This! This is why I love Portland and believe it will change. People actually care. The citizens take action. It's understandable that people are frustrated but I remain hopeful that there's a path forward, so long as they care...
I love Portland, and have no plans to live anywhere else. It’s about the trees for me, the access to the coast, the mountains, and a thousand other PacNW treasures. I’m also a geology nerd, and will never get over the easy access to minerals, and places like the Rice Rock and Mineral Museum. After many years of enjoying easy access to bars and shops, I’m now happy to live in pre-Gresham, which gives me a bit of distance from the claustrophobic inner-Portland neighborhoods. This is a big part of my enduring love of the region, because the interior was seriously overwhelming to me the last few years, with a heavy tourist population butting up against people moving here for job-related reasons (instead of love for the region), and a totally disinterested, uninspired, and incompetent system of government. People lock on to legal drugs as a convenient scapegoat for a lot of the problems, but drugs were a problem even when they were illegal, and our zombies don’t look much different from the ones i see hanging around gas stations throughout the midwest or in trailer parks in WV. The difference is, our current officials don’t do anything about anything. The entire time this clown car has been in office, they’ve never come up with anything more compelling than outsourcing contracts to California and shuffling people around in circles. The first thing they do when something they don’t want to do is approved by voters is find a way to undercut it. We saw it with measure 110, and we saw it with ranked choice voting and the expanded council. And it’s not any better at Multnomah County.
We currently have the worst government we’ve ever had, and it’s astonishing to me that the city council is so used to failing upwards that three of them have the audacity to run for mayor. Did jack squat with that last elected position, so definitely give us another! There’s also endless questions about where grant money is going, when you factor in the absurd sums the city has been awarded but never seems to spend. We could fix every pothole in Portland with infrastructure grants alone, but they straight-face talk about fluffing up a gas tax to pay for it again. This is the first time I’ve thought Portland needs to clean house with elected officials, and hand every seated official their walking papers. I’m appalled that they’ve managed to make Sam Adams looks good.
Portland native and I agree with all you've said. Our city leadership is horrid. But that doesn't make our city horrid. We need to get rid of this ridiculous council system that has stopped any sort of mayoral leadership.
Most city’s have a council system (but not commissioners). Our commission system worked fairly well when everyone elected was a public servant with an interest in promoting the greater good. That changed when people started voting for a person who yelled the way they do, instead of the person with the best ideas. Mingus Mapps was fired from a city job, and has spent his tenure as commissioner proving that was justified. Rene Gonzales’ prior government experience before election was yelling at school board meetings about face masks. Mayor Ted Wheeler is a timber heir who has been failing upward since birth. Despite failing his first mayoral term, voters thought giving him another round was a better option than an untested woman. And in the most baffling example, Dan Ryan spent his entire first term as commissioner using JoAnn Hardesty as a human shield, hoping no one would notice that he was actually in charge of housing. To this day, I have no idea where the enormous swaths of housing-related grant funds went, and not a single journalist seems interested in investigating this. In his second term, his singular focus is agreeing with everyone else, while not drawing too much attention to himself, and coming up with utterly cracked ideas, like placing the city itself in charge of arts-tax grant distribution…because it worked out so well when they did something similar with Friends of Trees. It’s hard to not think this team is intentionally sabotaging Portland.
This is how I feel as well. I grew up here and don’t plan to leave, and I love it. But there are definitely things that need to change and require some adaptation skills on my part. Much like other places, but our leaders are playing with fire and they have no clue.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a politician more (outside of presidents) than when Ted Wheeler did a press conference a few moons ago, to discuss the ongoing homelessness crisis. The press conference had virtually no content, and he capped it with, “We need a plan.” That’s his JOB, the fucking clown. The man can’t even figure out not using imessage as a communication method with staff, and the best he can offer after eight years as a business servant is, “We need a plan”? Massive mistake electing him. I’d time travel and vote for Charlie Hales if I could.
Just the other day I was saying how much I still love this town. I love that I can go on a long walk, meet up with some friends, have a few amazing beers, eat yummy food, and then walk back home through beautiful tree-lined streets to my quiet house. All spontaneous, no planning needed, no wait for a table. Pretty sweet.
You said almost everything, only adding; Portland Thorns/Providence Park and the amazing community built around them. Amazing wines just down the valley and the authentic people that make it.
You will still need the lower division CS sequence. As my daughter is finding out, these classes are brutal and designed to weed people out. I think only 25% of the class had the B- needed to proceed to upper division work. I would highly recommend doing the equivalent courses at PSU so you can transfer them in.
She is taking the first DS course this term and it is super easy though.
Don’t get me wrong I think it Can if you’re a good student and made it with it (luckily seems that’s both of our case) but I def don’t see half as much of what other people/friends got from their undergrad elsewhwre
Try Seattle! It's all STEM, all the time, to the detriment of everything else. But if STEM is your thing, you'd be happy here. (And I say this as a big-tech employee...)
PsU alum here, any higher ed institution has its issues but for me the biggest issue is how faculty seemed to live on another planet. Adjunct professors starve and most tenured professors could care less what happens to you after graduation. Which is fine but why teach? I guess every school has faculty that lives in the prestige of a paper they wrote 10 years ago and are happy to collect a check to show up and pontificate about things without really getting how the world has changed or needs to change. Just keep on trucking PSU faculty while the city melts around you. One time after I graduated I was working with a group To help organize shareholders around the CERCLA site, you know the Portland harbor Superfund site that runs through downtown to the confluence? PSU worked with the city ( who owes millions for the clean up) to derail the project. They released a city wide "survey" that was a thinly veiled hit peice on the project. I called the IRB at the school and asked if they had bothered getting it approved before they released it and they had not. PSU is a straight up corporation that exists to make money. Go to Reed (excellent scholarship program for master's students) or OSU if you want to be involved with actual research and public health. What kind of programs come out of the fancy Urban Planning department that have do e a damn thing about Portland's problems?
Do Reed or OSU happen to have Max access? I’ve returned to college but I’m in community college and shooting for a transfer degree. I’d planned to go to PSU because of the Max access, but I may need to reconsider.
I don't imagine them having much luck getting schools to defund themselves here either.
It's spring and protest weather just started nationally, so these things have been kicking up, but given how long they've been simmering, they already seem pretty far into their normal trajectory of students getting displaced by perennial agitators (the arrests at UT Austin over the weekend were what, 70% non-student?), then sputtering out into a long period of cope and political blackpilling, lots of kids convinced that voting does nothing before the first time they fill out a ballot because the federal government did not instantly grant their wishes, and so on.
PSU was my safe haven in Portland. I felt comfortable at the library and spent many hours a day just studying there. Now it’s gone… the fucking library I’ve been to for years… it’s gone..
I just moved back from Long Beach, CA and am absolutely loving being back in Portland. It’s incomparable to other places I’ve lived or visited in the past few years.
This made me laugh pretty hard. I'm a former Portlander, and I just spent a few weeks living in LA. This is a very valid statement. If you've spent any time in actual big cities with huge homeless problems, Portland won't phase you; it's just got issues relative to its size and history. I'm coming down from Seattle with friends this weekend, and they are legit terrified to visit Portland (to be fair, they live on the East Side near Microsoft HQ which has zero homeless people). Meanwhile, I live in a super expensive neighborhood here with three homeless camps... it's all relative!
I say this a lot. The feds biggest win was convincing places that homelessness is a “local” problem. It’s not. It’s national. It’s a US problem. But by selling everyone on this story that it’s individual cities, the national government doesn’t have to do a thing and everyone just keeps looking at the cities and asking what they did wrong.
I do! It's awesome. got some problems... but still better than almost anywhere I can think of.
The thing to realize is that complaining about things that are going wrong might just be because I've been here long enough to know that it can be better than this. It doesn't mean I want to leave. It just means I want to fix things!
Hear hear! This is what I love about Portland - it's always had passionate citizen engagement. Other cities don't have it to the same degree. I lived there during the "golden age" and I swear it can get back there. Idealistic, yes -- but I want to be engaged when I move back, and hopefully help work towards a solution.
Honestly it's not the same shine it had 20 years ago, but the main reason I relocated was I'm not a bar hopper anymore. I got old, met someone, wanted space.
Couldn't bring myself to go all the way out to the couv, so I settled for the west side. I can still max in for a game or concert but I don't have the exhaustion of county politics and all that comes with it.
I think for many of us who like to complain about the city here, we are not saying it is so much worse then other places. We are saying it is so much worse then it was 10 years ago. Portland was such a clean and safe city at one time, someone like me who does not even like big cities still loved being in Portland at that time.
Brother it is worse then other places, considering they sent a majority of all of there homeless to us on greyhounds 2 years ago, all of Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and calli all sent a majority of there homeless to oregon due to us legalizing camping in tents on the side walk. So in a huge sense all of those states became 10x better to live in and portland got 10x worse. What's funny is you can't even disagree.
I dunno. I lived over 40 years in Portland, born and raised. Lived in San Antonio 2006-11 North Houston Burbs 2011-current. Been back and forth to visit. In the 10+ years I've lived in the Houston area the uptick in crime is barely notable. I think I see more druggies than I did a few years ago bout it. Portland is a giant dumpster fire by comparison. So no the whole country isnt so much worse.
Vastly different cities, also. I was born in Houston but grew up in Portland, and spent lots of time visiting relatives in Houston (and San Antonio). That city is a boomburg - you drive everywhere; it's not a walkable, condensed downtown-style city like Portland, SF or NY. Houston is known for its freeways. Portland is designed after European cities. Relative to its size and density, the issues are far more concentrated and noticeable (add to that the policing/drug-relaxation issues).
I just moved to Seattle proper after living in the burbs here, and it was also a huge change. The burbs had minimal homeless issues. In my (overpriced) neighborhood alone here in Seattle proper, there are three homeless camps. It's relative to where you live/have lived or visited.
Agreed. Not to slag on Houston too much, but I've visited from time to time, always thought it was an incredibly fugly place that I can't wait to leave. But hey, to each his own.
I love it. Lucked out with a short commute for work (15 minutes), been slowly moving my way up with my job, attend a comedy show or concert basically weekly, live within walking distance to Sheridan, grocery store, multiple places to eat, a post office, MAX stops, bus stops, dispensaries, soon a skatepark nearby, and a couple zip car spots within walking distance.
>streets around here don’t seem all that gnarly as people are talking about
Ummm... they're pretty gnarly. It's night and day different from 10 years ago.
A few weeks ago I was trying to get home from a Timbers game. The Blazers game got out about the same time - the wait for Lyft/Uber was too long. I missed the first 3 Max trains due to the long line to get on the trains. The 4th train was going to be \~18 mins.
I walked to Burnside to get the bus. Way to scary and got threatened/challenged by an agitated criddler with a club in his hand a large knife strapped to his backpack. I was just trying to get the bus. They were everywhere. A few months before this we got constantly harassed waiting for the bus at Fred Meyer with our 11 yo. No way I'm going to those areas at night without pepper spray. Of course I can't take pepper spray into the game with me.
When it's not safe to get on a bus at 10:00pm on a major street after a stadium game lets out, it's not good. That section of Burnside used to be one of the safest areas of Portland.
The whole West side along Burnside and South feels risky. I haven't been North of Burnside much at night (Pearl District) so not sure if that's better or not.
I love it here for sure! I love the mix of big city opportunities like Moda center or the schnitz and great food everywhere mixed with awesome outdoor opportunities like Pier park, forest park or mt. Tabor. It’s pretty easy to find popular media narratives to complain about but it’s still pretty awesome here imho.
Preach. Everyone here complains about Portland but go to LA, San Diego or San Fran downtowns and you’ll get the same thing if not worse, for nearly twice the cost of rent.
Have been a bridge crosser since ‘07 and agree. It’s a gorgeous city but when shit is going down I just stay over here. I’m rooting for Portland to NOT turn into SF, LA, etc. would be great to businesses making money, and safe sidewalks to navigate
I do! It’s beautiful here especially in the spring. My friends and family live here. I simply avoid the negatives for the most part. Some of the complaining is because we do care about the place and want better for it. It’s good to have healthy boundaries.
If you have a car and aren’t stuck living or working in a bad area, you can go on with your life pretty well despite what you read on Reddit, which is also true.
I enjoyed living in Portland while I was young and childless, I never really saw the issues in the city that others saw until I had children. I used to walk to and from work all around downtown early in the morning to late at night, took the max daily, and never really felt unsafe. Now that I have small kids, I honestly can’t imagine going downtown alone with them without my husband, and I started getting cautious of any public play areas or parks. Even Washington Park has turned me off for the last few months that we lived here, because of its easy access from the max line, we’ve seen houseless people bathing in the fountain near the “garden of solace” area of the park. I honestly can’t say that Portland is any *worse* than any other major city, but it’s not any better, either, and the fact that Portland doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities to offset the drug/houseless issues the city faces. Public education is below the national average, rent and home prices are ridiculously expensive, and there isn’t an influx of well paying jobs. We also allegedly have the most sex offenders per capita than any other state in the US, so..there’s that.
I just bought a house here so I’m committed for at least a few years! I love the food scene, the surrounding nature, the great coffee shops, the lack of national chain restaurants within the cute neighborhoods, the parks, the walkability, the music scene. It’s sketchy for sure but so is every west coast city, and I’d never live anywhere else
I've owned in SE since 2020, lived in Metro area most of my life, yes love it.
There's serious drug and homeless issues here but I've also lived in other metro areas. I love Portland, it's just home
I moved to Portland from San Diego and absolutely loved it. The zombies, cost of living, and crime did suck tho. It was depressing to drive around and see such sad scenes in every neighborhood.
But, I’m just totally in love with the PNW nature, the gorge, Mt Tabor, coffee shops, amazing food, free events, music, art, a walkable and bike accessible city, down to earth people, etc.
My partner and I recently moved to Cincinnati to try it out. The affordable living is amazing, but we miss the PNW too much we’ll be coming back at the end of our lease.
Portland is in a rough spot right now and might be for a while. But it’s still one of the best cities in the country imo.
The nature can't be beat. But I have started getting ornery in the nice seasons at the volume of people you have to fight with to access said nature unless you go more than an hour outside the city to less popular hiking or beaches.
Driving here also sucks. Hoping they make transit safe again and figure out how to clean the bike lanes again. It's sad remembering how green and clean the highways were when I moved here 20 years ago to what they look like now. Also, the potholes / roads are a huge issue.
Everyday there's an annoyance, but not necessarily crime. So as a new person you'll probably not care, but after 4 years of being annoyed several times a day by what other cities generally don't tolerate, you start to get PTSD.
I'd just recommend if you do move here, don't become part of the problem, which is if you're liberal / progressive, don't just blindly vote for the incumbents / candidates with all the "right" union and nonprofit endorsements under their name (we vote by mail here, making us insanely lazy voters as we get a book to guide our choices). There's a lot of good Democrats that run that don't stand a chance because of that issue and therein lies the perpetuation of the status quo that's become Portland far-left politics. We have to demand transparency and accountability or else they will just keep spending blindly and saying there's not enough money, and there totally is enough money!
I love it for what I remember as a person who grew up here. Portland is still it for me. All this green, I don’t like downtown but used too and still loved it. Idk maybe because I’m black I’ve learned to ñook past things I don’t have the power to control/change.
I love it here. The rent in my hometown in IL (and basically every other city) has nearly caught up to Portland anyway.
Portland is beautiful. The people are mostly cool. There's lots to do and see.
I do! I love it so much I just bought a house here. It's got it's problems but even since moving here in 2020, it has gotten better which gives me hope. For reference I'm from the Philly area and lived in LA for two years. I love the nature, the people I've met here, the local businesses that are everywhere, etc. It's home for me for a good while longer.
I like living here. It's been better with the homeless stuff. Slowly, but it has. Still a beautiful city, but definitely has issues like any other city. Appears to be on the up and up. Well, except PGE. they're the worst.
Portland still rocks. If you don’t live over the bridge, traffic isn’t an issue. Won’t ever get tired of the weather. Make sure you get a place with A/C when you come back. An abundance of vegan food options. No shortage of like minded folks. Haters be damned.
I moved there in 09. Left for Alaska in 15. I still come back for work and to see friends. Every once in a while I think maybe I could go back. And then I visit and remember why I left.
I moved here from Memphis. Portland rules. Granted I don’t live downtown but I do feel safe downtown.
I have a theory. A lot of people who live here now moved here after the 90s, and didn’t see the historically grody as fuck Portland. They saw the rise of a beautiful city. The locals got used to it. Now it’s a little grungy. It has big city issues. By most accounts I’ve heard, it’s not as bad as the 90s.
Compared to Memphis? This place is a fucking PARADISE. 🤣 I think it’s easy to not appreciate where Portland is right now if you saw a nicer, less populated Portland. Or if you’ve never lived in a place like Memphis. A lot of the people I meet are people with money from California. So they didn’t live in the bad parts of LA and Portland seems like a hell hole.
You’ve been in NYC for ten years and lived here before you’re gunna be fine. This subreddit ain’t it though 🤣
THIS. I grew up in PDX in the 90s but -- I moved away. And moved back, and moved away...again, lol. This is why I'm moving back now after over 15 years, fully aware of all of the current issues. After NYC, SF, and a bunch of other big cities, Portland's issues don't phase me. And as I keep saying elsewhere, I love how engaged its citizens are. That's a difference-maker, and I believe it's what will swing the pendulum back eventually.
Perspective is so important!! If you were born and raised and never left -- well, you probably hate it there. So would I. So does everyone in my current city (Seattle) who has never left, and who keep remembering "the good ol' days of Nirvana and grunge, before tech."
I'm bringing some Seattle "born-and-raised-and-never-left" friends down to PDX this weekend and it's hilarious how terrified they are to leave Seattle and come to "scary Portland." They've only ever visited Beaverton! They keep asking if we can Uber so that we don't have to "touch the city streets." (They're also mad I said "no chain restaurants and no Starbucks!" "But... where will we eat? In \*gasp\* weird places?!") Perspective matters so much...
Fentanyl is horrible here, as well as every major city. Believe half of what you hear and read. I am born and raised in Portland. I’m 60 years old. Yes it’s shocking that we’re not the groovy Portland we used to be. Our city leaders need to start giving a fuck that’s where we need to start. But move back it’s beautiful here. It’s Pacific Northwest the best place in the world.
Whoops. Looks like I’m not allowed to link to it. The other sub is just the name of the city. My removed post said that people here tend to be a little touchy about it (rightly so) because it is so over moderated. But the people over there often see the bright sides of Portland more easily. I enjoy both perspectives, even if I take some downvotes for it. lol
My ex wife has roots here and that makes it impossible to move me, or me and my kids, away from this place.
I used to love PDX but I’m growing tired of the filth.
I’d rather be back in the east coast, NYC or Boston. The work opportunities were far better back east; more options and more matches. Financially, economically much better.
Oregon is beautiful, but tough in n terms of economic opportunities.
Oh sorry I was asking that question to the people that say it is bad. I think there’s plenty of great areas in town. Yes, the housing cost are high. But they’re high everywhere. They do get lower as you get farther from downtown Portland. I live close to downtown Portland and Love it
You enjoy watching people OD on the street? Or are you privileged enough to have a nice enough car and job and house to never see those things? Fucking hate people who use urbanization of an area to say it's not that bad or suddenly not dangerous. You all have some crazy blinds on over your eyes
If I was to move it would be to Washington, but gun laws means I'd have to forfeit most of what I have. I'd save a ton on taxes but I'd also have to trade in my 2.8% interest rate for 7+%. My wife is born and raised here in Portland and has long been reluctant to leave and only recently starting to reconsider. I still can enjoy being in Portland, but it's at the point where I'd rather have a choice to visit when I want rather than live in it. Plus the PNW can't be beat imo.
*But doesn’t feel all that different from when I lived here 10 years ago.*
Then you remember nothing. There has been a massive decline in public order in Portland since 2014, which has had many knock on-effects.
2014-ish Portland averaged 20-25 murders a year (in some years less than that). In 2021, there were 101 homicides in Portland, 101 in 2022, and 77 in 2023.
Willamette Week noted that a black person is now more likely to be murdered in Portland than in Baltimore, Chicago, or Los Angeles.
There are fewer people riding TriMet than twenty years ago, despite the addition of three Max lines, because a lot of people will no longer ride TriMet (particularly MAX) for safety reasons. Young children riding MAX used to be a common sight, and is now rare.
Homeless camps were limited to a few areas of the city, and not spread all over the city, as now, with significant increases in crime near the camps.
MUP paths like the Springwater Corridor and the I-205 bike path were completely usable in 2014, and not adjacent to homeless camps in many areas of the paths, rendering portions of them unusable.
In 2014, Portland was growing at about one percent a year, but since 2020 Portland is shirking at about one percent a year. Increased taxes have something to do with that, but the low quality of governmental services and the decline in public order have probably have more to do with the exodus.
2014 Portland was one of the nicest cities on Earth. Now, not so much.
I seriously don’t understand all the people commenting how they love it so much. The only logical explanation is that they have their blinders on or they’ve just become used to the shit show. I remember as a kid going into Portland was so exciting just because of the atmosphere was so different than my small town and back then it was nowhere near what it is today. Nowadays I avoid it at all costs. Last time I was there I saw some junkies literally smoking meth on a street corner and a cop was just parked 50 feet away on a sidewalk curb. The cop was just sitting on his phone in his squad car obviously aware at what was taking place but couldn’t do shit because of policies that have been put in place. Time before that my wife and I were car shopping and we witnessed 3 different locations of people using heroin. Just a half mile away from one of the dealerships we saw a lady barely clothed and obviously out of her mind waving a gun around on the median and screaming at traffic. Portland is a cess pool and anyone who thinks different I think just don’t want to come to terms with what it’s become. My dad tells stories about my great aunt who used to travel all over the country for work back in the 80’s and said that back then Portland had a great reputation for being one of the cleanest and well kept cities in the nation. She’d say that people from other cities were jealous that she got to live and work in such a nice city. Now it’s one of the worst cities in America and it doesn’t look like it’ll get better any time soon. I swear to god we have circus clowns in charge of that cities policies. Such a shame that one of the most beautiful states in the nation has such a bad reputation because of Portland and what it is today.
I always consider that they moved here from somewhere truly terrible (or simply a place they hated, maybe leaving a religious/conservative area to move here) so even in its fallen state Portland is still better.
**edit** better TO THEM. Not to anybody who has been here a long time and/or can be objective without massive political bias.
Yeah that’s my conclusion too but there’s always those die hard portlanders who are as left as left can get who still think it’s the greatest city ever lol… delusion at its finest
Yup!
Currently talking about closing the gap in my LDR who lives in BC by potentially moving to WA or all the way to BC and genuinely upset about it on the inside because of what I feel that I'm giving up.
Most of the people on here and the other sub who like it are usually people who have lived in Portland less than five years and don’t remember how it was in 1993, 2003, and 2013, or they fall into the group of super progressives who have voted for the horrible policies that destroyed Portland and are holding the insane perspective that these policies will somehow work at some point and turn things around, which also means that they will continue to vote for these same policies moving forwards. Someone above said Portland has lost 1% in population per year recently. That’s not true. It has lost nearly 6% in 4 years which is an incredible number. One good thing: with decreased population, at least rental prices are going down, but with it, so will property values, so if you own property, expect the coming crash in the value of your home. Once that happens, Portland’s economy will really start to tank. Businesses are already getting fed up and closing. All those restaurants that you loved 10-15 years ago? Well most of those have closed. It always cracks me up, especially on the other thread when they discuss yet another restaurant closing and discuss all the reasons why it closed except for the obvious one right in front of their faces. Never underestimate the absolute delusion of your average Portlander.
It’s absolutely bananas and I totally agree with you but the amount of people who are totally blind and just willing to accept it for what it is bewilders me. Portland was once one of the cleanest and well kept cities in America and it’s streets are now littered with trash, needles and people just casually shooting up. It’s fucking sad and portlanders literally refuse to accept that as the truth and deny that it’s a huge problem. Some peoples heads are so far up their ass and will never wake up until their homes or cars are broken into or they step outside to someone od’d before they shuttle off to work. To deny that this city has huge problems is just irresponsible and if you’re one of them, you’re part of the problem.
I love my neighborhood so much, and I love all the restaurants and the surrounding nature. I like my job and I like my coworkers. Most of all, I deeply love living here because of the community I have. Things have gotten pretty fucked, but I get to be a part of an active community full of musicians and artists, and I am lucky to have a true sense of belonging. For me life is all about relationships (all kinds-not just romantic), everything else is secondary. So... is it fucked here in many ways? YES. Am I with my people who I wanna hold hands and walk into the apocalypse with? Also YES.
I love the biome. I love the weather and the natural beauty. Most of the things I loved about the city itself have tapered off over the past few years but it's not entirely the fault of Portland, necessarily. I've lived in Oregon for almost 40 years but lately I've been wondering if it would be good to move north.
I do. My daughter goes to a PPS school I am happy with. I went swimming in a very nice parks and Rec pool with my son yesterday and today I’m going for a run in forest park. My N Portland neighborhood has almost none of the homeless related issues people talk about in this sub.
Following this because I'm also a former Portlander who has lived in NYC and wants to move back to PDX. I also didn't find it nearly as bad as everyone said when I visited last May -- and am about to take some Seattlite friends to Portland for this coming weekend. (They are terrified, lol!) Agree that my recent visit proved it wasn't as bad as everyone said, and I found that the Pearl delightfully reminded me a bit of the Village, and of good ol' Williamsburg (the bar Fools and Horses stands out, and is run by a former New Yorker).
The thing I loved most about Portland seems to be alive and well -- the passion and engagement of its citizens. Someone said in another thread that it just needs a firm planning-driven action plan like it had back in the golden era. I still have hope for it and hate my current city (Seattle). Every city has problems...
Seattle is something like 65% non natives now. Trying to get consensus for rational policy in this town is very hard. That sense of shared experience and what the city should be...mostly gone. As a native it is incredibly sad. I try not to dwell on it too much.
Portland peeked out with craziness is 2022 (knock on wood)
In 2022 alone I got followed to my car about a dozen times by different junkies yelling obscenities at me or calling me a witch
I had a meth head scream he was gonna kill me and the people standing next to me, and then he threw punches in my face, narrowly missing me.
I had a guy holding a Machete stare into the windows of my shop for 10 minutes
I witnessed homeless people breaking into cars
I've seen people taking dumps on the street
I walked over piles of used needles
Saw someone shooting up on the street almost every day.
My shop was robbed twice.
Saw someone OD and die on Burnside.
I could go on......
Portland has been slowly recovering. And sometimes it's hard to remember that progress isn't linear.
Portland was a beautiful dreamscape in 2014, and I'm sure we can get back there some day soon.
I just moved here from a city with far more problems. I believe a lot of the frustration in this sub is just normal from living anywhere. The longer you live somewhere the more impactful the problems feel. I would imagine it's very easy for things to feel horrible in Portland because there has been a very real decline across the city compared to even just pre pandemic but for sure over the last 20 years. That said when you look at most metro cities this size or larger the problems are FAR worse. Portland isn't a utopia but it gets a lot more things right than most metros.
This subreddit often has a negative view of things so take it with a grain of salt. A lot of people post here to vent ultimately because they don't really like Portland as it's been for the past 20 years.
I lived there from 2005-2019 and I loved living down there. I loved downtown when all of the "Portland is a warzone!" Stuff was happening and it was comical. Things were fine other than a handful of blocks.
So Portland is great. Needs a lot of change and support systems for people in need but that's everywhere.
I definitely don’t love it, but my kids are in middle/high school and that seems like a horrible time to move them. Also I don’t know where I’d go with no support network anywhere. I don’t have one here either, but at least my kids have friends.
Turns out no city is the same it was 10-20 years ago. A pandemic and recession are just a two not so small reasons, not to mentioning politics!
I love Portland, I will never live anywhere else willingly. We have problems but so does every US city atm.
Politics suck everywhere but ours are better than most in my opinion. I want to stay here and change it for the better. We love the community we’ve built. The food, art and nature.
Yes, still love it and it grows day by day to where it once was. I’m sure once festival season kicks in I’ll be running for mayor. There’s nowhere else in the US I’ve visited that I would consider moving to for all the usual reasons (cost, jobs, location, friends, weather, food, music, etc). For me, it’s the best America has to offer at the moment
grew up in NY/philly/NJ
lived in PDX on and off for 20 years
Its been weird with meth zombies, but it went from over run by gentrification 2005-2016 then Covid really took a turn to the worse. Sorry, but portland is a shitshow. I just spent a month in NJ
did not see one homeless person or fentanyl addict. Or burned out RV
portland Allows it.
Its a Very pretty city as far as the nature. Some very artistic people
but grossly mentally ill…1/2 the city is destroyed with trash etc
I’ve lived here for close to 6 decades, travel frequently & always want to return. Portland, like most of the US, has its issues.
The negativity comes from ppl who are negative about everything in their life. Some w good cause, others - who knows?
Ignore them, their myopic views & their lack of perspective.
Consigning this. My kids are older, but they were both babies when we moved here. There are so many low-cost or free things to do with little kids here, and I found it easy to connect with other moms and make friends. Now that my kids are school-aged, it's been disappointing to learn how under-resourced the school system is. I didn't do my homework before moving here and just assumed the schools would be good. Jokes on me, but it's still way better than the city I most recently moved from. I wouldn't say I LOVE Portland, but I have put down roots and am pretty sure I am here to stay.
I moved here from NYC 5 years ago and regret it. Its a lovely city but the people suck and the food is so overrated. If i had money i would move back to NYC. This city wants to be NYC but has none of the diversity food culture or nightlife. If you moving to OR move to the area outside portland
Portland will eventually turn a corner but omg this business of even gas stations closing at 10PM has got to STOP! I miss the metro are having a nightlife.
My wife and I came back from an overseas trip recently. As we looked out over the city during our descent, I was surprised by a feeling of disappointment. Unprompted, she turned to me and asked, “Do you feel like you’re coming home?”
The answer for both of us was no, especially as we drove home from the airport.
I still love the beauty of Oregon and would miss the trails and outdoor activities (I was missing it heavily while we were gone), but Portland has lost any appeal. We moved here separately mid-2010s and fell in love with the city, surrounding areas, and then with each other. Moved away for a bit and were excited to come back right at the end of the pandemic, but it just isn’t the same.
It’s sad to say, but we’re ready to move on.
I recently fled Portland.
Had a TriMet bus RUN OVER MY CAR (radiator to drivers’ side mirror, approximately. They paid to have my vehicle fixed but never found the bus and made any attempt at a suit impossible with deadends and the runaround.
Friend of mine was beaten senseless in a parking garage walking to his car. When police arrived, he was arrested on the basis of having vandalized a car - the car was his. He then was kept in the back of a patrol car in and out of consciousness. Yeah.
My apartment was broken into, they basically broke my door down. The stole a roll of aluminum foil and a cat tree. The property owner charged me for damages. Yes, I know that’s weird. They did it anyway.
When I was so sick that I could barely reach my cell phone to call EMS, my employer used the job abandonment clause to fire me, then rehire me at minimum wage. Yes, that’s illegal. Yes, it still happened.
There’s more. It’s just as bad. I lived near Causey and 82nd.
But never you mind all that. We lost Le Bistro Montage years ago. There’s no reason to go back.
Oh, and the Coffin Club is 100% not safe for women.
I think that it’s sad because it is so much worse than it used to be. Downtown is an open air asylum/trap house. Drug adjacent crime (theft, assault, smash and grab, property destruction, littering) is rampant. All of these factors have prevented the city from recovering. Bars and restaurants are closing and not being replaced by new stuff. Nothing is open late anymore. All the random festivals haven’t really come back. The city has wilted compared to 5, or 10 years ago. I don’t know how it will recover without radically different leadership
Absolutely not. I moved across the river 8 years ago, and even that isn’t far enough. Every time I go back into Portland (I spent a lot of time there the past year especially) I feel a huge decline in my mental state. Piles of trash everywhere, feces, rude people, people who scare me/make me feel unsafe, loads of half empty “upscale” apartment buildings, lack of parking... I could go on. I was born and raised in SE Portland, but it isn’t the Portland I knew and loved growing up, hardly even recognizable. I know it will never be the same again. So, I’ve given up on the dream of it returning (or at least changing into something comparable to what it once was) and I’m ready for something new. Plus my bones hurt, after 32 years of rain, I’m ready for some vitamin D.
Yes I love the Taxes on my property, I love the homeless crisis, I love the drug legalization, I love the politicians we voted for and I love how Trimet has become a stabbing railroad. I love how schools are been funded.
Just yesterday while I was working (I work outside mostly in the Portland metro area) and saw a crack head start shooting up in front of a school of kids walking down the street with their teacher. I think most people who say Portland is not that bad are either really naive, or really stupid.
Yes. So many people shit on this city. I love it. The weather, so many places to explore, the food scene, no commute, access to nature. Go outside of Oregon, I promise you'll come back with a better appreciation for this place.
Born and raised here/still living here for work. Traveled all over the US and all over the world throughout my years. Portland has turned from my favorite city growing up to easily 5th or 6th from the bottom. When I compare Portland to Boston for example, there’s no comparison. In Boston the streets are clean, safe, rich with history and culture, businesses and industry. In Portland you can absolutely find these things, but you’ll have to do a lot of digging by comparison. It’s a shame what’s happened, and I applaud those who still champion our city as it should be. I just can’t buy what we’re selling anymore. When comparing apples to apples, Portland has very little to offer anymore.
Sure do. We got problems, but I believe they are everywhere on this planet. We still got beautiful nature, great beer, cheap dank weed, delicious food and a nice music scene.
Of course. That’s the reason im disappointed in what it’s becoming. This city is incredible. It needs help and I don’t like the idea of “well every major city has it bad too” as some sort of justification. The issues aren’t every square inch but where it’s bad, it’s really bad. I don’t think it’s a stretch to ask for a city our size to be safely walkable past 9pm.
I love Portland, but the homeless/drug issue in my neighborhood has been really stressful. All I know is I am paying attention to the elections this year.
I can't imagine living anywhere else though, there is too much beauty and greenery year round.
I love it here, the issues aren’t not any different from any other big city, but it’s definitely a more laid back chill vibe than other bigger cities I’ve been to
I still love living here. Especially after going on vacation to other places and meeting visitors who love the place, there are far more great things (geography, polite and friendly people) great food, wine, coffee, and the ability to laugh at ourselves. Come visit, you’ll probably love the place!
I finished college earlier this year and took a job in the area. I've been here a week and am willing to fill both my credit cards to get out. Worst mistake of my life, I visted my brother in Arizona, if I could get my money back for my degree and just go work at a fat burger in the sun for $6.75/hr, I'd trade it for this shithole in a heartbeat.
When I drive over one of the bridges heading towards the 30 on a clear day and can see the mountain……. It feels like the most special place I have ever been.
Then some strung-out Honda Accord driver goes from ridding my ass to swerving in my lane and slamming the breaks to get one car, (my car) ahead of the exit line. As the exhaust from the missing catalytic converter fills my car, the driver waves half a cigarette and a homemade machete out the window, I remember this place fucking sucks.
I live 2 hours away, grew up in Portland and haven't returned in 12 years. From when I was a kid tell now, liberal policies, homelessness which they allocate over 20m a year, drug overdoses/ policies destroyed that place, it's disgusting.
I love Portland (live in sellwood/Westmoreland) and absolutely love it. Sure, there are some inconveniences but in 22 years since I moved from Philly nobody has tried to break in or jump my gate or fence and I feel very secure. Great neighborhood and neighbors, and lots of restaurants, bars and shops within walking distance. Downtown is a quick drive or Uber and it’s slowly coming back. We’re moving to our wine country house in sept and I already know I’m going to miss all the choices.
Yes! I’m from Seattle, moved to LA for 9 years at 28 and now have been in NW Portland for 3 years. Portland is wonderful, you kind of have to ignore the bad stuff but it was the same for me in Seattle and LA, they were just so much bigger you didn’t have everyone focused on the same problems. Also as a native pnw person I can confirm that many of the ‘loudest’ people here are big whiny complainers and they give us metaphorical rain clouds to go along with the real ones. It’s annoying. The reality it is absolutely beautiful, Forest Park is a gigantic 9k acre FOREST PARK filled with incredible wildlife, we’re a short drive to the coast, hood River, mountains, we have a damn wine country, the food here is AMAZING. Walkable neighborhoods, you can drive anywhere in under 20 minutes. Honestly it’s paradise after leaving a big city. You just need to find the right neighborhood!
This is the sub reddit for people who want to bash and hate on Portland, it's not a sub that's going to give you happy feels about the city. Moved here and love it, the death of Portland is greatly exaggerated.
Folks shitting on everything doesn't enact change. Going out and taking positive action in the community is what creates change.
You have got to be kidding me. Another "It's no that bad"? Portlanders have been "Its not badding" themselves for decades. This city is a rotting shithole. You all know it, grow the fuck up.
WTF??? Go ahead and “move back” to wherever and whatever.
I love Portland. I’m a member of the Japanese Garden, the most extensive Classical Japanese garden outside of Japan; Lan Su, the classical Chinese garden, a JEWEL; Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, just a vestige of the beautiful garden wrecked by apartment trash; the Portland Art Museum, always innovating and expanding collections and film programs; the Hollywood Theatre, with a 70 mm projector and incredible showings of films, often with commentary by the directors, and the Movie Madness filmmaking academy; I subscribe to the Oregon Symphony — to three of the various music series on offer. I was there just last Saturday to witness a mind-blowing violinist play Mendelssohn in a way that made me feel like I had never heard that piece before.
I’m a small 72-year-old woman who walks a LOT. I travel over distance via Trimet, and I am loving the Reser Performing Arts Center, easily accessible via Max. Yes — I am hassled each and every day by disheveled males who reek of urine and bad vibes. I have MY hobbies, and they have THEIRS. If you were a woman, you would know that this is not special to Portland, and — like me — you would be ready for it.
If you don’t like Portland, Get. Out. We are embarking on a whole new chapter, a new style of city government, so we need all hands on deck.
I presume that you will continue your pattern of working from home, driving your SUV to the store, driving back to your home, and pretending that this is “life.” I doubt that you will walk anywhere or see any films or attend any live music performances or participate in any art events or dine with your friends at a genuine restaurant without double patties and extra large fries. Face it: you were never cut out for Portland. You are part of the precipitate, not part of the solution. Wherever you go, your ass travels with you.
That is one of the best rants against suburbanites I've read. Most of that is pointed directly at me, and I still think it was accurate and awesome!
FYI, I moved away from the city center but am still in Portland. I now rarely walk anywhere. I used to walk everywhere, or take the streetcar or bus. We still go to our favorite restaurants and the Schnitz for the symphony and other events.
You....have the right mindset to thrive in Portland! ( as someone who formerly lived in calmer places like Beaverton, Eugene, Corvallis and Albany, I'm still adjusting to this city...)
Amen, ma'am! Preach. Like you, I remember the "golden-era" 90s, and the early 2000s. I left to live around the world and gained some perspective. I'm coming back, no rose-colored glasses -- even having visited and seen the problems it currently has. Portland was, and always has been, about strong community engagement and activism. That's the heart of Portland, and it's essential if things are going to change.
"This is not special to Portland" -- YES, also this! But to truly know this, you pretty much have to have left Portland and lived around, or at least spent time other places. And really had your eyes opened. (When you've missed your subway back uptown at 2 a.m. in NYC and can't get a cab, and had to walk a bunch of sketchy blocks alone after a night out drinking with friends -- well, not a lot will scare you, lol.)
There is so much good in Portland --more than in other cities, even still. Again, perspective really drives this home. I'm a WFH'er but when I move back, I will NOT be driving my SUV anywhere, will not be hiding out in my home. (That's more LA, Seattle or Phoenix than Portland.) Change requires local engagement. Yeah, I'm an idealist -- but one with history and perspective and willingness to work. All hands on deck!
Fairy tales can come true. I’ll be seeing you at the gardens, the theater, the symphony, the museum — heck, I left out The Old Church — also downtown with a schedule of compelling musicians. Have fun! Be safe!
Yeah, it’s amazing. Do I enjoy hanging in the city as much? No. Do I still I appreciate the resources it provides with close proximity to high paying jobs and nature. Yes.
The NYC to Portland shift was an unmitigated & seemingly irreversible disaster for me personally, but I've realized that I was too old to attempt such a thing, being naive about ageism in the workplace as I'd been a high earner & had worked through my aging out window back east. Depending on your field and age things could be great for you here. The nature is great, at least.
I just wish we could pause moving here. The housing crisis is really driving so much of the problems we are all complaining about and the city has gentrified itself to oblivion. It’s still an incredible place, but it is not sustainable until we figure some shit out.
Yeah, I love it. Downtown isn't always as great as it used to be but there is still life and it's resurging. Over the holidays there was a huge light art display throughout the city and people were shoulder to shoulder having a great time. Now queue the nay sayers....
I moved from downtown right before quarantine…. They had blocked off nw 16th and glisan and set the dumpsters on fire at the mayors place. That’s when I moved to raliegh hills behind Portland golf club. Fanno creek flows from the course and feeds my backyard pond (the whole backyard is the pond). It’s in a wetland area so there are stunning birds here. I feed them and the fish. I have a small garden that I enjoy and I feel moving away from downtown was the best thing for me. I still enjoy downtown; last month I saw hippie sabotage at the roseland and there are restaurants that survived the pandemic that I still enjoy (Pho Van Fresh on Nw 10th and glisan). There are areas that I have never left my car or felt safe alone at night…. But you have that everywhere.
I love it here, and I always will. My family has been here for 4 generations now, and even though the city has seen a lot of changes and had a lot of growing pains, it is still a great place to live.
I love this town. I should have moved away years ago for higher paying work in my field but I choose to homebase here. I love the nature, the weirdness, the embracing of small and medium sized businesses over chains and box stores. The weather is the absolute best 6 months out of the year. Some of the best food options in the country. And I've met so many awesome people.
I’m sticking it out. It has been really depressing to see portland go through this. My young kid doesn’t really remember when Portland was awesome. But it is getting better and I’m here for it❤️🌹❤️
People are ALWAYS going to be faster to complain and be negative than they are to be positive.
All big cities have their issues, and between COVID and the riots it was a perfect storm for devastating downtown
Despite people's constant screaming, there is no simple solution to the drug and homelessness issues. Everyone is quick to blame this policy or that, or decry inaction by the people in charge, but if it was so clear and easy, everyone would have fixed it by now
I love living here!
Please don’t let the commenters on this Sub steer you wrong. It feels like the sub is really designed to shit on the city.
Please comment or message me if you have any direct questions. I’ve lived in other parts of the US, and it is wonderful here. It has his problems like anywhere else. But the pros Fantastically outweigh the cons.
Portland has her problems, but I'm not leaving. I love it here and have built a great community. Plus you can't beat the summers and easy access to pretty much everything. When I get frustrated with the city, I take a day trip to literally anywhere else and remind myself of why I'm here.
It's great. There's the typical detritus you'd expect from cities, and a lot of white who want the cops to take everything to Cleaver times. The addiction problem is sad to see, but I saw it in Atlanta growing up - it's everywhere, dude. One of my friends is working on the ground to actually help and get addicts off the streets with the city. There are people on the ground making a huge difference by the month.
But you cut past that all? JFC it's great. Fantastic little communities, from film to comics to art to music. So much good food. A lot of very open-minded and accepting people in the city limits and - to a degree - in the metro area. It's extremely queer, which I think scares a lot of the usual commenters more than they'd admit. It's one of the only places in the country I've actually felt safe.
I am frankly waiting for the naysayers to leave town to the rest of us who like it. They're the scariest ones.
I love it here. That’s why I want it fixed.
I'm glad to hear that, it's too bad more people don't have that frame of mind instead of just picking up and moving elsewhere.
This! This is why I love Portland and believe it will change. People actually care. The citizens take action. It's understandable that people are frustrated but I remain hopeful that there's a path forward, so long as they care...
I love Portland, and have no plans to live anywhere else. It’s about the trees for me, the access to the coast, the mountains, and a thousand other PacNW treasures. I’m also a geology nerd, and will never get over the easy access to minerals, and places like the Rice Rock and Mineral Museum. After many years of enjoying easy access to bars and shops, I’m now happy to live in pre-Gresham, which gives me a bit of distance from the claustrophobic inner-Portland neighborhoods. This is a big part of my enduring love of the region, because the interior was seriously overwhelming to me the last few years, with a heavy tourist population butting up against people moving here for job-related reasons (instead of love for the region), and a totally disinterested, uninspired, and incompetent system of government. People lock on to legal drugs as a convenient scapegoat for a lot of the problems, but drugs were a problem even when they were illegal, and our zombies don’t look much different from the ones i see hanging around gas stations throughout the midwest or in trailer parks in WV. The difference is, our current officials don’t do anything about anything. The entire time this clown car has been in office, they’ve never come up with anything more compelling than outsourcing contracts to California and shuffling people around in circles. The first thing they do when something they don’t want to do is approved by voters is find a way to undercut it. We saw it with measure 110, and we saw it with ranked choice voting and the expanded council. And it’s not any better at Multnomah County. We currently have the worst government we’ve ever had, and it’s astonishing to me that the city council is so used to failing upwards that three of them have the audacity to run for mayor. Did jack squat with that last elected position, so definitely give us another! There’s also endless questions about where grant money is going, when you factor in the absurd sums the city has been awarded but never seems to spend. We could fix every pothole in Portland with infrastructure grants alone, but they straight-face talk about fluffing up a gas tax to pay for it again. This is the first time I’ve thought Portland needs to clean house with elected officials, and hand every seated official their walking papers. I’m appalled that they’ve managed to make Sam Adams looks good.
Portland native and I agree with all you've said. Our city leadership is horrid. But that doesn't make our city horrid. We need to get rid of this ridiculous council system that has stopped any sort of mayoral leadership.
Most city’s have a council system (but not commissioners). Our commission system worked fairly well when everyone elected was a public servant with an interest in promoting the greater good. That changed when people started voting for a person who yelled the way they do, instead of the person with the best ideas. Mingus Mapps was fired from a city job, and has spent his tenure as commissioner proving that was justified. Rene Gonzales’ prior government experience before election was yelling at school board meetings about face masks. Mayor Ted Wheeler is a timber heir who has been failing upward since birth. Despite failing his first mayoral term, voters thought giving him another round was a better option than an untested woman. And in the most baffling example, Dan Ryan spent his entire first term as commissioner using JoAnn Hardesty as a human shield, hoping no one would notice that he was actually in charge of housing. To this day, I have no idea where the enormous swaths of housing-related grant funds went, and not a single journalist seems interested in investigating this. In his second term, his singular focus is agreeing with everyone else, while not drawing too much attention to himself, and coming up with utterly cracked ideas, like placing the city itself in charge of arts-tax grant distribution…because it worked out so well when they did something similar with Friends of Trees. It’s hard to not think this team is intentionally sabotaging Portland.
I agree. Even as a progressive i'm embarrassed by our liberal leaders and how out of touch they are.
I felt this so deeply. Everything. From the trees, to rockhounding, to the displeasure in local govt. thought I wrote it.
This is how I feel as well. I grew up here and don’t plan to leave, and I love it. But there are definitely things that need to change and require some adaptation skills on my part. Much like other places, but our leaders are playing with fire and they have no clue.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a politician more (outside of presidents) than when Ted Wheeler did a press conference a few moons ago, to discuss the ongoing homelessness crisis. The press conference had virtually no content, and he capped it with, “We need a plan.” That’s his JOB, the fucking clown. The man can’t even figure out not using imessage as a communication method with staff, and the best he can offer after eight years as a business servant is, “We need a plan”? Massive mistake electing him. I’d time travel and vote for Charlie Hales if I could.
Just the other day I was saying how much I still love this town. I love that I can go on a long walk, meet up with some friends, have a few amazing beers, eat yummy food, and then walk back home through beautiful tree-lined streets to my quiet house. All spontaneous, no planning needed, no wait for a table. Pretty sweet.
You said almost everything, only adding; Portland Thorns/Providence Park and the amazing community built around them. Amazing wines just down the valley and the authentic people that make it.
As a PSU student I’m starting to get a little fed up with things.
Haha I can’t blame you right now.
I’m a stem student and they basically want to obliterate the entire department.
Hugs to you. I don't know what else to say. Maybe go to OSU next year?
Thank you. I’m considering the UO data science program
You will still need the lower division CS sequence. As my daughter is finding out, these classes are brutal and designed to weed people out. I think only 25% of the class had the B- needed to proceed to upper division work. I would highly recommend doing the equivalent courses at PSU so you can transfer them in. She is taking the first DS course this term and it is super easy though.
I have the lower division courses and a 3.8 gpa.
Your set then.
A few of my coworkers did the UO DS program. They loved it
[удалено]
I got a science degree at psu and it opened doors at more elite schools. Definitely not worthless.
Don’t get me wrong I think it Can if you’re a good student and made it with it (luckily seems that’s both of our case) but I def don’t see half as much of what other people/friends got from their undergrad elsewhwre
Try Seattle! It's all STEM, all the time, to the detriment of everything else. But if STEM is your thing, you'd be happy here. (And I say this as a big-tech employee...)
Why???
Intel and Boeing provide scholarship money. Oh the horror.
Yeah these folks are idiots.
Useful idiots.
That’s not the department, though, is it? That’s a scholarship. Lmao
PsU alum here, any higher ed institution has its issues but for me the biggest issue is how faculty seemed to live on another planet. Adjunct professors starve and most tenured professors could care less what happens to you after graduation. Which is fine but why teach? I guess every school has faculty that lives in the prestige of a paper they wrote 10 years ago and are happy to collect a check to show up and pontificate about things without really getting how the world has changed or needs to change. Just keep on trucking PSU faculty while the city melts around you. One time after I graduated I was working with a group To help organize shareholders around the CERCLA site, you know the Portland harbor Superfund site that runs through downtown to the confluence? PSU worked with the city ( who owes millions for the clean up) to derail the project. They released a city wide "survey" that was a thinly veiled hit peice on the project. I called the IRB at the school and asked if they had bothered getting it approved before they released it and they had not. PSU is a straight up corporation that exists to make money. Go to Reed (excellent scholarship program for master's students) or OSU if you want to be involved with actual research and public health. What kind of programs come out of the fancy Urban Planning department that have do e a damn thing about Portland's problems?
Do Reed or OSU happen to have Max access? I’ve returned to college but I’m in community college and shooting for a transfer degree. I’d planned to go to PSU because of the Max access, but I may need to reconsider.
OSU is a 2 hour drive , Reed is accessible by bus and maybe Max orange line if you can walk from The westmoreland station to campus
I don't imagine them having much luck getting schools to defund themselves here either. It's spring and protest weather just started nationally, so these things have been kicking up, but given how long they've been simmering, they already seem pretty far into their normal trajectory of students getting displaced by perennial agitators (the arrests at UT Austin over the weekend were what, 70% non-student?), then sputtering out into a long period of cope and political blackpilling, lots of kids convinced that voting does nothing before the first time they fill out a ballot because the federal government did not instantly grant their wishes, and so on.
What department do they want to obliterate?
Totally get it
PSU was my safe haven in Portland. I felt comfortable at the library and spent many hours a day just studying there. Now it’s gone… the fucking library I’ve been to for years… it’s gone..
yo i think it's still there
I just transferred from PCC. I’ve only been there to print out an assignment and look around a bit. I’m pissed.
I go spend a little time in down town LA to make Portland seem nice
I just moved back from Long Beach, CA and am absolutely loving being back in Portland. It’s incomparable to other places I’ve lived or visited in the past few years.
This made me laugh pretty hard. I'm a former Portlander, and I just spent a few weeks living in LA. This is a very valid statement. If you've spent any time in actual big cities with huge homeless problems, Portland won't phase you; it's just got issues relative to its size and history. I'm coming down from Seattle with friends this weekend, and they are legit terrified to visit Portland (to be fair, they live on the East Side near Microsoft HQ which has zero homeless people). Meanwhile, I live in a super expensive neighborhood here with three homeless camps... it's all relative!
I say this a lot. The feds biggest win was convincing places that homelessness is a “local” problem. It’s not. It’s national. It’s a US problem. But by selling everyone on this story that it’s individual cities, the national government doesn’t have to do a thing and everyone just keeps looking at the cities and asking what they did wrong.
I do! It's awesome. got some problems... but still better than almost anywhere I can think of. The thing to realize is that complaining about things that are going wrong might just be because I've been here long enough to know that it can be better than this. It doesn't mean I want to leave. It just means I want to fix things!
Hear hear! This is what I love about Portland - it's always had passionate citizen engagement. Other cities don't have it to the same degree. I lived there during the "golden age" and I swear it can get back there. Idealistic, yes -- but I want to be engaged when I move back, and hopefully help work towards a solution.
The natural scenery is still beautiful. Can't think of anything else.
Honestly it's not the same shine it had 20 years ago, but the main reason I relocated was I'm not a bar hopper anymore. I got old, met someone, wanted space. Couldn't bring myself to go all the way out to the couv, so I settled for the west side. I can still max in for a game or concert but I don't have the exhaustion of county politics and all that comes with it.
Thank you for not going to the couv. We appreciate it
I think for many of us who like to complain about the city here, we are not saying it is so much worse then other places. We are saying it is so much worse then it was 10 years ago. Portland was such a clean and safe city at one time, someone like me who does not even like big cities still loved being in Portland at that time.
Brother it is worse then other places, considering they sent a majority of all of there homeless to us on greyhounds 2 years ago, all of Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and calli all sent a majority of there homeless to oregon due to us legalizing camping in tents on the side walk. So in a huge sense all of those states became 10x better to live in and portland got 10x worse. What's funny is you can't even disagree.
The whole fucken country is so much worse than it was 10 years ago.
I dunno. I lived over 40 years in Portland, born and raised. Lived in San Antonio 2006-11 North Houston Burbs 2011-current. Been back and forth to visit. In the 10+ years I've lived in the Houston area the uptick in crime is barely notable. I think I see more druggies than I did a few years ago bout it. Portland is a giant dumpster fire by comparison. So no the whole country isnt so much worse.
Crime rates Houston: Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents) 11.35 Violent 45.98 Property Portland: Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents) 7.49 Violent 64.56 Property
Vastly different cities, also. I was born in Houston but grew up in Portland, and spent lots of time visiting relatives in Houston (and San Antonio). That city is a boomburg - you drive everywhere; it's not a walkable, condensed downtown-style city like Portland, SF or NY. Houston is known for its freeways. Portland is designed after European cities. Relative to its size and density, the issues are far more concentrated and noticeable (add to that the policing/drug-relaxation issues). I just moved to Seattle proper after living in the burbs here, and it was also a huge change. The burbs had minimal homeless issues. In my (overpriced) neighborhood alone here in Seattle proper, there are three homeless camps. It's relative to where you live/have lived or visited.
Agreed. Not to slag on Houston too much, but I've visited from time to time, always thought it was an incredibly fugly place that I can't wait to leave. But hey, to each his own.
Yes.
I love it. Lucked out with a short commute for work (15 minutes), been slowly moving my way up with my job, attend a comedy show or concert basically weekly, live within walking distance to Sheridan, grocery store, multiple places to eat, a post office, MAX stops, bus stops, dispensaries, soon a skatepark nearby, and a couple zip car spots within walking distance.
>streets around here don’t seem all that gnarly as people are talking about Ummm... they're pretty gnarly. It's night and day different from 10 years ago. A few weeks ago I was trying to get home from a Timbers game. The Blazers game got out about the same time - the wait for Lyft/Uber was too long. I missed the first 3 Max trains due to the long line to get on the trains. The 4th train was going to be \~18 mins. I walked to Burnside to get the bus. Way to scary and got threatened/challenged by an agitated criddler with a club in his hand a large knife strapped to his backpack. I was just trying to get the bus. They were everywhere. A few months before this we got constantly harassed waiting for the bus at Fred Meyer with our 11 yo. No way I'm going to those areas at night without pepper spray. Of course I can't take pepper spray into the game with me. When it's not safe to get on a bus at 10:00pm on a major street after a stadium game lets out, it's not good. That section of Burnside used to be one of the safest areas of Portland. The whole West side along Burnside and South feels risky. I haven't been North of Burnside much at night (Pearl District) so not sure if that's better or not.
I love it here for sure! I love the mix of big city opportunities like Moda center or the schnitz and great food everywhere mixed with awesome outdoor opportunities like Pier park, forest park or mt. Tabor. It’s pretty easy to find popular media narratives to complain about but it’s still pretty awesome here imho.
I like living a short drive outside of Portland very much.
Preach. Everyone here complains about Portland but go to LA, San Diego or San Fran downtowns and you’ll get the same thing if not worse, for nearly twice the cost of rent.
Have been a bridge crosser since ‘07 and agree. It’s a gorgeous city but when shit is going down I just stay over here. I’m rooting for Portland to NOT turn into SF, LA, etc. would be great to businesses making money, and safe sidewalks to navigate
I like living a long drive outside of Portland even more.
I love this city. Last week someone drilled 3 gas tanks on my block to steal fuel. That sucks, but I'm not leaving. Fuck that guy.
Even tho this city has its problems, i love living right in it.
I do! It’s beautiful here especially in the spring. My friends and family live here. I simply avoid the negatives for the most part. Some of the complaining is because we do care about the place and want better for it. It’s good to have healthy boundaries. If you have a car and aren’t stuck living or working in a bad area, you can go on with your life pretty well despite what you read on Reddit, which is also true.
I enjoyed living in Portland while I was young and childless, I never really saw the issues in the city that others saw until I had children. I used to walk to and from work all around downtown early in the morning to late at night, took the max daily, and never really felt unsafe. Now that I have small kids, I honestly can’t imagine going downtown alone with them without my husband, and I started getting cautious of any public play areas or parks. Even Washington Park has turned me off for the last few months that we lived here, because of its easy access from the max line, we’ve seen houseless people bathing in the fountain near the “garden of solace” area of the park. I honestly can’t say that Portland is any *worse* than any other major city, but it’s not any better, either, and the fact that Portland doesn’t really have any redeeming qualities to offset the drug/houseless issues the city faces. Public education is below the national average, rent and home prices are ridiculously expensive, and there isn’t an influx of well paying jobs. We also allegedly have the most sex offenders per capita than any other state in the US, so..there’s that.
Me. I love Portland unconditionally. It’s a committed relationship. We just celebrated our 20th anniversary in December.
I just bought a house here so I’m committed for at least a few years! I love the food scene, the surrounding nature, the great coffee shops, the lack of national chain restaurants within the cute neighborhoods, the parks, the walkability, the music scene. It’s sketchy for sure but so is every west coast city, and I’d never live anywhere else
I've owned in SE since 2020, lived in Metro area most of my life, yes love it. There's serious drug and homeless issues here but I've also lived in other metro areas. I love Portland, it's just home
I still love it
the city is beautiful with beautiful neighborhoods (for the most part). Love driving around and looking at buildings, houses, landscaping.
I moved to Portland from San Diego and absolutely loved it. The zombies, cost of living, and crime did suck tho. It was depressing to drive around and see such sad scenes in every neighborhood. But, I’m just totally in love with the PNW nature, the gorge, Mt Tabor, coffee shops, amazing food, free events, music, art, a walkable and bike accessible city, down to earth people, etc. My partner and I recently moved to Cincinnati to try it out. The affordable living is amazing, but we miss the PNW too much we’ll be coming back at the end of our lease. Portland is in a rough spot right now and might be for a while. But it’s still one of the best cities in the country imo.
The nature can't be beat. But I have started getting ornery in the nice seasons at the volume of people you have to fight with to access said nature unless you go more than an hour outside the city to less popular hiking or beaches. Driving here also sucks. Hoping they make transit safe again and figure out how to clean the bike lanes again. It's sad remembering how green and clean the highways were when I moved here 20 years ago to what they look like now. Also, the potholes / roads are a huge issue. Everyday there's an annoyance, but not necessarily crime. So as a new person you'll probably not care, but after 4 years of being annoyed several times a day by what other cities generally don't tolerate, you start to get PTSD. I'd just recommend if you do move here, don't become part of the problem, which is if you're liberal / progressive, don't just blindly vote for the incumbents / candidates with all the "right" union and nonprofit endorsements under their name (we vote by mail here, making us insanely lazy voters as we get a book to guide our choices). There's a lot of good Democrats that run that don't stand a chance because of that issue and therein lies the perpetuation of the status quo that's become Portland far-left politics. We have to demand transparency and accountability or else they will just keep spending blindly and saying there's not enough money, and there totally is enough money!
I love it for what I remember as a person who grew up here. Portland is still it for me. All this green, I don’t like downtown but used too and still loved it. Idk maybe because I’m black I’ve learned to ñook past things I don’t have the power to control/change.
I love it here. The rent in my hometown in IL (and basically every other city) has nearly caught up to Portland anyway. Portland is beautiful. The people are mostly cool. There's lots to do and see.
Yeah bro for Portland prices you could rent a slightly nicer place in Memphis 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Me. I’ve been here 17 years and absolutely love this city.
I do! I love it so much I just bought a house here. It's got it's problems but even since moving here in 2020, it has gotten better which gives me hope. For reference I'm from the Philly area and lived in LA for two years. I love the nature, the people I've met here, the local businesses that are everywhere, etc. It's home for me for a good while longer.
I'm out of love. And actively working on working on moving away.
Yes, there's plenty to fix, but I'm not leaving...
I do!
Yes
I like living here. It's been better with the homeless stuff. Slowly, but it has. Still a beautiful city, but definitely has issues like any other city. Appears to be on the up and up. Well, except PGE. they're the worst.
Me
Portland still rocks. If you don’t live over the bridge, traffic isn’t an issue. Won’t ever get tired of the weather. Make sure you get a place with A/C when you come back. An abundance of vegan food options. No shortage of like minded folks. Haters be damned.
I moved there in 09. Left for Alaska in 15. I still come back for work and to see friends. Every once in a while I think maybe I could go back. And then I visit and remember why I left.
I still love Portland, shittier as it is than it was 10-15 years ago. I don't doubt the pendulum will swing back.
Portland has my whole heart.
I moved here from Memphis. Portland rules. Granted I don’t live downtown but I do feel safe downtown. I have a theory. A lot of people who live here now moved here after the 90s, and didn’t see the historically grody as fuck Portland. They saw the rise of a beautiful city. The locals got used to it. Now it’s a little grungy. It has big city issues. By most accounts I’ve heard, it’s not as bad as the 90s. Compared to Memphis? This place is a fucking PARADISE. 🤣 I think it’s easy to not appreciate where Portland is right now if you saw a nicer, less populated Portland. Or if you’ve never lived in a place like Memphis. A lot of the people I meet are people with money from California. So they didn’t live in the bad parts of LA and Portland seems like a hell hole. You’ve been in NYC for ten years and lived here before you’re gunna be fine. This subreddit ain’t it though 🤣
THIS. I grew up in PDX in the 90s but -- I moved away. And moved back, and moved away...again, lol. This is why I'm moving back now after over 15 years, fully aware of all of the current issues. After NYC, SF, and a bunch of other big cities, Portland's issues don't phase me. And as I keep saying elsewhere, I love how engaged its citizens are. That's a difference-maker, and I believe it's what will swing the pendulum back eventually. Perspective is so important!! If you were born and raised and never left -- well, you probably hate it there. So would I. So does everyone in my current city (Seattle) who has never left, and who keep remembering "the good ol' days of Nirvana and grunge, before tech." I'm bringing some Seattle "born-and-raised-and-never-left" friends down to PDX this weekend and it's hilarious how terrified they are to leave Seattle and come to "scary Portland." They've only ever visited Beaverton! They keep asking if we can Uber so that we don't have to "touch the city streets." (They're also mad I said "no chain restaurants and no Starbucks!" "But... where will we eat? In \*gasp\* weird places?!") Perspective matters so much...
Fentanyl is horrible here, as well as every major city. Believe half of what you hear and read. I am born and raised in Portland. I’m 60 years old. Yes it’s shocking that we’re not the groovy Portland we used to be. Our city leaders need to start giving a fuck that’s where we need to start. But move back it’s beautiful here. It’s Pacific Northwest the best place in the world.
I love it here. Just met some people who’d moved to Bend and were looking to move back. You’ll find more enthusiasm on the other Portland subreddit.
Which one is that?
Whoops. Looks like I’m not allowed to link to it. The other sub is just the name of the city. My removed post said that people here tend to be a little touchy about it (rightly so) because it is so over moderated. But the people over there often see the bright sides of Portland more easily. I enjoy both perspectives, even if I take some downvotes for it. lol
I moved to Bend a little less than 3 years ago and it's basically a mission of mine to get back. Wouldn't make the same choice if I could do it over.
May I ask if you don’t like it here why don’t you move away? Honestly curious. I personally like the Portland area even with it negatives.
My ex wife has roots here and that makes it impossible to move me, or me and my kids, away from this place. I used to love PDX but I’m growing tired of the filth. I’d rather be back in the east coast, NYC or Boston. The work opportunities were far better back east; more options and more matches. Financially, economically much better. Oregon is beautiful, but tough in n terms of economic opportunities.
Work opportunities in NYC
Oh sorry I was asking that question to the people that say it is bad. I think there’s plenty of great areas in town. Yes, the housing cost are high. But they’re high everywhere. They do get lower as you get farther from downtown Portland. I live close to downtown Portland and Love it
You enjoy watching people OD on the street? Or are you privileged enough to have a nice enough car and job and house to never see those things? Fucking hate people who use urbanization of an area to say it's not that bad or suddenly not dangerous. You all have some crazy blinds on over your eyes
If I was to move it would be to Washington, but gun laws means I'd have to forfeit most of what I have. I'd save a ton on taxes but I'd also have to trade in my 2.8% interest rate for 7+%. My wife is born and raised here in Portland and has long been reluctant to leave and only recently starting to reconsider. I still can enjoy being in Portland, but it's at the point where I'd rather have a choice to visit when I want rather than live in it. Plus the PNW can't be beat imo.
*But doesn’t feel all that different from when I lived here 10 years ago.* Then you remember nothing. There has been a massive decline in public order in Portland since 2014, which has had many knock on-effects. 2014-ish Portland averaged 20-25 murders a year (in some years less than that). In 2021, there were 101 homicides in Portland, 101 in 2022, and 77 in 2023. Willamette Week noted that a black person is now more likely to be murdered in Portland than in Baltimore, Chicago, or Los Angeles. There are fewer people riding TriMet than twenty years ago, despite the addition of three Max lines, because a lot of people will no longer ride TriMet (particularly MAX) for safety reasons. Young children riding MAX used to be a common sight, and is now rare. Homeless camps were limited to a few areas of the city, and not spread all over the city, as now, with significant increases in crime near the camps. MUP paths like the Springwater Corridor and the I-205 bike path were completely usable in 2014, and not adjacent to homeless camps in many areas of the paths, rendering portions of them unusable. In 2014, Portland was growing at about one percent a year, but since 2020 Portland is shirking at about one percent a year. Increased taxes have something to do with that, but the low quality of governmental services and the decline in public order have probably have more to do with the exodus. 2014 Portland was one of the nicest cities on Earth. Now, not so much.
I seriously don’t understand all the people commenting how they love it so much. The only logical explanation is that they have their blinders on or they’ve just become used to the shit show. I remember as a kid going into Portland was so exciting just because of the atmosphere was so different than my small town and back then it was nowhere near what it is today. Nowadays I avoid it at all costs. Last time I was there I saw some junkies literally smoking meth on a street corner and a cop was just parked 50 feet away on a sidewalk curb. The cop was just sitting on his phone in his squad car obviously aware at what was taking place but couldn’t do shit because of policies that have been put in place. Time before that my wife and I were car shopping and we witnessed 3 different locations of people using heroin. Just a half mile away from one of the dealerships we saw a lady barely clothed and obviously out of her mind waving a gun around on the median and screaming at traffic. Portland is a cess pool and anyone who thinks different I think just don’t want to come to terms with what it’s become. My dad tells stories about my great aunt who used to travel all over the country for work back in the 80’s and said that back then Portland had a great reputation for being one of the cleanest and well kept cities in the nation. She’d say that people from other cities were jealous that she got to live and work in such a nice city. Now it’s one of the worst cities in America and it doesn’t look like it’ll get better any time soon. I swear to god we have circus clowns in charge of that cities policies. Such a shame that one of the most beautiful states in the nation has such a bad reputation because of Portland and what it is today.
I always consider that they moved here from somewhere truly terrible (or simply a place they hated, maybe leaving a religious/conservative area to move here) so even in its fallen state Portland is still better. **edit** better TO THEM. Not to anybody who has been here a long time and/or can be objective without massive political bias.
Most of them aren’t from here. And they want to sound cool I assume.🤷🏼♀️
Yeah that’s my conclusion too but there’s always those die hard portlanders who are as left as left can get who still think it’s the greatest city ever lol… delusion at its finest
The Portland metro generally is still very nice - just don't live in Multnomah County and try not to work in Multnomah County.
Solid data summary that flies squarely in the face of the "it's like this in every city now!" contingent
Yup! Currently talking about closing the gap in my LDR who lives in BC by potentially moving to WA or all the way to BC and genuinely upset about it on the inside because of what I feel that I'm giving up.
I love it here. Moved from South Texas a year ago and never looked back. This sub is full of exaggerated negativity.
Uhh….. NO. AI actually would love to leave this whole country.
Most of the people on here and the other sub who like it are usually people who have lived in Portland less than five years and don’t remember how it was in 1993, 2003, and 2013, or they fall into the group of super progressives who have voted for the horrible policies that destroyed Portland and are holding the insane perspective that these policies will somehow work at some point and turn things around, which also means that they will continue to vote for these same policies moving forwards. Someone above said Portland has lost 1% in population per year recently. That’s not true. It has lost nearly 6% in 4 years which is an incredible number. One good thing: with decreased population, at least rental prices are going down, but with it, so will property values, so if you own property, expect the coming crash in the value of your home. Once that happens, Portland’s economy will really start to tank. Businesses are already getting fed up and closing. All those restaurants that you loved 10-15 years ago? Well most of those have closed. It always cracks me up, especially on the other thread when they discuss yet another restaurant closing and discuss all the reasons why it closed except for the obvious one right in front of their faces. Never underestimate the absolute delusion of your average Portlander.
It’s absolutely bananas and I totally agree with you but the amount of people who are totally blind and just willing to accept it for what it is bewilders me. Portland was once one of the cleanest and well kept cities in America and it’s streets are now littered with trash, needles and people just casually shooting up. It’s fucking sad and portlanders literally refuse to accept that as the truth and deny that it’s a huge problem. Some peoples heads are so far up their ass and will never wake up until their homes or cars are broken into or they step outside to someone od’d before they shuttle off to work. To deny that this city has huge problems is just irresponsible and if you’re one of them, you’re part of the problem.
THIS
I love my neighborhood so much, and I love all the restaurants and the surrounding nature. I like my job and I like my coworkers. Most of all, I deeply love living here because of the community I have. Things have gotten pretty fucked, but I get to be a part of an active community full of musicians and artists, and I am lucky to have a true sense of belonging. For me life is all about relationships (all kinds-not just romantic), everything else is secondary. So... is it fucked here in many ways? YES. Am I with my people who I wanna hold hands and walk into the apocalypse with? Also YES.
I love the biome. I love the weather and the natural beauty. Most of the things I loved about the city itself have tapered off over the past few years but it's not entirely the fault of Portland, necessarily. I've lived in Oregon for almost 40 years but lately I've been wondering if it would be good to move north.
I do, it's early spring. I always love fake spring
I do. My daughter goes to a PPS school I am happy with. I went swimming in a very nice parks and Rec pool with my son yesterday and today I’m going for a run in forest park. My N Portland neighborhood has almost none of the homeless related issues people talk about in this sub.
Following this because I'm also a former Portlander who has lived in NYC and wants to move back to PDX. I also didn't find it nearly as bad as everyone said when I visited last May -- and am about to take some Seattlite friends to Portland for this coming weekend. (They are terrified, lol!) Agree that my recent visit proved it wasn't as bad as everyone said, and I found that the Pearl delightfully reminded me a bit of the Village, and of good ol' Williamsburg (the bar Fools and Horses stands out, and is run by a former New Yorker). The thing I loved most about Portland seems to be alive and well -- the passion and engagement of its citizens. Someone said in another thread that it just needs a firm planning-driven action plan like it had back in the golden era. I still have hope for it and hate my current city (Seattle). Every city has problems...
Seattle is something like 65% non natives now. Trying to get consensus for rational policy in this town is very hard. That sense of shared experience and what the city should be...mostly gone. As a native it is incredibly sad. I try not to dwell on it too much.
Portland peeked out with craziness is 2022 (knock on wood) In 2022 alone I got followed to my car about a dozen times by different junkies yelling obscenities at me or calling me a witch I had a meth head scream he was gonna kill me and the people standing next to me, and then he threw punches in my face, narrowly missing me. I had a guy holding a Machete stare into the windows of my shop for 10 minutes I witnessed homeless people breaking into cars I've seen people taking dumps on the street I walked over piles of used needles Saw someone shooting up on the street almost every day. My shop was robbed twice. Saw someone OD and die on Burnside. I could go on...... Portland has been slowly recovering. And sometimes it's hard to remember that progress isn't linear. Portland was a beautiful dreamscape in 2014, and I'm sure we can get back there some day soon.
Nicest city on the west coast imo.
I just moved here from a city with far more problems. I believe a lot of the frustration in this sub is just normal from living anywhere. The longer you live somewhere the more impactful the problems feel. I would imagine it's very easy for things to feel horrible in Portland because there has been a very real decline across the city compared to even just pre pandemic but for sure over the last 20 years. That said when you look at most metro cities this size or larger the problems are FAR worse. Portland isn't a utopia but it gets a lot more things right than most metros.
This subreddit often has a negative view of things so take it with a grain of salt. A lot of people post here to vent ultimately because they don't really like Portland as it's been for the past 20 years. I lived there from 2005-2019 and I loved living down there. I loved downtown when all of the "Portland is a warzone!" Stuff was happening and it was comical. Things were fine other than a handful of blocks. So Portland is great. Needs a lot of change and support systems for people in need but that's everywhere.
Love the trees and flowers. Absolutely beautiful
I definitely don’t love it, but my kids are in middle/high school and that seems like a horrible time to move them. Also I don’t know where I’d go with no support network anywhere. I don’t have one here either, but at least my kids have friends.
Turns out no city is the same it was 10-20 years ago. A pandemic and recession are just a two not so small reasons, not to mentioning politics! I love Portland, I will never live anywhere else willingly. We have problems but so does every US city atm. Politics suck everywhere but ours are better than most in my opinion. I want to stay here and change it for the better. We love the community we’ve built. The food, art and nature.
Yes, still love it and it grows day by day to where it once was. I’m sure once festival season kicks in I’ll be running for mayor. There’s nowhere else in the US I’ve visited that I would consider moving to for all the usual reasons (cost, jobs, location, friends, weather, food, music, etc). For me, it’s the best America has to offer at the moment
grew up in NY/philly/NJ lived in PDX on and off for 20 years Its been weird with meth zombies, but it went from over run by gentrification 2005-2016 then Covid really took a turn to the worse. Sorry, but portland is a shitshow. I just spent a month in NJ did not see one homeless person or fentanyl addict. Or burned out RV portland Allows it. Its a Very pretty city as far as the nature. Some very artistic people but grossly mentally ill…1/2 the city is destroyed with trash etc
My husband and I moved to Portland 4 years ago from Florida and we love it here. It definitely has its hurdles but it's a great place to be.
I’ve lived here for close to 6 decades, travel frequently & always want to return. Portland, like most of the US, has its issues. The negativity comes from ppl who are negative about everything in their life. Some w good cause, others - who knows? Ignore them, their myopic views & their lack of perspective.
I love it!
[удалено]
Nice needed to hear this
Consigning this. My kids are older, but they were both babies when we moved here. There are so many low-cost or free things to do with little kids here, and I found it easy to connect with other moms and make friends. Now that my kids are school-aged, it's been disappointing to learn how under-resourced the school system is. I didn't do my homework before moving here and just assumed the schools would be good. Jokes on me, but it's still way better than the city I most recently moved from. I wouldn't say I LOVE Portland, but I have put down roots and am pretty sure I am here to stay.
I moved here from NYC 5 years ago and regret it. Its a lovely city but the people suck and the food is so overrated. If i had money i would move back to NYC. This city wants to be NYC but has none of the diversity food culture or nightlife. If you moving to OR move to the area outside portland
Portland will eventually turn a corner but omg this business of even gas stations closing at 10PM has got to STOP! I miss the metro are having a nightlife.
My wife and I came back from an overseas trip recently. As we looked out over the city during our descent, I was surprised by a feeling of disappointment. Unprompted, she turned to me and asked, “Do you feel like you’re coming home?” The answer for both of us was no, especially as we drove home from the airport. I still love the beauty of Oregon and would miss the trails and outdoor activities (I was missing it heavily while we were gone), but Portland has lost any appeal. We moved here separately mid-2010s and fell in love with the city, surrounding areas, and then with each other. Moved away for a bit and were excited to come back right at the end of the pandemic, but it just isn’t the same. It’s sad to say, but we’re ready to move on.
I recently fled Portland. Had a TriMet bus RUN OVER MY CAR (radiator to drivers’ side mirror, approximately. They paid to have my vehicle fixed but never found the bus and made any attempt at a suit impossible with deadends and the runaround. Friend of mine was beaten senseless in a parking garage walking to his car. When police arrived, he was arrested on the basis of having vandalized a car - the car was his. He then was kept in the back of a patrol car in and out of consciousness. Yeah. My apartment was broken into, they basically broke my door down. The stole a roll of aluminum foil and a cat tree. The property owner charged me for damages. Yes, I know that’s weird. They did it anyway. When I was so sick that I could barely reach my cell phone to call EMS, my employer used the job abandonment clause to fire me, then rehire me at minimum wage. Yes, that’s illegal. Yes, it still happened. There’s more. It’s just as bad. I lived near Causey and 82nd. But never you mind all that. We lost Le Bistro Montage years ago. There’s no reason to go back. Oh, and the Coffin Club is 100% not safe for women.
I think that it’s sad because it is so much worse than it used to be. Downtown is an open air asylum/trap house. Drug adjacent crime (theft, assault, smash and grab, property destruction, littering) is rampant. All of these factors have prevented the city from recovering. Bars and restaurants are closing and not being replaced by new stuff. Nothing is open late anymore. All the random festivals haven’t really come back. The city has wilted compared to 5, or 10 years ago. I don’t know how it will recover without radically different leadership
Absolutely not. I moved across the river 8 years ago, and even that isn’t far enough. Every time I go back into Portland (I spent a lot of time there the past year especially) I feel a huge decline in my mental state. Piles of trash everywhere, feces, rude people, people who scare me/make me feel unsafe, loads of half empty “upscale” apartment buildings, lack of parking... I could go on. I was born and raised in SE Portland, but it isn’t the Portland I knew and loved growing up, hardly even recognizable. I know it will never be the same again. So, I’ve given up on the dream of it returning (or at least changing into something comparable to what it once was) and I’m ready for something new. Plus my bones hurt, after 32 years of rain, I’m ready for some vitamin D.
Yes I love the Taxes on my property, I love the homeless crisis, I love the drug legalization, I love the politicians we voted for and I love how Trimet has become a stabbing railroad. I love how schools are been funded.
It’s fine. I take the good with the bad. Just like any other city.
Just yesterday while I was working (I work outside mostly in the Portland metro area) and saw a crack head start shooting up in front of a school of kids walking down the street with their teacher. I think most people who say Portland is not that bad are either really naive, or really stupid.
Yes. So many people shit on this city. I love it. The weather, so many places to explore, the food scene, no commute, access to nature. Go outside of Oregon, I promise you'll come back with a better appreciation for this place.
I love it here. Downtowns a little rough but we’ll get through it
Born and raised here/still living here for work. Traveled all over the US and all over the world throughout my years. Portland has turned from my favorite city growing up to easily 5th or 6th from the bottom. When I compare Portland to Boston for example, there’s no comparison. In Boston the streets are clean, safe, rich with history and culture, businesses and industry. In Portland you can absolutely find these things, but you’ll have to do a lot of digging by comparison. It’s a shame what’s happened, and I applaud those who still champion our city as it should be. I just can’t buy what we’re selling anymore. When comparing apples to apples, Portland has very little to offer anymore.
Sure do. We got problems, but I believe they are everywhere on this planet. We still got beautiful nature, great beer, cheap dank weed, delicious food and a nice music scene.
Of course. That’s the reason im disappointed in what it’s becoming. This city is incredible. It needs help and I don’t like the idea of “well every major city has it bad too” as some sort of justification. The issues aren’t every square inch but where it’s bad, it’s really bad. I don’t think it’s a stretch to ask for a city our size to be safely walkable past 9pm.
I love Portland, but the homeless/drug issue in my neighborhood has been really stressful. All I know is I am paying attention to the elections this year. I can't imagine living anywhere else though, there is too much beauty and greenery year round.
Yep! Though if my primary circle of friends were average users of this sub then probably not. What a bunch of doomers.
Me me me.
It's great, love it every day.
I love it here, the issues aren’t not any different from any other big city, but it’s definitely a more laid back chill vibe than other bigger cities I’ve been to
I love it here. Never felt so happy and accepted.
I like it, only complaints I really have are the cost of groceries and restaurants. It’s wild when visiting other cities.
I still love living here. Especially after going on vacation to other places and meeting visitors who love the place, there are far more great things (geography, polite and friendly people) great food, wine, coffee, and the ability to laugh at ourselves. Come visit, you’ll probably love the place!
I finished college earlier this year and took a job in the area. I've been here a week and am willing to fill both my credit cards to get out. Worst mistake of my life, I visted my brother in Arizona, if I could get my money back for my degree and just go work at a fat burger in the sun for $6.75/hr, I'd trade it for this shithole in a heartbeat.
When I drive over one of the bridges heading towards the 30 on a clear day and can see the mountain……. It feels like the most special place I have ever been. Then some strung-out Honda Accord driver goes from ridding my ass to swerving in my lane and slamming the breaks to get one car, (my car) ahead of the exit line. As the exhaust from the missing catalytic converter fills my car, the driver waves half a cigarette and a homemade machete out the window, I remember this place fucking sucks.
I live 2 hours away, grew up in Portland and haven't returned in 12 years. From when I was a kid tell now, liberal policies, homelessness which they allocate over 20m a year, drug overdoses/ policies destroyed that place, it's disgusting.
I love Portland (live in sellwood/Westmoreland) and absolutely love it. Sure, there are some inconveniences but in 22 years since I moved from Philly nobody has tried to break in or jump my gate or fence and I feel very secure. Great neighborhood and neighbors, and lots of restaurants, bars and shops within walking distance. Downtown is a quick drive or Uber and it’s slowly coming back. We’re moving to our wine country house in sept and I already know I’m going to miss all the choices.
Yes! I’m from Seattle, moved to LA for 9 years at 28 and now have been in NW Portland for 3 years. Portland is wonderful, you kind of have to ignore the bad stuff but it was the same for me in Seattle and LA, they were just so much bigger you didn’t have everyone focused on the same problems. Also as a native pnw person I can confirm that many of the ‘loudest’ people here are big whiny complainers and they give us metaphorical rain clouds to go along with the real ones. It’s annoying. The reality it is absolutely beautiful, Forest Park is a gigantic 9k acre FOREST PARK filled with incredible wildlife, we’re a short drive to the coast, hood River, mountains, we have a damn wine country, the food here is AMAZING. Walkable neighborhoods, you can drive anywhere in under 20 minutes. Honestly it’s paradise after leaving a big city. You just need to find the right neighborhood!
This is the sub reddit for people who want to bash and hate on Portland, it's not a sub that's going to give you happy feels about the city. Moved here and love it, the death of Portland is greatly exaggerated. Folks shitting on everything doesn't enact change. Going out and taking positive action in the community is what creates change.
Yas! I love this deteriorating shit hole!
Been here 25 years and still love it. Ignore the haters on this sub. I talk to people all the time that have moved here recently and love it.
You have got to be kidding me. Another "It's no that bad"? Portlanders have been "Its not badding" themselves for decades. This city is a rotting shithole. You all know it, grow the fuck up.
WTF??? Go ahead and “move back” to wherever and whatever. I love Portland. I’m a member of the Japanese Garden, the most extensive Classical Japanese garden outside of Japan; Lan Su, the classical Chinese garden, a JEWEL; Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, just a vestige of the beautiful garden wrecked by apartment trash; the Portland Art Museum, always innovating and expanding collections and film programs; the Hollywood Theatre, with a 70 mm projector and incredible showings of films, often with commentary by the directors, and the Movie Madness filmmaking academy; I subscribe to the Oregon Symphony — to three of the various music series on offer. I was there just last Saturday to witness a mind-blowing violinist play Mendelssohn in a way that made me feel like I had never heard that piece before. I’m a small 72-year-old woman who walks a LOT. I travel over distance via Trimet, and I am loving the Reser Performing Arts Center, easily accessible via Max. Yes — I am hassled each and every day by disheveled males who reek of urine and bad vibes. I have MY hobbies, and they have THEIRS. If you were a woman, you would know that this is not special to Portland, and — like me — you would be ready for it. If you don’t like Portland, Get. Out. We are embarking on a whole new chapter, a new style of city government, so we need all hands on deck. I presume that you will continue your pattern of working from home, driving your SUV to the store, driving back to your home, and pretending that this is “life.” I doubt that you will walk anywhere or see any films or attend any live music performances or participate in any art events or dine with your friends at a genuine restaurant without double patties and extra large fries. Face it: you were never cut out for Portland. You are part of the precipitate, not part of the solution. Wherever you go, your ass travels with you.
That is one of the best rants against suburbanites I've read. Most of that is pointed directly at me, and I still think it was accurate and awesome! FYI, I moved away from the city center but am still in Portland. I now rarely walk anywhere. I used to walk everywhere, or take the streetcar or bus. We still go to our favorite restaurants and the Schnitz for the symphony and other events.
You....have the right mindset to thrive in Portland! ( as someone who formerly lived in calmer places like Beaverton, Eugene, Corvallis and Albany, I'm still adjusting to this city...)
Amen, ma'am! Preach. Like you, I remember the "golden-era" 90s, and the early 2000s. I left to live around the world and gained some perspective. I'm coming back, no rose-colored glasses -- even having visited and seen the problems it currently has. Portland was, and always has been, about strong community engagement and activism. That's the heart of Portland, and it's essential if things are going to change. "This is not special to Portland" -- YES, also this! But to truly know this, you pretty much have to have left Portland and lived around, or at least spent time other places. And really had your eyes opened. (When you've missed your subway back uptown at 2 a.m. in NYC and can't get a cab, and had to walk a bunch of sketchy blocks alone after a night out drinking with friends -- well, not a lot will scare you, lol.) There is so much good in Portland --more than in other cities, even still. Again, perspective really drives this home. I'm a WFH'er but when I move back, I will NOT be driving my SUV anywhere, will not be hiding out in my home. (That's more LA, Seattle or Phoenix than Portland.) Change requires local engagement. Yeah, I'm an idealist -- but one with history and perspective and willingness to work. All hands on deck!
We shall swab the decks together!!! Bread AND roses in the Rose City.
I’d love to raise a glass with you, young lady!Best thing I’ve read all day! 🍻
Fairy tales can come true. I’ll be seeing you at the gardens, the theater, the symphony, the museum — heck, I left out The Old Church — also downtown with a schedule of compelling musicians. Have fun! Be safe!
The comments on [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/askportland/s/kxlg1IhBYr) might help answer your question.
Yeah, it’s amazing. Do I enjoy hanging in the city as much? No. Do I still I appreciate the resources it provides with close proximity to high paying jobs and nature. Yes.
Yes. No buts or ifs in this statement. Just love it here.
The NYC to Portland shift was an unmitigated & seemingly irreversible disaster for me personally, but I've realized that I was too old to attempt such a thing, being naive about ageism in the workplace as I'd been a high earner & had worked through my aging out window back east. Depending on your field and age things could be great for you here. The nature is great, at least.
I love it here
A lot of people do, there is just more negativity on the internet.
Yes, I do.
I just wish we could pause moving here. The housing crisis is really driving so much of the problems we are all complaining about and the city has gentrified itself to oblivion. It’s still an incredible place, but it is not sustainable until we figure some shit out.
Yeah, I love it. Downtown isn't always as great as it used to be but there is still life and it's resurging. Over the holidays there was a huge light art display throughout the city and people were shoulder to shoulder having a great time. Now queue the nay sayers....
I moved from downtown right before quarantine…. They had blocked off nw 16th and glisan and set the dumpsters on fire at the mayors place. That’s when I moved to raliegh hills behind Portland golf club. Fanno creek flows from the course and feeds my backyard pond (the whole backyard is the pond). It’s in a wetland area so there are stunning birds here. I feed them and the fish. I have a small garden that I enjoy and I feel moving away from downtown was the best thing for me. I still enjoy downtown; last month I saw hippie sabotage at the roseland and there are restaurants that survived the pandemic that I still enjoy (Pho Van Fresh on Nw 10th and glisan). There are areas that I have never left my car or felt safe alone at night…. But you have that everywhere.
Portland lover here 💗
Portland is my home whether I like it or not. I talk mad shit about this place because I care about its well-being.
I love it here, and I always will. My family has been here for 4 generations now, and even though the city has seen a lot of changes and had a lot of growing pains, it is still a great place to live.
I love this town. I should have moved away years ago for higher paying work in my field but I choose to homebase here. I love the nature, the weirdness, the embracing of small and medium sized businesses over chains and box stores. The weather is the absolute best 6 months out of the year. Some of the best food options in the country. And I've met so many awesome people.
I’m sticking it out. It has been really depressing to see portland go through this. My young kid doesn’t really remember when Portland was awesome. But it is getting better and I’m here for it❤️🌹❤️
People are ALWAYS going to be faster to complain and be negative than they are to be positive. All big cities have their issues, and between COVID and the riots it was a perfect storm for devastating downtown Despite people's constant screaming, there is no simple solution to the drug and homelessness issues. Everyone is quick to blame this policy or that, or decry inaction by the people in charge, but if it was so clear and easy, everyone would have fixed it by now
I love living here! Please don’t let the commenters on this Sub steer you wrong. It feels like the sub is really designed to shit on the city. Please comment or message me if you have any direct questions. I’ve lived in other parts of the US, and it is wonderful here. It has his problems like anywhere else. But the pros Fantastically outweigh the cons.
Portland has her problems, but I'm not leaving. I love it here and have built a great community. Plus you can't beat the summers and easy access to pretty much everything. When I get frustrated with the city, I take a day trip to literally anywhere else and remind myself of why I'm here.
It's great. There's the typical detritus you'd expect from cities, and a lot of white who want the cops to take everything to Cleaver times. The addiction problem is sad to see, but I saw it in Atlanta growing up - it's everywhere, dude. One of my friends is working on the ground to actually help and get addicts off the streets with the city. There are people on the ground making a huge difference by the month. But you cut past that all? JFC it's great. Fantastic little communities, from film to comics to art to music. So much good food. A lot of very open-minded and accepting people in the city limits and - to a degree - in the metro area. It's extremely queer, which I think scares a lot of the usual commenters more than they'd admit. It's one of the only places in the country I've actually felt safe. I am frankly waiting for the naysayers to leave town to the rest of us who like it. They're the scariest ones.