What you you hate about Portland? (Adams: sales, to rent, insurance)

[bobkeenan]

We are moving from CA (Sacramento) next summer. We are retiring and, after 35 years here, I cannot take the heat. I am actually longing for less sun and cooler temperatures.

We have narrowed it down to two places. Portland OR and Port Angeles WA. They are different. Big versus small city. But we love both places for different reasons.

What is not so easy to see is what are the negative things about the area. You usually have to live in a place for a while to see them.

That's where we need help.

So... what do you hate about Portland?

Note, there is another long running recent thread about what you love, hate...etc. but it takes off on lots of side detailed discussions that have little to do with the question. So I thought I would start a fresh one and hope for direct answers????

Thanks....

[PNW-type-gal]

What's the point of a thread that's entirely negative? I'd think the other thread has more balance, side discussions or no.

[bobkeenan]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

What's the point of a thread that's entirely negative? I'd think the other thread has more balance, side discussions or no.

Here is the point. I already know enough about Portland to know that its a good choice to live in. I don't need any more positives. But I have not "lived" there so I don't know what are the negative points about living there. For instance. Sacramento is a great place to live but.....
-It is hotter than Hades here for 2-3 months a year.
-Every few years the forest fires get so bad, in the hills, that you nearly can't breath the air
-Every 10 years or so we get close to flooding.
-The school system sucks unless you pick the right school or get involved
-This is the worst place to live if you have any allergies

So I already know that Portland has great weather for me, low pollen, great transit, proximity to good hiking and water sports, great photography areas, laid back population, good city culture, good selection of hospitals, good airport, great set of different neighborhoods, great restaurants. I can go on and on about the positives.

Some of the negatives that I see in Portland is bad rush hour traffic, politics are TOO liberal, lots of homeless downtown, Much less sun in winter, bad unemployment....

But what am I missing.... I want to hear about bad stuff before I move there and go....oops.... this was a mistake.

We are planning to rent a while before we buy.

[Nell Plotts]

My two cents...
I know some parts of the Kitsap Peninsula well. If you really want to live near Port Angeles move to Sequim which is in a rain shadow, the weather is significantly better (but no better than Portland's). With either of these choices you are a long way from an airport. I know Port Angeles has an airport (my son was a mariner whose employer sometimes sent him to a ship anchored off Port Angeles), but the flights are very expensive.

The northern part of Kitsap Peninsula is SO DIFFERENT from Portland I don't understand why they are your two choices, unless you have family in each of those communities. If that is the case why don't you ask them what things they think might be an issue for you? Community culture is a personal preference so any of our personal opinions are really irrelevant. As a retiree the school system shouldn't be a major issue unless you are considering resale value of a home and a lot could change over the years.

Seattle and Portland both have great hospitals with specialists of every type. If you need a specialist's care in Port Angeles/Sequim you will need to go to Seattle (get air evacuation insurance). There are VA hospitals in Seattle and Portland.


I attended the Sacramento Jazz Festival this year and had a great time. One of my cousins lives in Sacramento, she said that it was cool this year. If that was cool I would hate to be there in hot.

[SunJoaquin]

Originally Posted by bobkeenan

-It is hotter than Hades here for 2-3 months a year.
What is "hotter than Hades" to you? Over 80? 100? From July - August it'll bounce around from 75 to almost 100 in a normal year (and over). But the summers are NOT what I hate (in fact, they're way too short for me, and I don't consider 90 that hot).
-Every few years the forest fires get so bad, in the hills, that you nearly can't breath the air
-Every 10 years or so we get close to flooding.
-The school system sucks unless you pick the right school or get involved
-This is the worst place to live if you have any allergies

So I already know that Portland has great weather for me, low pollen, great transit, proximity to good hiking and water sports, great photography areas, laid back population, good city culture, good selection of hospitals, good airport, great set of different neighborhoods, great restaurants. I can go on and on about the positives.

Some of the negatives that I see in Portland is bad rush hour traffic, politics are TOO liberal, lots of homeless downtown, Much less sun in winter, bad unemployment....

But what am I missing.... I want to hear about bad stuff before I move there and go....oops.... this was a mistake.

We are planning to rent a while before we buy.

If you buy a house then you'll likely get shocked at your property tax bills. The sales taxes you'll be glad to leave behind will be made up in other taxes here.

I despise Oregon politics but it hasn't chased me out yet. Right now Portland's being governed by a goon but hopefully he'll be gone next election.

Congrats on retiring. And I'm glad you aren't in need of job searching because the job economy here does suck that bad.

[philwithbeard]

Originally Posted by SunJoaquin

.....I despise Oregon politics but it hasn't chased me out yet. Right now Portland's being governed by a goon but hopefully he'll be gone next election....

Don't bet the farm on that.

People like me think Adams is doing great, and will resist any attempt to replace him with anything other than another progressive liberal, should he choose not to run.

To the OP: In case you have any doubts, the City of Portland is emphatically in the Democratic Party column. I moved here in-part because of that (plus some other reasons,) and others also have moved to PDX because of the Portland Politics. I am very pleased with city of Portland politics. Politics in the 'burbs, are the 'burbs problems, as I don't vote those communities.

If you are retired, and don't have to commute to work... Have you considered Vancouver WA where there are lower property taxes, and a bit cheaper (per sq ft of house) bargains? Vancouver rush hour commute across the Columbia River is not to be taken lightly, but if you just want a relaxed PNW suburban living close to Portland, look into it.

[Nell Plotts]

Oregon income taxes + property taxes + utilities are not necessarily higher for a retiree than in Washington. For example, when you sell a home in WA there is a SUBSTANTIAL tax on the transaction. So much depends on the specifics, as I alluded to on another thread. For a given level of services the money must come from somewhere.

[bobkeenan]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

Don't bet the farm on that.

People like me think Adams is doing great, and will resist any attempt to replace him with anything other than another progressive liberal, should he choose not to run.

To the OP: In case you have any doubts, the City of Portland is emphatically in the Democratic Party column. I moved here in-part because of that (plus some other reasons,) and others also have moved to PDX because of the Portland Politics. I am very pleased with city of Portland politics. Politics in the 'burbs, are the 'burbs problems, as I don't vote those communities.

If you are retired, and don't have to commute to work... Have you considered Vancouver WA where there are lower property taxes, and a bit cheaper (per sq ft of house) bargains? Vancouver rush hour commute across the Columbia River is not to be taken lightly, but if you just want a relaxed PNW suburban living close to Portland, look into it.

We checked out Vancouver but could not find anything like neighborhoods we have seen in Portland. We like the older bungalow style home on tree lined streets within walking distance of grocery stories, cafes, etc.

[bobkeenan]

Originally Posted by SunJoaquin

If you buy a house then you'll likely get shocked at your property tax bills. The sales taxes you'll be glad to leave behind will be made up in other taxes here.

I despise Oregon politics but it hasn't chased me out yet. Right now Portland's being governed by a goon but hopefully he'll be gone next election.

Congrats on retiring. And I'm glad you aren't in need of job searching because the job economy here does suck that bad.

Hotter than Hades to me is an AVERAGE high temperature of 94F. I have seen 2 weeks over 100. I have done a little research on this and Portland runs about 10-15F cooler than Sacramento during the summer.

[SunJoaquin]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

Don't bet the farm on that.

People like me think Adams is doing great, and will resist any attempt to replace him with anything other than another progressive liberal, should he choose not to run.

Well, GOOD FOR YOU! I didn't know I was providing opinions for you.

Point is, the originator specifically asked for our personal opinions of what we hate, and I gave him mine. Whether my opinion is right or wrong, or yours is right or wrong, will be up to one requesting the feedback and where they'll go from t here.