What is the downside to living in Oregon? (sale, schools)

[Mellow]

The city streets can't handle the traffic and the local resedents cant afford the tax increases they want to put apon us. Too many people but not enough tax payers.
No decent wages. The cost of land has sky rocketed!! Farm land is being developed into cheaply built expensive wanna be homes and logging is becoming extinct.
Why is that? I'll give you one guess.
Do you see a trend here.......??
Remember the sign comming into Oregon that said
"We shoot every therd Californian and the second one just went by"
> SORRY .............. The truth hurts!!

[elcapitan]

Originally Posted by Mellow

The city streets can't handle the traffic and the local resedents cant afford the tax increases they want to put apon us. Too many people but not enough tax payers.
No decent wages. The cost of land has sky rocketed!! Farm land is being developed into cheaply built expensive wanna be homes and logging is becoming extinct.
Why is that? I'll give you one guess.
Do you see a trend here.......??
Remember the sign comming into Oregon that said
"We shoot every therd Californian and the second one just went by"
> SORRY .............. The truth hurts!!

First, people with decent skills, even in Oregon, have no problem finding decent wages. It's just a matter of keeping up with the times and offering what today's economy is willing to pay for. If all you know how to do is cut trees or work in a mill, then yes, you will be hurting. Things change, and in order to prosper, one must adapt. By the way, the influx of "Californians' have only made the state of Oregon more economically fit. These Californians are usually bringing money AND brains. They are not drains on the economy looking for a handout, much like many long time Oregonians.

[tiffela74]

hey man, im a lifer oregonian here and i have a good job and brains.... never have asked for a handout....
the downside about living in Oregon, is hearing from so many people that are out of state saying things like "It rains 365days a year in Oregon..." ...."Everyone from Oregon hates everyone from anywhere else, especially Californians"....."people in Oregon are all hicks".... and other such ignorant, mean comments. Its terrible to be generalized, not matter which side you're on.
The upside, is many of those who say such things, once they visit or come here to live, do a turnabout and see that it does NOT rain here that much, MOST Oregonians are quite lovely people from ALL over and therefore DON'T hate people from other states, and most of us are educated, hardworking people.
THIS is another couple of reasons why most people who come, end up staying here.

[jadgeb]

Originally Posted by elcapitan

First, people with decent skills, even in Oregon, have no problem finding decent wages. It's just a matter of keeping up with the times and offering what today's economy is willing to pay for. If all you know how to do is cut trees or work in a mill, then yes, you will be hurting. Things change, and in order to prosper, one must adapt. By the way, the influx of "Californians' have only made the state of Oregon more economically fit. These Californians are usually bringing money AND brains. They are not drains on the economy looking for a handout, much like many long time Oregonians.

Oh my, you've really opened a can of worms with this paragraph. My husband is an Industrial Engineer who graduated from Purdue University and also has an Associates Degree in Forestry. He is extremely knowledgeable, skilled and has a wonderful work ethic. He has worked in the high-tech industry in the Valley, cruised timber, built houses, built radios and computers, DESIGNED computers, had staff who built computers report to him, managed a manufacturing business and 20 employees, built custom muzzleloader rifles (beautiful), flown helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, worked in Human Resources, run CDL truck schools, been a Quality Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, etc. etc., and he has a horrible time finding a decent employer in Central Oregon. (He has been here since the mid-90s after the high-tech bust in the Valley).

It is not for lack of skills (in Central Oregon) that many people cannot get decent paying jobs. There AREN'T that many! And first you have to get hired. I know this for a fact having lived here for 30 years. If you don't know someone (who knows someone at a business or at the county, city, school district, etc.), you aren't of a certain pedigree or have the right last name, it is very difficult to find a good job here. You make do with what is available and keep putting out resumes and knocking on doors, while working at crap jobs. As a matter of fact, my husband recently was submitted for an Engineering job through a recruiter who recently moved to Central Oregon (NOT from California!) and the recruiter could not believe the amount of nepotism and cronyism in this area. He was appalled and brought up the subject; my husband, of course, had made no mention of it.

As far as the "drains on the economy", we contribute mightily via property taxes and income taxes, etc. There are many government programs for which I am not eligible for, make too much money for if the need to use them arose, but make too little to be able to save for retirement AND keep the wolves from the door. A number of people I come in contact with where I work have 2, 3, or more part time jobs just to make a living here. Sure, there are a lot of people who are just beaten down and discouraged from looking for work, out of work, who have used all their unemployment benefits, etc. Remember that Oregon is still largely rural, and if you have to expend a good proportion of your income on long distances for gas to get to town, get to work, rent/mortgage, utilities and food, what is left? Yes, you can move, if you can afford it.

For many years, (speaking as a native Oregonian with multi-generations in the soil) Oregon employment has degenerated to the point where finding a family wage, living wage job is a joke. Those jobs rapidly declined with the loss of high-tech jobs, good manufacturing industries moving out of state, and the loss of the logging and fishing industries. I remember visiting relatives in Prairie City, reading the Blue Mountain Eagle and out-right guffawing over an op-ed piece sarcastically commenting about how "the tourist industry and trade" would replace all those timber jobs lost in Central and Eastern Oregon. You bet.

If anyone cares to check on how people once employed in good paying positions have fared since losing those jobs, go to OLMIS - Low-Wage Industries Continue to Fuel Oregon Job Growth Figures. Many of them are not finding work in any higher paying positions and have to take jobs where they are underemployed. That works as long as you can keep paying the bills, but what a waste of skills and talent.

I guess you'll just have to consider yourself lucky that you have a job that pays decent wages. That, in the majority of Oregon, is a rarity.

[TribalCat]

Why are manufacturing industries moving out of Oregon, and what happened to all of the high tech jobs?

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by jadgeb

Oh my, you've really opened a can of worms with this paragraph. My husband is an Industrial Engineer who graduated from Purdue University and also has an Associates Degree in Forestry.

If your husband has a degree in Industrial Engineering from a highly ranked university, why are you living in a primarily rural area with very little manufacturing?

Sometimes you have to move to where the jobs are.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by TribalCat

Why are manufacturing industries moving out of Oregon, and what happened to all of the high tech jobs?

Perhaps somebody with more of an economic education can address this better than I, but I think there are two economies in Oregon: 1) the Willamette Valley and 2) the rest of the state. You can further subdivide the Willamette Valley into 1) Portland metro area and 2) the rest of the Valley. The geography of population plays a big role here--we're not as evenly spread out as, say, Ohio.

I'm not sure Oregon as a whole has ever had many manufacturing industries outside of the PDX metro area, unless you consider sawmills as manufacturing. Sure, there are factories scattered around the state, but no concentration like you see in Portland. And taking Bend as an example, the city didn't have a manufacturing base when it was a sleepy little town 30 years ago. The population spike there over the last 20 years was not brought about by increased industry and jobs, rather by people who moved there as a lifestyle choice. Workers in Bend who don't telecommute to their SF Bay Area job are relegated to service jobs. (I'm generalizing here, but I think it's mostly accurate).

As for high tech jobs, the concentration of those was mostly limited to the Portland metro area, and I think that these jobs have declined in number throughout the US since 2000.

[Bend 4 fun]

Hello everyone,
I have enjoyed reading your posts, if you don't like the rain or the traffic, and want tobe around some of the greatest schools in the nation than you need to check out Central Oregon, I moved here from seattle, Rain, traffic and mean people. after being here there is no place in the nation I would ever want to live, 300 days of sun, YES 300, if it rains here it is not much and usually happens at night. I am 2.5 hrs. from the Coast and Bend is one of the most beautiful places to live. check it out and let me know what you think?

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by jjpop

I'm not sure Oregon as a whole has ever had many manufacturing industries outside of the PDX metro area, unless you consider sawmills as manufacturing. Sure, there are factories scattered around the state, but no concentration like you see in Portland.

There is still substantial industry outside the Portland area. There is a steel mill in McMinnville, several manufactured home and modular building plants, rolling mills, pharmaceutical and medical supply in Newberg, many industries in Eugene, etc.

Most of the lumber and paper mills have left Oregon. Food processing has really taken a nosedive. At one time, Oregon produced 90% of the green beans consumed in the USA. That moved to Mexico. The Maraschino Cherry was invented at the Truitt Brothers cannery in Salem, which closed years ago. Agripac went bankrupt about 10 years ago. There used to be woolen mills all over the Willamette Valley. They closed, followed by the last sheep slaughterhouse about 10 years ago. The last rendering plant in Oregon closed this year, which means all those animal carcasses have to be shipped out of state or sent to the landfill. Most mines in the state have closed, though with the falling dollar, some of them will probably reopen.

The basis for Oregon's economy has always been manufacturing. There are no military bases and no defense contracts to pump the economy like so many other states enjoy. We pretty much live on what we can produce and sell.

[WESTCOASTER_19]

Oregonn is the most liveable city in the northwest....born and rasie there. It's a great place to raise family because crime isn't that out of control because we all know crime is every where. as for jobs there maybe a lack of, but there's lots of racial profiling towards blacks and mexicans which is a negative