Social trust in Portland (homes, buy, live) - Oregon (OR) - City-Data Forum

jzhang1 · 02-10-2011, 03:58 PM

I just recently moved to Portland and based on my small number of observations people here seem to trust each other a lot more than most other places. I don't mean necessarily just amongst neighbors or friends, but amongst total strangers.

What is it about Portland that makes people so trusting?

sayulita · 02-10-2011, 04:04 PM

It's a mindset. In normal everyday transactions and interactions, usually nobody gets screwed, scammed, bamboozled or robbed. We don't go around worrying that we are being "disrespected". That's kind of an upper East coast type of thinking. We trust because we're trustworthy. I don't think this is particular to Portland. Maybe it's a West coast trait.

jjpop · 02-10-2011, 04:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jzhang1

I just recently moved to Portland and based on my small number of observations people here seem to trust each other a lot more than most other places. I don't mean necessarily just amongst neighbors or friends, but amongst total strangers.

What is it about Portland that makes people so trusting?

Can you cite an example or two? I ask because, in general, I think there's an outward appearance of trust but when you dig deeper people are pretty self-protective here.

I do agree with sayulita that people here are more humble and less standoffish.

Ryant · 02-10-2011, 04:50 PM

I think it's a west coast thing too. When I've went down to California people seem to be that way too. I hear from people who have moved from Seattle that people are standoffish there. I'm not sure as I haven't really spent much time up in Seattle. People in Portland make "Minnesota nice" seem like a joke though, and MN is where I grew up...

sayulita · 02-10-2011, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjpop

Can you cite an example or two? I ask because, in general, I think there's an outward appearance of trust but when you dig deeper people are pretty self-protective here.

I do agree with sayulita that people here are more humble and less standoffish.

There's a big difference between trust and privacy. I will be open to someone and assume only the best in them. It's only if they start to be inappropriately inquisitive that my antenna go up. It hardly ever happens and it's usually because someone wants to sell me something. If they are just being friendly and accidentally step over a line, I can usually tell.

pdxMIKEpdx · 02-10-2011, 05:52 PM

It's the Portland version of admired "Minnesota Nice". Not the infamous "Seattle Freeze".

Being the true Portlanders that we are, we have a much more refined civil, and sophisticated version of this:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pac...213/cover.html

Things are better here.
In Portland, I mean. This is NOT Seattle.

Ryant · 02-10-2011, 07:30 PM

Haha good read : )

It sound like the person in the story should have actually asked the other person if they wanted to do something. Better then some cities where you can't even strike up a conversation. People in Portland hang out a-lot, I'm not sure if it's like that in Seattle..

EnricoV · 02-10-2011, 07:51 PM

I think that what people don't really do in Portland that they do elsewhere is "entertain." We don't have that dinner party mentality that necessarily gets people together for no reason but than to get together. I think I can count on one (maybe two) hand the number of times I've been to friends (not family's) homes for no reason other than just to have dinner.

I think to people who come from places more attuned to that are the ones who think that the friendliness only goes so far. But it's not because Portlanders are unfriendly, it's just doesn't seem to be the custom.

davemess10 · 02-11-2011, 09:45 AM

I have to say that I really don't get all these "Portland people are ________ (friendly, trusting, reserved, nice, whatever)" threads. I think people here are pretty much the same as most other places in the US give or take. There are different kinds of people here as well as other places. You'll meet jerks, you'll meet extroverts, you'll meet gullible people, you'll meet good friends.
I just don't buy into the generalizations of the city's population. It's a city. Made of different people.

classicanne · 02-11-2011, 10:07 AM

Being here for 9 months now, I've found people to be polite, kind and friendly, which is pretty much what I expected to find here. My daughter, having always lived in the south prior to coming to Portland, felt people here were a little standoffish, but she is shy and tends to wait for others to make the first move. I'm rather outgoing and don't always wait for others to speak or strike up a conversation, so it hasn't seemed that way to me. I also like the way people here are not always in each others' business, as was often the case in the south.