Bad parts of Portland? (Gresham, Beaverton: low income, cheap apartment, city hall)

[aroseinrain]

yes, davefr, that's true... but my understanding is that the crimes are mostly petty crime and theft and such and one shouldn't be AS concerned with perhaps being murdered as they walk home from a local nightspot. Is that accurate?

[davefr]

Originally Posted by aroseinrain

yes, davefr, that's true... but my understanding is that the crimes are mostly petty crime and theft and such and one shouldn't be AS concerned with perhaps being murdered as they walk home from a local nightspot. Is that accurate?

Pick the category of crime you're most concerned about and compare the data. It's all there - just a little dated.

For example Murders, Rapes and Assaults are significantly higher in Portland then the major Wash. County cities.

[aroseinrain]

Using FBI data; with crime indices of 1-10 (with the US average of 4):

Des Moines IA is at a 7 for violent crime and an 8 for property crime
Portland OR is at a 6 for violent crime and a 7 for property crime

so it's about the same in both categories.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by karlsch

I don’t know how many times I have read things like this about Portland pandhandlers on this forum.....that young Portland panhandlers are special (like all things Portland)......they aren’t like panhandlers elsewhere....most of them are just normal, everyday, harmless kids out for adventure, wanting to see what it is like to live under a bridge for a couple of years. I suppose when they are done doing this they will go back to studying pre-med at Johns Hopkins or astrophysics at Cal Tech.

Yeah, like the sweet innocent young panhandlers who have threatened me because I wouldn't give them money.

There are older street people who live in my neighborhood who are polite non-threatening and live quietly. I think every neighborhood has them. But those panhandlers downtown, especially the younger ones, are not very pleasant to deal with.

Regarding the OP's question, I would contact the school housing department for suggestions on the closest and safest areas. They may even have some type of special housing for students.

Otherwise, neighborhoods like the Hawthorne district (Buckman- Sunnyside) are great for young people. We have a population of college students living here as well as older people, families, single and married. I can't speak for other areas because I live in this one but Sullivan's Gulch, Sellwood and possible NW Portland may be suitable too.

[iamscott]

I have always found Portland to be a extremely safe city. I know Portland as a past of having bad parts but now-a-days it's a very safe city. Plus there areas that were sketchy, like around 82nd and Felony Flats has been cleaned up a lot. I have never felt unsafe in Portland.

[TygrrEyzz]

Thank you everybody! And I like the direct suggestion of certain neighborhoods, that helps me out even more. It's such a huge place and I'm coming from DSM, IA, so being able to pinpoint a few specific areas sure helps a lot. I was under the impression that Portland was generally a pretty safe city, each places has it's not so great parts of course. If anyone was looking into moving to DSM I would tell them to stay away from most of the East and certain parts of the South Side, that type of thing. But I realize that Portland is a bigger and more complicated city so it doesn't work like that. But knowing the specific areas is good. So thankyou to all.

[puerco]

These are areas I've lived in in Portland & they've all been safe: Irvington, NW, Sellwood, Lair Hill & SE Belmont c. 30th. I've never been mugged or felt threatened no matter where I was or what time of day it was. I think you'll love living in Portland and will feel you're in a safe environment. Good luck when you move there!

[philwithbeard]

I moved to Portland from SE Michigan, the Metro Detroit area. Before that Pittsburgh, and before that, I lived part way between Baltimore and the northern part of Washington DC. I was gloriously happy to live in such a safe community as Portland; the only major problem I saw was a few more bar fights, and domestic disturbances in my East side community of Montavilla.

I have never seen the sex-for-sale workers that everyone who don't live here complains about (But then again, I don't hang out at the ultra cheap motels near I-205 and SE Stark street where so much of the arrests tend to take place.) I do agree there is a case to made for excessive homeless panhandlers on 82nd street.
(82nd street is just a simple bus ride down from a homeless "Bush-Cheney Homeless Shanty Town" not far from the airport. Last year. 2009, a biased source placed the population of the shanty town at about 8000, I cannot comment further about the real numbers. Same source claimed overall population last September of homeless to be 12,000 in Metro Portland. My wild guess, homeless population is about 1/2 that in 2010, but that is just my wild donkey guess.)

I have no comparison of crime rates with any town in Iowa. All I can say is Portland is an Urban community with a mostly rich urban diversity of working poor to vastly wealthy. As someone pointed out the 'burbs are safer. Boring, suburban quiet interchangeable with any other suburb which is very good for raising a family. Vibrant youth-orientated music clubs, oh maybe a bit less so quiet and interchangeable with other places.

Google: Moving to Portland
make up your own mind where you want to live.

[Yankeemama]

I have lived in the North east for nine months now! Seems like time is flying by. My family and I feel safe in our neighborhood near Hollywood. We walk everywhere and as pedestrians, drivers are very courteous and back upnif they are out in the crosswalk. Very friendly drivers here. I don't go out much at night since I have two small kids but I feel safe anywhere during the day. Pan handlers don't bug me too much since I am from S.F. which must be the professional panhandler Capitol of the country. The kids with the dogs downtown are sometimes aggressive but even they haven't approached my family or me. They probably called us Seattle Yuppies once. Oh, well, that's about it. Use common sense and like in any other city, use your street smarts and you will do fine.

[philwithbeard]

FYI:

Mt Hood CC is on the far east side of the Portland area. There are some nice area on the Far East side, but there are also not so desirable by the young adults. By that I mean a more 'Beer an' a Shot' country music crowd, than the downtown hipsters. Some areas a mile or so to the south of Mt Hood CC, is what I call an Experienced Portlander's rental area; not for newbies to Portland. Not that it ain't safe, because it is as safe as many places in and around Portland, but because it lacks the community adhesion and sprit of the main part of the Portland area.

Try to rent north of Powell blvd, if you can, once you are out further than SE 122nd st.

I have not visited the area, but North of the MT Hood CC campus in Gresham, is reported to be a good place for families. Young adults would find it mostly interchangeable suburban life with any other city's 'burbs. A bit further east and I think (I'm not sure about this, btw) is the start of Oregon's Horse Culture country.