked at it and thought, "Yeah, the guy who said this probably would've deserved to have been shot dead for saying it." This is not normal police behavior elsewhere but, here, it is. In other words, I could easily have been shot dead as the cop glared at me with crazed blue eyes and put his hand over his gun while he spoke words back to me that I never said. Yep. Scary stuff.

And, oh yeah, on another occasion, I was actually forced into oncoming traffic by a city bus driver, who systematically crossed over TWO LANES, one at a time, while I was locked in by cars behind me and couldn't move away. I leaned on my horn, and the evil bastard actually LOOKED DOWN at me, pursed his lips, and then FORCED ME OVER YET AGAIN, this time into oncoming traffic. When traffic stopped, I got out of my car to yell at him, and then the arrogant bastard picked up his communicator and started REPORTING ME. He condescendingly pointed forward and ORDERED ME BACK INTO MY CAR.

Well, I immediately called the city transit authority -- known as "Tri-Met", and did they do anything about this? Absolutely not, though they did give me the standard Portland show of fake concern and sympathetic outrage.

Finally, Portland is largely grey and drizzly for AT LEAST a whopping SEVEN MONTHS out of the year. You might get patches of sun here and there, but it's mostly rain and drizzle.

Well, anyhow, these are the negatives? So, what are the positives?

Well, Portland is very scenic and has lots of health food stores, and several major corporations operate here, such as Nike, Intel, Adidas, Tazo Tea, Wacom, and so on. But I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for a job at any of these places, as Portlanders have probably already infiltrated these companies and are shamelessly promoting the hiring of "locals only".

So there you have it. That's Portland... or at least my best summary. I suspect only the truly courageous and honest will openly agree with it. Have a nice day.

Hi all. planning to move to pdx from san antonio.tx. The reasons are obvious. Hatred of all things texan, and love of all things in portland.

I was raised in Syracuse, NY, so I know rain. I did not see the sun till I was lik 15 ;D rain is good.

I have a lot of sympathy for the ppl moving from austin tx to pdx. If you think it would help. pls email me. Perhaps we can help each other (not real sure how, but it seemed like a postive kharma thing to do lol)

the guy with the "portland-sucks" webpage was really funny. I could tell reading it he was a red-state dude : lol everything he hates, I love. State Income taxes? good idea! Thats how you get things done, and get $$ out of the blood-sucking rich bastards. Driving slow? Great idea! better to arrive alive or arrive 10 mnutes earlier? alive ty. idiot lol

reading that site ofppl who hate pdx made it very clear to me how much I want to move there.

the guy with the bad cop stories was pretty scary. So is the area around pdx read red-state country?? yikes

Any suggestions out there for a guy moving in who wants an afffordable 3-bedroom apartment (800-900/month??) on the MAX in a neighboor hood near pdx? looking for bluestate attitudes, with pdx charm (coffee/home brew sites/book stores). thanks to anyone who needs the kharma reaching out to a "foreigner" (lol) who is indeed moving to pdx.

I love Portland, but I'll be the devil's advocate here.

Cycling sucks. One of the best public transportaion systems in the country, but riding a bike is hell.

I spent a couple years cycling across town to work, and eventually stopped due to the danger and polution (I cycled most of the SF Bay area before I moved to Portland). Not only are the streets narrow and crappy, the drivers don't give right of way, or even share for that matter. But worst of all is the air quality. I don't know how the EPA rates the city, but at ground level in traffic, you can tell the cars do not have catalytic converters. It's a gasoline breakfast.

Portland...the people here are ugly as hell, the weather is crappy from Sept. to July (I'm not kidding. If you move here, you'll be wondering where the sun is during June and July. While the rest of the country is enjoying summer, you'll be wondering why there are still clouds in the sky.) So many people wearing natural fiber clothing, Birkenstocks, Tevas sandals and Crocs you just want to throw up!! And let me tell you something: Patchouli only goes so far in covering up the B.O. you're trying to hide. (Not to mention that "herbal" smell that's seeping through your pores.)
If living among people who look like they gravitated here after Jerry Garcia died because they had nowhere else to go, then, by all means, come, stay, smoke a bowl. Because that's their favorite pasttime: hugging trees and smokin' weed. You'll fit right in.

Oregon Drivers are terrible. I live in Salem and its drivers and the rudest most clueless and self involved drivers I have ever had the misfortune to encounter.
They are myopic, don’t look or think ahead, tailgate in all type of traffic, go slow in the left lane….in fact they park their fat asses in the left lane…frequently under the speed limit, go 25 in a 30 and 40 in a 30…pay little attention to traffic signs, don’t turn right on a red on a clear blue open no traffic day…but still tailgate, go slower then the speed limit on the highway to the coast but when you try to pass on the uphill passing lanes they speed up…
Here is their mindset. Do it my way…but to hell with everybody but me…since I am busy reading my mail, doing my makeup and talking on my phone."

The above posts seem to sum up Portland pretty darn well. I raised a family here but now it's time to move on. Portland, (aka lil' SanFran), has simply gone way too far left in politics at the expense of it's working class citizens. Just today a measure passed to build a day-job center for the oh so welcome illegal immigrants. Before the Feds read the governor the riot act, is was easier for an illegal to get a drivers license than it was for a lawful citizen. BEWARE: If you're a (legal) working class individual you should know that the deck is stacked against you. Because of the cities advocacy concerning illegal immigration there is a downward pressure on wages. We have many lawful citizens in Portland that could use a helping hand during this economy. Many of these people, through taxes, have supported the city for decades. So what do we see? The precious limited funds instead are spent to promote the hiring of illegal workers. This measure passed by a 4-1 split. Thank you very much.

To be fair it is an absolutely gorgeous city but the politicians .... Shame on them. Some run as "middle-of-the-road" politically but will jump at any and all chances to advance their leftist ideology. You can NOT expect to have a fair and balanced government. It's simply will not happen in Portland.

The mayor rode with the biker radicals, breaking laws and in essence advocating their in your face behavior. Yeah, it was a relatively minor transgression but it didn't help things. The bike community pays in lives when bike lanes are installed where they shouldn't be. The radical bikers (a minority) behavior helps promote a climate of mutual disdain with the frustrated car driving public. Not that the car drivers are blameless either. Overall the traffic and biker radicals have helped make a bad traffic situation even worse. I see no good coming of this. More money will be spent on the light rail / mass transit. It sure looks good on paper but at this point it's not any better than that in any other cities. Often minimal ridership and not a place you want to be at night.

There was a tram built that basically served a development of roughly $500k - $1M condos at the expense of taxpayers. Oh btw these same condos received a property tax break. Guess $1M just doesn't go as far as it used to huh?

If the protesters want to picket your business and intimidate your clients well..... that's just fine! Even more so if you're a fur seller or other non-pc entity. The city will let them harass you to death. You will receive no help. Being a long time resident I can tell you with absolutely certainty this behavior would not have been allowed if the situation were reversed. That is, conservative types (?) picketing and harassing let's say a gay oriented establishments clients. Portland is sooooo anti-business that at times it's just plain unbelievable. Businesses are already fleeing the city and county in droves.

How ever it may sound I'm not bitter. Really. Based on diversity and culture it's a fantastic place. But those items do not make a city. The rise in property values we had the good fortune to experience will fund a nice home and acreage for us out of state. I'm just sad that such a gorgeous city is, in my opinion, being ruined.

My prediction? The lower middle classes will just about disappear. You want to own a home you better be a professional otherwise you'll be renting. Crime will continue to rise right along with the high property taxes and fees. The anarchists will even more so embed themselves in the fabric of the city. Your property rights will be further eroded for the "common good" - better known as "I've got mine now lets keep it all green" crowd. To sum it all up..... Portland - You're beautiful city but it's only skin deep.

Portland is awesome and anybody who thinks thst this beautiful city sucks should get the hell out.

To the guy from San Antonio- You will never , ever, find a 3 bedroom apartment for 800-900 a month anywhere near the MAX- not even in the crackiest part of town or the suburbs. Rents here have gone up and up and show no signs of stopping. Though the bubble has to burst sometime. This town is cold and dark and fake and people here are unapolegtically WASPY and WHITE and won't make eye contact or chat. Everyone is far more into fashion and looking left than being left. People here are straight up racist and capitalist and mean. Sorry to burst anyones' bubble. Better to know now. Oh, and to the guy writing about pizza here- never in NY would you pay $30 for a pie with f-ing tempeh on it. Overated, overpriced, underworked, lonely and grey... that is Portland.

I have got to say, this is the worst place I've ever been. I don't get that "genuine" feeling from Portland. In fact, when I first moved here and entered the actual city, I felt as if I were in a movie set. Portland appears to be a "big" city but in actuality it is very, very small and very, very boring. I can't imagine considering Portland being the "lil SanFran". And, I cannot disagree MORE with the statement of the public transportation system being one of the "best in the world". Speaking of transportation, I absolutely agree that these are some of THE WORST drivers I have ever seen. Not even rush hour traffic driving into Logan airport is this bad. At least those people know how to drive. I am actually scared driving on the roads here. In fact, the other day I was walking on the sidewalk and across a driveway and some woman almost ran me over. I was close enough to her window that I actually knocked on it. The other day I was riding on a motorcycle with my boyfriend and some woman rolled through a stop sign and almost hit us. When we stopped the woman she said, "I didn't see you." Well no shit.

And..."Portland is the best place in the world to live.it has a great culture and is very diverce.the food is great and the music and art scene is very wide and very good.what ever you want you can find it here(exept very much sun).portland is very open to any body and welcomes any one.come visit you will love it I promise."

Please, let me just ask, have you ever been to NYC? Ever heard of a canoli? How about some bagels and lox? And, you can't find everything you want here. I've been hard pressed to find a job.

Lastly, the feeling I get from this area is quite "invasion of the body snatchers".

Portland is like communism, it looks great in theory on paper, but is a disaster in practice.

Most of the comments here ring true. Portland is a small, pretentious, racsist backwater pretending to be a cosmopolitan eco-paradise.

Don't get me wrong, I was born and raised here and love the city, the suburbs and all of Oregon. BUT the negativity associated with PDX definitely stems from somewhere.

That somewhere is what people seem to be unable to understand. Everytime someone moves here from somewhere else, a local is being displaced.

Whether they are a US citizen looking for a nice place to live (driving up living costs, increasing traffic, demanding more "culture" )

Or in the not so distant past a fairly large wave of mexican immigrant labor. Not too many people had a problem, they want their strawberries. But the ones who did managed to turn the area into one of ripest breeding grounds for Neo-Nazi recruitment and violence.

The basic idea is that everything Portland is purported to be; Eco-friendly, Liberal/Progressive/Activist/Libertarian Politics, Hippie Family love, respect between loggers and engineers at Tek, and general overall feelings being in a good place.

These things are long since gone, anyone who tells you that Portland has genuine pockets of these ideals is dead wrong. Anyone that purports to dedicate themselves to these ideals is only in it for the image because they are so OBVIOUS.

Portlanders and Oregonians that once made the city and state what it was have either moved away, given up, or stick to their guns and simmer in insanity.

A lot of what was said is absolutely correct. I am a black female that moved to PDX from NYC. Talk about culture shock! But I found a great group of friends, I got a job w/in a month (I am a professional) and shared an apartment for a year.

My experience was that it is grey but almost everyone knows that and no one can control the weather so that's a false argument against the city.

Two, racism is alive and well in this oh-so liberal town but it is all across the country.

Three, it is gorgeous! I agree, though, with the person who described it 'like a movie set'. There is an air of pleading. It's almost like you're expected to be immediately wooed by the city. It'd be true if you didn't venture east of 39th Ave, south of Division or North or Rosa Parks.

The truth is that people are being pushed out of their neighborhoods, housing and rent costs are rapidly increasing and it's really not the 'Keep Portland Weird' Portland that some want to think it is. It's a good city but you should keep in mind that it's an American city and as far as I can see it's going the way of most metro areas. I've lived in NYC, Raleigh/Durham, Atlanta and Portland ---they're all changing. Go where you best fit in.

I would just like to commit on how little it takes for people to whine and cry. My wife, three kids and myself are all planning on moving to Portland in just a few days. We lost our home three years ago in hurricane Katrina and had to live in a half destroyed motel room for four months. The room was partialy reconstructed from sheet rock by a crackhead who still lived there. We had holes in the walls that lead to outside big enough to stick your head through where rats, roches, snakes, poisionous spiders, etc., etc., etc. would come through and some guy upstairs had a meth lab going. The southern heat was unbearable. It was like having someone beat you with a pair of brass knuckles all day and oh yeah, it also rained all the time which only made it hotter when it stopped. My point is people will bitch about anything. But try uprooting your family from hell and dragging them across the country because you have nowhere else to go. As far as the "no jobs in Portland " thing, we have lived in Colorado Springs for three years now and I don't have a job here so what's your point?

i've lived in suicideville for 8 years now and i can firmly say when i can get enough money saved up i'm heading southeast pronto, preferably until i hit the next ocean, and possibly even beyond. before you move here, take into consideration that the amount of regular sunlight you see actually affects the levels of certain feel good chemicals in your brain. dont forget about our award for highest annual suicide and depression rate in the US. Go ahead, ask almost anybody here who doesn't look like one of the yuppy trendfags who you can't help but see like everywhere as of the past 3 years and they'll tell you that they hate it here and they plan on leaving as soon as possible. However if you do decide to move to this special colorless gray circle of hell i highly suggest you immediately gain an alcohol dependency and begin smoking crystal meth as fast as you can buy it. it's the popular thing to do since all the san fran asswipes starting migrating up here and it should help you 'fit in' a hell of a lot better, and by fit in i mean avoid having a bunch of trend fags give you the evil eye as you walk down 'their' street and possibly avoid having to deal with the horrible justice system here which doesn't have self defence as an excuse for winning a fight against one of these skinny pussies, even if they started it.
people here might be nice, but they only pretend to be. i'm going back south and for all you little pussy ass wannabe hippies who moved up here to raise your pissed off free love child who're definately gonna come and say "oh ur rong portland iz such a nice place 2 liv"
you are part of the problem and youre wrong, dead wrong, kiss my fat hairy greasy ass you god damn annoying stupid yuppy drugged out retards, and please go remove your broke asses from the genepool so that humanity can breath easy. you're all a bunch of fucking tourists in your own god damn town anyway so the few sane people left in town will breath a sigh of relief when you all throw yourselves into a giant oven.

I just moved to Portland and I find it one of the most unfriendly cities I've ever lived in.

I've lived in Scottsdale, Calgary alberta, Vancouver BC, Los Angeles and Seattle.

It's impossible to make new friends here. People are nice but they are not accepting new friendship applications.

Do not tell any Portlanders you're from LA, they will judge and hate strictly based on that.

I've never in my life been surrounded by as many people that get offended by really trivial meaningless stuff. EVERYBODY has a cause here... and you'll be WRONG.

People need to shower more here.

People spend ridiculous amounts on bicycles that don't have brakes and gears because it's 'cool' .. i guess

It rains WAY too much here. it's depressing.

If you do not look like and unoriginal emo/hipster you probably wont make any friends.

If you want to do any outdoor activities it's totally outside the city and actually quite a drive. not much great hiking in the city like LA, Seattle, Vancouver, Calgary and Scottsdale have.

Gym memberships are completely over priced.

There's alot of fat chicks here. It's why they call Portland Porkland

I was born & raised in Portland & could never move back! However I lived in Lake Oswego for 3 months several years ago but found it horribly depressing. The leftist Tree Huggers now walk down the middle of thoroughfares in order to block cars from driving. I wonder if many Portland Tree Hugger Leftists live in tents or are they big hypocrites and use the conveniences of life like washing machines & dryers, electricity, etc. In my personal opinion the dreary weather and the rain that does not know when to stop affects the brains of folks and they become weird. Very sad what they have done to the beautiful City of Portland where I grew up. The leftist Tree Huggers seem to have the desire to bring America down as an industrialized nation. They will be very sorry when it happens!

Portland is the most dreadful city you can imagine with all the depressing rain and cold and it pours down rain on the 4th of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day and just about every day! If you are in Construction you should know that it rains 9 months out of the year in Portland, the City of Roses (?). People are extremely unfriendly and the City has a horrible atmosphere of Socialism about it. If you want to fall into deep depression then Portland or Seattle are right for you! Maybe you will enjoy all the old, smoking Volvos the Tree Huggers drive along with their old pieces of crap smoking Suburus and V.W.'s. As I said, Portland stinks of Socialism and Humanism. Sorry, I could never live there again even if I was paid millions of bucks per year!

Funny thing #1: 90% of the time you ever meet anyone they always ask "Don't you just love Oregon, I do; observe my Oregon green-heart bumper sticker!" and then "Where are you from?". "Here" you say, they look shocked and then stop talking to you.

Funny thing #2: Oregon surfers. Really, you love surfing that much? You obviously also love Oregon to not move to warmer climes.

Funny thing #3: Telling people that have never been outside the willamete valley that Oregon is 2/3rds desert. They refuse to believe.

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People you will see:

Beautiful short-haired hippie/eco girls; you have no chance of ever talking to them. Found at: Woodstock laundry mat, Reed

East coast big nose hipster boys; skinny pants, chucks/white pointy shoes. Probably in a band Found at: Eastside hipster bars

Dumpy but still hot bartender; She will serve you, but just barely. You will want to have sex with her but the small group of friends gathered at her empty bar give you mean looks. Found: downtown

Causists; Punk's not dead, freedom isn't free, the body is a temple, no oil for blood, etc...

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People that actually exist

Escaped Outlying Locals; Moving to SE/Beaverton and working a 38k/yr job is the highpoint of their life thus far. Escaping from Canby/Wilsonville/Woodburn/Newberg, Forest Grove/Hillsboro/Banks or St. Helens/Sandy/Mcminnville was the previous high point of their lives.

Mexicans; Living their lives in isolation, they love their families, their cars and the coca.

Hicks; Folk who have driven into the city in their large work truck and have a look of fear and make quick furtive driving decisions. They come from Clatskanie, Shedd, Yamhill, Tillamook and other farming communities.

Bendies; Mostly californians/arizonans who wanted REALLY exorbitant housing. They are tan and drive immaculate cars. They come to Portland to soak up some 'Culture' and then escape back to Bend to soak up sun while off-road unicycling/base jumping/free climbing and other EXTREME outdoor activities

College students; They come to portland seeking enlightenment and cheap heroin. Managing to louse up most things within 5 miles of downtown, there is a vast sucking sound as they depart for the homes in the summer.

Portland is a beautiful city, and the rainy months from November to March are gloomy, but considering that I moved from frigid Wisconsin where they had their largest snowfall last yr at over 100 inches total , I'll take rain anyday. The people here I find to be very friendly. The only problem I have with the city is, if you happen to be black and you want to be around people you can identify with on a social or cultural level, don't move to portland. I'm the only black person at my job ( in the entire buidiling of over a thousand people), and so at least on my own time I want to be around people who like the same things I like. I can only find that in church on sunday. I've no one to hang out with on the weekends, and so, just to say I did something over the weekend, I feel forced to tolerate cultures, like going to rock concerts or seeing a locak rock band play, when co workers invite me. I can't stand rock. It would be cool to meet at least one person (black, white, hispanic, whatever) that I can call and say, 'hey, some hip hop artist is going to be at such and such a place. lets get tickets,' or 'there's this jamaican or ethiopian restaurant that we should try out', for example. I have no one to do that with. I have been here 11 months, and it's been the loneliest 11 months of my life.

I can't believe this comment section is still a little bit alive...

I'm moving to portland in a year or so, and since the housing crisis hit the cost of living there is insanely low compared to where I currently live(SoCal). Example: I could buy a house near downtown and pay less on a mortgage(if they don't collapse) than I would on my university student housing. I live in an older part of the Inland Empire that actually uses bikes, and I was recently a Bender...but neither compare to the bike-friendliness of portland. They have roads dedicated to bikes only.

Moving from Oregon to SoCal is like moving to another country to me and to the person who kept promoting LA as being better than portland....you are insane. LA downton is nice, but it's more racist than portland, incredibly polluted, biking old really sort of works in downtown LA since most drivers are homicidal manaics, the weather is....hell on earth, and the people are incredibly rude. I really hope portland never gets an influx of LAers.

since 37 was so unpopular there was another bill that was proposed and passed recently that fixed the problems it created...to bad 36 (gay marriage) passed also.

Portland is sort of terrible when it comes to diversity, but it's not as bad a san francisco.

After having wasted three years of my life in Portland, I'm glad to be back in LA.............something I would have never imagined myself saying three years ago.

If you weren't born there, don't expect to make any friends. The people pride themselves so much on being 'natives' that they won't make time for you.

Big city people scare the heck out of them. They so want to believe that they have an iota of sophistication, but it's just not true. Most of them have never even left the state, much less the country. Truely a bunch of elitist zombies that think they are creative, unique and greener than thou.

The incessant rain, need I say more? Followed by a few weeks of skull burning heat, then back to the gray misery. When the rainy season starts up again, everyone goes into hiding mode.

Taxes for a small business owner? F-ing incredible. They will tax you for EVERYTHING.

It all looks good when you go to visit, especially on a beautiful day. And it would be, without Oregonians. Just don't mispronounce that one or risk catching some compost in your face.

Ethnics, gays and any other 'odd ones'..............they so want to be liberal but they're not. They just talk behind your back, that's all.

Like I said, I never thought I'd be so happy to be back in this polluted, cosmopolitan and diverse city in my life, but here I am, happy with a new appreciation.

I moved here the day after Mt. St. Helen’s erupted from Hawaii back in 1980.

I came here on my way to Australia and found that a job promised me wasn’t true. First taste of native original Oregonians passive aggressive natures. I cleaned ash and did landscaping for cheap and had work 7 days a week if I wanted it but kept it to 6 days a week. I took an indoor job with a government agency so I could work indoors. That job moved almost 2 years later out of state. I worked in hotels for 11 years after that.

Then I worked 10 years in production which lead to 911 2001 which was my first day off after they shut down the plant I worked in which was due to our international customers losing their money due to Al Gore’s in ability to admit to defeat, legal all the way. Even Gore’s private and government funded recounts and inquiries proved he lost but he can’t admit to that even today. His doing this hurt our stock markets holding them in limbo till they really knew who would be president of our country. This affected the international stock markets much more than our own which recovered some what as they were still reeling from how Bildo screwed our economy. Since then I have had three jobs that have all gone downhill due to the economy not really improving enough to get better. This being a blue state the economy here is worse than in a red state as the government here relies upon raising taxes and spending more than they have instead of doing the opposite which would create jobs that would pay the taxes much easier. Capitalism works when growing and maintaining an economy, Socialism tears down an economy no matter how you look at it.

All through this time spent here I have learned what Passive Aggressive Anger is, this is how Original and or Native Oregonians communicate and try to keep others down.

Not fun for sure but that is what is accepted and almost the expected norm here. It hurts us more than any single other aspect. It is masked and called being progressive when it really isn’t. Hypocritical labels abound from this from everyone else that is not from here but moved here and still lives here or has moved on, or has had to deal with companies doing business from here or visited for business or pleasure.

The cons are mostly people and attitude related. The pros are mostly related to aspects not related to the people and those attitudes here.

Great place to do out door recreational events.

Awesome culinary delights can be found in and around Portland. You can also find fried starchy foods in abundance.

Culturally Portland has expanded, fighting all the way. It is good that some cultural growth has occurred here or it would be a worse place than it is. It needs to expand more and slowly it shows signs that it will.

We had an awesome opportunity to expand economically within the Bio Science world.

This was thwarted by the Socialistic Government minds that prevail here. The same tax till they drop and lead them on with lies and then tax them anyway to great heights even if it was illegal and then not understanding why those companies didn’t move here and create jobs or left here cutting jobs mentality. The sad thing is that a majority of people here live in denial about this and it won’t change anytime soon. Our current Governor of Oregon and current Portland Metro leaders cause this problem and it’s continuation but will not see it for what it is and grow up and move on and help Oregon and Portland. We will suffer till this has been changed. The voters here keep voting in the same type of people that raise taxes, spend over budget, and are unwilling to work with businesses so that they will stay or come here or come back here.

Our schools suffer greatly due to the extreme left influences, same forces that are hurting our economy here.

We are in limbo here but not a stable limbo as it continually slips lower and lower. There will be a level met where we will not be able to fix it.

It does not look good.

This is sad as even though there are many passive aggressive anger filled people here there are more people here that are nice, friendly, good hard working people with families that want to contribute and do to our society here. Granted, most friendly people are superficial but I think given the chance they could evolve as they just don’t know any better. There is a force to keep this a Small Town, Portland and through out Oregon. It is a good idea but there needs to be a stabilizing force that will allow for some growth and progression. Yin Yang, what ever you want to call it. The extreme left has the reigns and they are not driving in a good direction. What keeps us going is the hard work of the good.

There is a lot of anti-Christian sentiments in this town and state. It would serve us all good if this anger filled aspect of our society would grow up and start practicing what they preach. Being Liberal means you have an open mind, not a closed and hate filled mind. Christians are good people for the most part and I don’t understand the hatred that is openly vented towards them from so many people here. There is too much hatred in Portland for others that do not follow an Anarchist, New Age, or so called Liberal but really Socialistic stance. We need to get out of that mentality if we are to survive, mature and grow as a society and to attract others to move here to replace the many that have left.

I love living here but am embarrassed by the hatred that seethes here.

There are so many opportunities of growth here that it is silly. Each time a grouping of businesses gain a foot hold in expanding here they are stepped on by the Socialistic groups here, in the society and the governments. We need to stop that so we can grow and be healthy.

One of my favorite spots is the Rose Garden up in Washington Park over looking the city of Portland with Mt. Hood in clear view and Mt. St. Helen’s off in the near distance. Beauty, sheer beauty there year round.

This place has the potential to be a great place let’s keep trying to make it that way.

I lived in Portland for a few months from November to March. You need a car if you enjoy the outdoors and want to drive to the ocean, the mountains, etc.
I ended up moving down to Eugene for a couple of years because I enjoyed it more. But this is what I liked and dont like about Portland.
It has a downtown that isnt spread out. It is a neighborhood type City, similar to SF or Seattle, Chicago. It definitely has a mixture of people but they are mostly White. There is diversity but not in your face. It mostly exists in pockets. There is an alternative culture here which is great because I love to connect with weirdos. They also have great food. Ive eaten at some great restaurants here. Lots of ethnic food.
The temperature is pleasant. It is not too cold or too hot in the summer. But the biggest drawback are the cloudy days.
It gets so depressing, and gloomy. Summer is nice but that doesnt last as long. The rain doesnt bother me because it is more like a light drizzle most of the time. It is the clouds and the grayness that can make you depressed. Everything seems uglier.
I wont move there because of it. But I like the atmosphere and think it would be a great place to raise kids.

The saddest part of Portland is its racial legacy. Like probably every other city in America, Portland has treated its black citizens very badly over the years. It was once illegal to be black and live in Oregon. Racist segregation politics kept most of the city's black residents in two parts of the city through the first third of the century. One of those areas was flooded and destroyed, the other was bulldozed for a major sports arena. The remaining traditionally black neighborhoods are gradually being gentrified by white interlopers. Portland is overwhelmingly white, probably the whitest big city in America, and even though I don't think the current racism is intentional it's hard to avoid.

I've known black people who moved here as adults, settled wherever they wanted, and I think it's easier for them. It's hardest for the second- and third- generation African Americans who are seeing their neighborhoods and communities disappear yet again.

t's a cheap place to live, even though housing costs are up here like everywhere else. Minimum wage is above $7 an hour, and bottom-of-the-line housing can be found for less than $300 a head. I've always lived in nice two bedroom rentals in good neighborhoods, and none has cost more than $700.

Crime rates are low.

NOW HERE IS MY COMMENT TO THE POSTING ABOVE;
{look at that last sentence. It says "crime rates are low". And oddly enough it was right after the post said it is a largely white city. Well, there's your answer. Anytime there's a high number of blacks you get all the crime you want. Read about any city with a majority of blacks and find out what goes on. So don't go saying it's "sad" that Portland is mostly white. That's EXACTLY what it keeps it as nice as it is. And I'm not even a racist. I've dated blacks. I 'm just stating a FACT. It's supported by the facts}. Go move to Detroit if you don't think so.

wow, it looks like this section keeps going on and on ! I moved from the coast of Mèxico to Portland about two years ago, never lived anywhere in the U.S. and I absolutely love Portland. I found out about Portland's lack of diversity (seems to be a lot of comments on racism here) after moving here, but never had encountered anything like that, in fact, people always seem to love the fact that I'm not Caucasian and I speak Spanish... I've had no problem finding jobs since I moved here. Bad mexican food ? yeah there isn't a whole lot of good mx food, but there are a great places such as Autèntica and Por què no isn't bad ... As a 21 yr old student, I feel safe walking home at night, riding public transit and getting my stuff done without a car. I don't bike, wear fleece or drink coffee and have not had social pressure to do so, or felt as a foreigner for not fitting into one of the many trends of this city, but hey, it's like that everywhere ...