What is the downside to living in Oregon? (Portland, Eugene: condo, high crime)

[tiffela74]

everytime I see this thread I think.."there's a downside to living in Oregon????? Really???"
I love living here!

[Oregonbeachlover]

When I saw this post, I was just thinking the same thing. What down side to living in Oregon!? I love everything about this state. It is just BEAUTIFUL! I love that it has so many different kinds of beauty too. It has it all. I never get tired of its beauty and I've lived here for 30 years!

[orygun]

Originally Posted by Oregonbeachlover

When I saw this post, I was just thinking the same thing. What down side to living in Oregon!? I love everything about this state. It is just BEAUTIFUL! I love that it has so many different kinds of beauty too. It has it all. I never get tired of its beauty and I've lived here for 30 years!

Oregon is truly a beautiful place. I lived there for 19 years. IMO, the downside is the rain in Western Oregon. I couldn't take it anymore. Clouds and rain and never ending gloomy days in the winter. Bleh! My horses froze so much more there than they do in Montana now. I met far more lying-type people and backstabbers there than I have in Montana, probably population-based. Less people less problems I suppose. Government there is also kind of funny. Really conservative but really liberal. And I never knew so many Christian fundamentalists could live in one area, particularly Southern Oregon. I was always afraid to say I was Catholic there and the schools had opposition to Halloween in particular. In Montana there are more Catholics and Halloween is celebrated in the schools.

[kickerofelves]

Originally Posted by jiffin4java

Maybe it's just a difference in experiences and not so much how all people are.

There's definitely something to be said for individual experiences, no question. But, being a military brat, then in the military, working at embassies and then in a job that dealt with European trade issues I've lived in far too many places in this world to believe that culture doesn't have a part in things. Pacific NW versus Southern culture or to put it another way Scandinavian/German versus English-Scottish ancestry small-town dynamics are definitely influential in my opinion.

[mermaidmichelle]

I grew up in Southern Oregon, moved away for 20 years and returned about 3 years ago. I would have to say that the hardest part of living here is the grey days. I've only seen the sun once for about an hour in the past week. However, depending on where you are coming from its not really too bad, despite no sun, it has only lightly drizzled a couple times in that period and it hasn't been cold enough for ice to form, so all in all its not too bad, but not too great either.

[tiffela74]

you oughtave been along the coast, its been bright blue sunny skies for a few weeks endlessly now.

[misplaced1]

I was born in Oregon and lived there for quite some time off and on. The only big thing I disliked were property taxes. I prefer the lush N. Western part of Oregon for the moisture and Forests.

[FunkyMonk]

The downside to Oregon?

The intense locals only attitude and xenophobia.

The people who claim to be "progressive" yet they fear change in their state.

[haggardhouseelf]

Originally Posted by Marie Elena

I love Oregon. It is a preverbial cornicopia, probably spelled wrong. Most people think of Oregon as raining all the time which isn't true. You have the valley where it does rain a lot but it also has lots of flowers, fruits and vegetables cheap. You have the desert and Fossil beds, Lava Caves, Mountains, and the coast. What else could you ask for? Everything is within 150 miles North, South, East or West.
I now live in Maine where the scenry is almost like the mountain passes in Central Oregon but people here too say "If you weren't born in Maine you'll never be a Mainer". BULL there are towns here that are named after people who never stepped a foot on Maine soil. So don't give me that NATIVE BULL I spent summers here as a child and I feel as much a Mainer as the rest do. But I still love Oregon just can't afford it anymore.

I think it's "proverbial cornucopia" and I totally agree with you. I tire of the native assumptions, too. I'm a native Texan but never felt at peace there. Oregon has felt like home since day one. I love it here, and it does not rain as much as people like to complain that it does. We ride bikes or walk to school and back, so we are fully aware of the ratio of dry and sunny to rainy and gray days. There are more dry ones.

[2Z4]

Downsides? I wouldn't say weather - I have lived a couple of different places and find the weather in Oregon to be the mildest. Yes, it does rain steadily, but it's not torrential. Education? Maybe a lack of institutions of higher learning, yes. I think Oregon still spends plenty on primary education though.

Property crime is a problem, and there are fewer cops here than any place I have been in the United States. The criminal justice system here is a joke.

There is also a very tight job market, and the cost of living is still above wages. Other than that, I like the state, politics aside, and will probably stay here the rest of my life.