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