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For Portland, I spent a month and a half there (Gresham, dodge park boulevard (where the big homes are)), I was surprised by the great summer, rain only for 3 days and was light rain... Anyway, Portland as safe and nice as it is, is known for its (shrinking maybe) white supremacist movement, like late last year a black teen who was charging his phone outside got killed by a white supremacy member (ran over), two brave gentlemen got killed inside a Portland subway for standing up for a Muslim girl. My kid is 3 but he will eventually grow up to become a teen and a man...
Portland is a very progressive city, but also a very white city (specifically a pretty small black population). Culturally speaking, it's still pretty diverse, because I say this as someone who is from the area but now lives somewhere much smaller, and more typical of the U.S. population's demographics as a whole.
I understand your concerns about your son growing up in an area that historically has had some white supremacy problems, but it's important to remember that Portland is a super safe city as a whole. The Portland police department is a very progressive establishment whose staff over-represent African-Americans by a large margin. This is done to make members of the minority community feel comfortable in a time with a lot of tensions between minorities and police across the country (specifically in many of those cities on the east coast you had mentioned). Personally, I'd be more concerned for his safety over there.
Gresham is sort of seen as the armpit of the Portland area (sorry to those who live there). It's the poorest part of town, is inconvenient to get to, and has some more problem schools. I'd totally recommend that you live closer to downtown like you said you would want to. Lake Oswego is nice, but almost too nice if you know what I mean. It's super posh and exclusive.
I am not that interested in gresham, i was there visiting a relative, but some part of gresham can do it if it is close to the tramway but I would chose portland over gresham.
I would more be interested in/near downtown Portland or Lake oswego, the nice homes over there could compensate for being far from downtown
But, I could first go to a suburb just to get running, I mean building my credit, saving, then moving to a city so gresham can do the trick
If that is the case, then some of NYC suburbs mentioned may be worth a look. Especially if they offer walkability and access into the city in a relatively short time. Hence the Pelham suggestion. Tuckahoe is another similar suburb in Westchester County that also allows for quick access into NYC, but is a walkable suburb with good schools and visibly diverse population.
Portland is a very progressive city, but also a very white city (specifically a pretty small black population). Culturally speaking, it's still pretty diverse, because I say this as someone who is from the area but now lives somewhere much smaller, and more typical of the U.S. population's demographics as a whole.
I understand your concerns about your son growing up in an area that historically has had some white supremacy problems, but it's important to remember that Portland is a super safe city as a whole. The Portland police department is a very progressive establishment whose staff over-represent African-Americans by a large margin. This is done to make members of the minority community feel comfortable in a time with a lot of tensions between minorities and police across the country (specifically in many of those cities on the east coast you had mentioned). Personally, I'd be more concerned for his safety over there.
Gresham is sort of seen as the armpit of the Portland area (sorry to those who live there). It's the poorest part of town, is inconvenient to get to, and has some more problem schools. I'd totally recommend that you live closer to downtown like you said you would want to. Lake Oswego is nice, but almost too nice if you know what I mean. It's super posh and exclusive.
You have some valid points here, adding to that I could live in Detroit, Baltimore or southside Chicago, no hate groups there but my son will be way way way more safe in Portland than in any of those three cities.
I saw that Portland is like 76% white, to US standard it is very white but by let say Canadian standard, it is quite diverse... Toronto black population is "only" 8% just 1.6% more than Portland and Montreal is about 9.1%.
Not that I want only black around me but I want a community so I could find black skin product quite easily, I mean if there is no black people, you won't see some cosmetic product for black skin or spicy food if you know what I mean.
But honestly what I loved in Portland was the friendliness of the people
If that is the case, then some of NYC suburbs mentioned may be worth a look. Especially if they offer walkability and access into the city in a relatively short time. Hence the Pelham suggestion. Tuckahoe is another similar suburb in Westchester County that also allows for quick access into NYC, but is a walkable suburb with good schools and visibly diverse population.
Yeah, Pelham looks interesting, not far from Yonkers, I will definitelly gather more infos on it
Tuckahoe is near Yonkers and it is just north of Bronxville and the Fleetwood area of Mount Vernon. Both of those areas are quite nice as well, but only Fleetwood has a substantial/high black percentage and is a more diverse part of Mount Vernon(is about 66% black out of about 67,000 people).
Pelham is just north of NE Bronx and is sandwiched by Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, as mentioned before. Here is some Pelham school info: Home Page - PELHAM PUBLIC SCHOOLS
As mentioned before, that area is sandwiched between 2 predominantly black and middle class areas of Mount Vernon to the west and New Rochelle to the east.
You have some valid points here, adding to that I could live in Detroit, Baltimore or southside Chicago, no hate groups there but my son will be way way way more safe in Portland than in any of those three cities.
I saw that Portland is like 76% white, to US standard it is very white but by let say Canadian standard, it is quite diverse... Toronto black population is "only" 8% just 1.6% more than Portland and Montreal is about 9.1%.
Not that I want only black around me but I want a community so I could find black skin product quite easily, I mean if there is no black people, you won't see some cosmetic product for black skin or spicy food if you know what I mean.
But honestly what I loved in Portland was the friendliness of the people
Portland's very white compared to many other major U.S. cities, but not really anything crazy compared to the majority of the country which are suburban or rural and predominantly white. The U.S. population as a whole is 77% white, so Portland is basically in-line with this statistic.
There is absolutely a black community in Portland and you would have no problem with some of the things you mentioned previously such as hair products, etc. The black population is over 36,000 in the city, and there are plenty of black barbershops and some great soul food places in NE, which is historically where the majority of the black community has lived. The high school in this area is actually majority black as well. The city I live I currently live in, which is much smaller than Portland and a couple hours south of there, does have problems with a lack of amenities for the black population here, so I'm not denying it exists in some places, but I don't think Portland's one of them
Anyways I wish you luck in finding the perfect place to live, whether it be in Portland or elsewhere!
Well, metro Boston is good since I was in the southern suburbs. Seattle is too rainy for me, although way better than the canadian 11 months of winter but still.
I though about providence but it would be just for a few years.
But quite frankly, apart of western DC suburbs, Boston suburbs and western L.A county (Santa Monica, Venice, Malibu...), the other suburbs are not appealing to me, I am a very urban person, I love cities, love being in the center of action, not having to drive to go places, being able to walk pretty much anywhere I want.
I'm scratching my head at the comment that Seattle is too rainy, why consider Portland, which receives more or less the same amount of rain? There's little differences in the weather between the two. Seattle is pretty urban and more busy than Portland.
If money wasn't really a factor, I'd choose DC, I'd love all the amenities, museums and history for my kids. It's pretty close to visit NYC and Boston.
I'm scratching my head at the comment that Seattle is too rainy, why consider Portland, which receives more or less the same amount of rain? There's little differences in the weather between the two. Seattle is pretty urban and more busy than Portland.
If money wasn't really a factor, I'd choose DC, I'd love all the amenities, museums and history for my kids. It's pretty close to visit NYC and Boston.
Why not add Philadelphia to the list?
I was thinking the same thing about Portland and Philadelphia.
What may be nice about NYC is that it is in between Boston and D.C., if the OP wants to go to either one of those cities.
I'm scratching my head at the comment that Seattle is too rainy, why consider Portland, which receives more or less the same amount of rain?
OP had said he was considering Portland because of the nice people. Maybe he is trying to avoid the Seattle freeze? I'm not entirely sure but that's what I would guess.
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